How many miles will a 2002 Chevrolet Malibu last?
NHTSA holds 95 owner complaints on the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu that list a mileage past 100,000 miles: 24 past 150,000 and 2 past 200,000. NHTSA's complaints file of November 11, 2026 holds 583 complaints on this model year, 400 of them with a mileage, and half of those mileages are at or under 70,000 miles; each mileage is the odometer when an owner reported a safety problem, not how long the vehicle lasted.
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See what the paid report includes →Of the 400 complaints on the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu that list mileage, the middle half came between 44,000 and 100,000 miles; 95 (24%) came after 100,000 miles, 24 (6%) after 150,000 and 2 (1%) after 200,000.
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How many miles will a 2002 Malibu last?
The 400 mileages owners gave run from 10 to 279,000 miles. A quarter are at or under 44,000 miles, half at or under 70,000, three quarters at or under 99,899 and nine in ten at or under 135,000; 95 (24%) came after 100,000 miles, 24 (6%) after 150,000 and 2 (1%) after 200,000.
These mileages say when owners reported a problem, not when a 2002 Malibu wears out. NHTSA's file holds only vehicles whose owners complained; one that ran without a problem never appears in it, so it gives no lifespan and no cutoff, and how a vehicle was maintained matters more than any one odometer reading.
Most of these reports came early in the vehicle's life: 305 of the 400 came at or under 100,000 miles. The 95 past that mark show the 2002 Malibu still being driven at those mileages, not how many reach them: NHTSA's file counts complaints, not the vehicles on the road.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Lowest mileage listed | 10 miles |
| 25th percentile | 44,000 miles |
| Median (50th percentile) | 70,000 miles |
| 75th percentile | 99,899 miles |
| 90th percentile | 135,000 miles |
| Highest mileage listed | 279,000 miles |
| Complaints after 100,000 miles | 95 (24%) |
| Complaints after 150,000 miles | 24 (6%) |
| Complaints after 200,000 miles | 2 (1%) |
Every model year together: Half of the 12,841 NHTSA owner complaints on the Chevrolet Malibu that list mileage came after 76,000 miles (NHTSA complaints file of November 11, 2026). How many miles will a Chevrolet Malibu last? →
Common problems with the 2002 Malibu
NHTSA's file holds 583 owner complaints on the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu. Owners named the electrical system most often: 270 complaints, and half of the 199 that list a mileage came after 77,000 miles. A complaint can name more than one component.
| Component (NHTSA category) | Complaints | Listing mileage | Median mileage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical System | 270 | 199 | 78,000 |
| Exterior Lighting | 146 | 105 | 62,492 |
| Engine And Engine Cooling | 64 | 45 | 62,492 |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic | 41 | 21 | 29,000 |
| Engine | 24 | 20 | 84,000 |
Of the 583 complaints, 18 report a crash, 1 reports a fire and 13 report an injury (19 people reported injured). These are owners' reports to NHTSA, not findings.
Is the 2002 Malibu a good year?
Complaint counts cannot say whether the 2002 is a good or a bad Malibu: they rise with how many were sold and how long they have been on the road. They show how the 2002 compares with the other model years in NHTSA's file.
With 583 complaints, the 2002 ranks 19th of the 29 Chevrolet Malibu model years from 1997 to 2025 with 10 or more complaints, counting from the most. The most: the 2009 (1,536). The fewest: the 2025 (12).
Recent model years have had less time to collect complaints, so their counts are still growing. No year is ranked by mileage here, because a year's median mileage mostly follows its age.
| Model year | Owner complaints | Listing mileage | Median mileage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 Malibu | 446 | 101 | 85,000 |
| 1998 Malibu | 981 | 226 | 80,150 |
| 1999 Malibu | 792 | 267 | 66,920 |
| 2000 Malibu | 933 | 464 | 69,940 |
| 2001 Malibu | 734 | 452 | 73,000 |
| 2002 (this page) | 583 | 400 | 70,000 |
| 2003 Malibu | 585 | 440 | 71,190 |
| 2004 Malibu | 1,264 | 1,035 | 80,000 |
| 2005 Malibu | 1,067 | 827 | 89,000 |
| 2006 Malibu | 1,119 | 910 | 85,000 |
| 2007 Malibu | 992 | 816 | 100,000 |
| 2008 Malibu | 1,017 | 822 | 78,500 |
| 2009 Malibu | 1,536 | 1,217 | 99,897 |
| 2010 Malibu | 1,365 | 1,072 | 82,000 |
| 2011 Malibu | 978 | 731 | 80,000 |
| 2012 Malibu | 907 | 644 | 86,000 |
| 2013 Malibu | 837 | 596 | 69,000 |
| 2014 Malibu | 351 | 229 | 60,000 |
| 2015 Malibu | 270 | 160 | 50,000 |
| 2016 Malibu | 865 | 538 | 50,000 |
| 2017 Malibu | 727 | 409 | 47,162 |
| 2018 Malibu | 712 | 311 | 45,780 |
| 2019 Malibu | 195 | 59 | 41,750 |
| 2020 Malibu | 203 | 46 | 68,000 |
| 2021 Malibu | 90 | 17 | 54,000 |
| 2022 Malibu | 100 | 24 | 65,000 |
| 2023 Malibu | 73 | 22 | 58,000 |
| 2024 Malibu | 46 | 3 | Under 10 mileages |
| 2025 Malibu | 12 | 3 | Under 10 mileages |
The linked 2015–2022 pages show NHTSA's September 15, 2026 collection, so their counts can differ from this table's.
