I have the new body 2004 Chevy Malibu.
The electric steering is giving me some concerns.
When i am at a stop light the wheel wants to turn. Not far just
more like a shake back and forth. If you let go you can see and hear
it rattle. Probably moves 1/4 inch. Back and forth.

Then if you really pay attention you can feel it when you are
driving.

1) Never hit a curb.
2) 7000 miles.
3) My wife does drive the car.
4) The car sits for 2 weeks at a time. (Never much longer)

Any idea's?

The only problem that I've heard of, both in here and in other web sites, is the P/S completely failing. That is announced on the Info Center display, and the fix is a new steering column. NHTSA is doing something related to it, but no news in recent weeks.

Take your vehicle to dealer so they can diagnose the problem.

Hi,
I'm not sure what is causing that but take it into the dealership. I have a 2004 Malibu with only 6500 miles on it. I kept having problems with the power steering going out when I was driving. I noticed that would only happen after 45 minutes of nonstop driving. They changed the steering column and that seemed to have done the trick.

Sounds like a servo problem. Have the dealer check it out.

Seafeye. I've just experience the same problem on my
2004 Malibu (7 months old) just as you described it. What
was the resolution to your problem? Regrds, Larry.

ltmack - take your vehicle to dealer. Likely the dealer will replace your steering column