On my mother's '08 2LT, this apparently just started happening out of the blue yesterday. At work she went to close the door and it wouldn't latch, it would look almost like it was, but was just banging off of the latch instead. Still, out of nowhere, she thought maybe something was in the jamb, etc. and closed it a few more times, and it eventually worked.

That continued intermittently throughout the day and then she just came home a little bit ago, parked in the driveway, and pulling the handle to get out...nada. The door wouldn't open. Said she hit unlock/lock a few times to see if maybe it was a lock issue, but again no. The other doors would work, but the driver's was stuck and she ended up having to blow the horn to get my father's attention to try from the outside to get her out.

We've looked at it and nothing is in the jamb and the latch visually seems okay, but it sounds like the rotating latch "hook" is just getting stuck in one position so that when closing it's already closed down and vice verse trying to open. Or at least that's my best guess from the description.

Regardless, weird, and unexpected. She thought she was losing it for a day until today when it trapped her inside, hah. Called and made an appointment to drop it off Monday. We'll see...

That happened to my Dad's last STS (Their front doors are digital rather than mechanical handle) and it wouldn't latch closed. He had to tie it closed and have the entire door replaced. Hopefully it's a lil' easier on the Malibu! Let us know how it turns out.

Yeah, it's weird. I had to see it for myself and went out to play with the door. Opened it, got in, and then opened it from the inside successfully. Went to pull it shut then again from the inside and exactly as she described, it pulls in but feels like it just bounces off the latch and doesn't latch. Looked at the latch and opened the passenger's door to compare and both seemed to be in the same position, but the driver's just wouldn't close. A few more tries, opening and closing, and finally it did close.

On this car, the latches are just typical latches, so if anything it shouldn't be a big issue. After sitting outside opening and closing the door again and again, it seemed to start working properly, but that may have just been momentary.

I wanted to videotape it, as that's been a great idea in the past with similar things, but didn't get to before it starting working again. Will keep trying.

We shall see. It will be in Monday, oddly, with my '09 there as well having a speaker replaced.

A GM dealer tech on GMI said he hadn't seen this on Malibu's but has on Cobalt's in the form of bad door lock actuators/latches, basically the latch inside the door.

Well here's a really strange turn of events, after I read that.

I'm awaiting more detailed info, but after dropping the car off last night my mother was told by the service guys today that they knew what the problem was "with these Malibu's" right away, to the extent that it was close to being a recall. Having frequented this board and others pretty much since the start I've NEVER heard this, and it seems odd, but this service department is generally pretty good and know what they're talking about.

Weird. Filtered through 2 people, I'll eventually hear the direct story, but at least they know what "it" is, whatever that may be.

Wow that's weird.. glad I haven't experienced anything like that on my Malibu! Of course it wouldn't shock me if it magically starts after having my car impacted the way it was.

Okay, the "more" to the story.

Apparently they didn't know immediately and had to call her for more details at first (of course, after I opened and closed the door repeatedly, it did seem fine), but then said they either found or were familiar with what--I think--was probably a TSB to the sort, involving the latch. Ordered that & left the car there, hopefully for it to be there tomorrow, and they'll install when they get it.

So I don't think it was a prevalent as it may have seemed, but just rather one of the many TSB's out there for similar issues that may have been a bit common, and the dealer used the words "almost a recall" to help explain it to her.