Every Malibu year compared on NHTSA’s complaints and recalls: Chevrolet Malibu years to avoid →
2002 Chevrolet Malibu recalls
NHTSA's recall files of November 11, 2026 list 4 recall campaigns that name the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu (2 vehicle campaigns and 2 equipment or tire campaigns that name this model year, often for aftermarket parts). A campaign covers a production range, not every vehicle of the model year: check the VIN with NHTSA's free recall lookup.
| Campaign | Report received | Component |
|---|---|---|
| 14V400000 | Jul 3, 2014 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION |
| 09E012000 | Apr 7, 2009 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING |
| 07E021000 | Mar 12, 2007 | FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY:PRESSURE RELIEF DEVICES |
| 02V107000 | Apr 10, 2002 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS |
What these figures can and cannot tell you
- Complaints are owners’ reports to NHTSA. NHTSA publishes them without verifying them: a complaint is an allegation, not a defect finding.
- The mileage is what the owner wrote on the complaint; NHTSA does not check it against the odometer.
- The make, model and model year are the ones on the complaint. NHTSA records them as filed, so a few complaints sit under a model year the name was not sold in.
- They are not a lifespan study. The file holds only vehicles whose owners reported a problem, so these figures do not say how long a typical 2002 Malibu lasts.
- A complaint count rises with how many vehicles were sold and how long they have been on the road, so it is not a rating of the 2002 Malibu.
- Nothing here describes one vehicle: its title brands, odometer readings, accidents and open recalls are in the records for its own VIN.
- 183 of the 583 complaints on the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu give no usable mileage (blank, zero, a filler such as 999999, or over 500,000) and are left out of every mileage figure.
- NHTSA names counted: MALIBU, MALIBU CLASSIC and MALIBU HYBRID. NHTSA files some vehicles under several names (a series name and a trim name, for example); this page counts only these.
- Recall-file names matched: MALIBU, MALIBU CLASSIC and MALIBU HYBRID.
Primary sources behind this page
Open the underlying public source and verify that its scope matches the question you are asking.
- NHTSA complaints flat file (FLAT_CMPL.zip), downloaded November 11, 2026National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Complaints file field layout (CMPL.txt)National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- NHTSA recalls flat file (FLAT_RCL_PRE_2010.zip), downloaded November 11, 2026National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- NHTSA recalls flat file (FLAT_RCL_POST_2010.zip), downloaded November 11, 2026National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Recalls file field layout (RCL.txt)National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- NHTSA recall and complaint datasets: scope and documentationNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Recalls Lookup by VINNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
NHTSA’s complaints file was downloaded on November 11, 2026 (FLAT_CMPL.txt, dated 2026-11-11 10:15, 2,265,416 rows), with its recall files (FLAT_RCL_PRE_2010.txt and FLAT_RCL_POST_2010.txt, dated 2026-11-11 08:02). Each complaint is counted once, by its NHTSA number, with the model year and mileage of its first row; a model year has a page only with 10 or more complaints. The collection script and its rules are in scripts/collect-nhtsa-model-year-longtail.mjs.
2002 Chevrolet Malibu questions
How many miles will a 2002 Chevrolet Malibu last?
NHTSA holds 95 owner complaints on the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu that list a mileage past 100,000 miles: 24 past 150,000 and 2 past 200,000. Of the 400 complaints on the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu that list mileage, the middle half came between 44,000 and 100,000 miles; 95 (24%) came after 100,000 miles, 24 (6%) after 150,000 and 2 (1%) after 200,000. These are mileages at a reported problem, not a lifespan: the file holds no 2002 Malibu that never had one.
What are the most common 2002 Chevrolet Malibu problems?
NHTSA's file holds 583 owner complaints on the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu. Owners named the electrical system most often: 270 complaints, and half of the 199 that list a mileage came after 77,000 miles. A complaint can name more than one component. Of the 583 complaints, 18 report a crash, 1 reports a fire and 13 report an injury (19 people reported injured). These are owners' reports to NHTSA, not findings.
Is the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu a good year?
Complaint counts cannot say whether the 2002 is a good or a bad Malibu: they rise with how many were sold and how long they have been on the road. They show how the 2002 compares with the other model years in NHTSA's file. With 583 complaints, the 2002 ranks 19th of the 29 Chevrolet Malibu model years from 1997 to 2025 with 10 or more complaints, counting from the most. The most: the 2009 (1,536). The fewest: the 2025 (12).
How many recalls does the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu have?
NHTSA's recall files of November 11, 2026 list 4 recall campaigns that name the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu (2 vehicle campaigns and 2 equipment or tire campaigns that name this model year, often for aftermarket parts). A campaign covers a production range, not every vehicle of the model year: check the VIN with NHTSA's free recall lookup.
How do I check a used 2002 Chevrolet Malibu before buying?
Take the 17-character VIN from the vehicle and compare the odometer with the readings on file for it: title transfers, inspections and auction sales record the mileage on the day. VIN Lookup (free-vin-lookup.com) sells the original ClearVIN PDF for $14.99 (3 reports for $29.99, 5 for $44.99): odometer readings, title brands and auction records on file for the VIN. Check the VIN before buying a used 2002 Chevrolet Malibu.