So I have this happen and the shop I took it to said he's seen it over 20 times. This is not even a GM shop, it's a local repair shop. This is outrageous. To have a problem reoccur this often and never have a recall.

My wife was driving the car at the time and it died on a major highway in the left lanes while just starting to get up a large hill. By the time she got to the median on the left side of the highway she had crested the hill and put her and others lives in danger. A major issue and to add insult to injury its going to cost about $2500.00 in parts and labor. GM needs to take care of this so others don't deal with this crap.

at 52,000 miles the idler pulley broke and in turn it wiped out the whole top of the engine the mechanic told us it was a part failure i even took all the parts to a certified GM dealer and he told me when the GM rep. came around he would show them to him never heard anything called the GM rep and he told me they would pay nothing wrote several letters to GM and more phone calls finally some lady called and told us they would pay nothing because they didnt know what kind of envirment the car was in or how we drove it my wife is 64 years old and i am 70 however i never drove it can u see my wife tearing the car up lol if i was youn ger i would never buy another chevy bah humbug

I BOUGHT THE AVEO 2005 IN JAN. OF 2009 THE CAR HAD APPROX. 60,000 MILES I BOUGHT THE EXTENDED WARRANTY ETC.. I HAD TO REPLACE THE ALTERNATOR AT GOODYEAR SERVICE CENTER IN KANSAS CITY KANSAS, FOR THE MOST PART THE CAR HASN'T BEEN A PROBLEM UNTIL THE IDLER PULLEY BROKEN IN HALF, THE PULLEY THAT HELPS KEEPS THE BELT IN TENSION, NOT THE IDLER TENSIONER, THE PULLEY I'M TALKING ABOUT IS LOCATED AT 03:00 O'CLOCK LOOKING FROM THE PASSENGER SIDE. THE IDLER PULLEY BROKE IN HALF, THERE WAS MAJOR HEAT FRICTION, THE TIMING BELT DID NOT BREAK THERE WERE NO SIGNS OF DAMAGE BUT THE PULLEY WAS MELTING DUE TO THE FRICTION, THERE WAS SO MUCH FRICTION THAT THE IDLER PULLEY TENSIONER HAD INCURRED RESIDUE FROM THE OTHER PULLEY, BASICALLY THE TIMING BELT WAS REPLACE BEFORE I BOUGHT THE 2005 AVEO BUT THE PULLEYS WERE NOT REPLACE, NOT ONLY THE TIMING BELT SHOULD BE REPACE ALL PLASTIC PULLEYS SHOULD BE REPLACE. ALL VALVES ARE BENT THE PISTON TOPS ARE NOT CRACK THERE SEEM TO BE NO DAMAGE TO PISTON, I THINK BUT NOT SURE???? THE EXTENDED WARRANTY HAS RAN OUT THE CAR IS SITTING IDLE NOT SURE WHAT TO DO WITH THE CAR. THE DEALERSHIP HAS ASK ME TO BRING THE CARIN THEY WILL LOOK AT IT. I DO NO HAVE THE MONEY TO REALLY PUT IT BACK. THE GARAGE MECHANIC SAYS THE BOTTOM END OF THE ENGINE HAS NOT BEEN EFFECT, BUT I'M NOT SURE?? I STILL OWE ON THE CAR SO I WOULD LIKE TO PUT IT BACK TOGETHER FOR THE LEAST AMOUNT MONEY, A USED ENGINE WITH LESS THEN 60,000 MILES WILL WORK I THINK SOME WERE AROUND $2000.00. GETTING BACK TO THE IDLER PULLEY OR ASSIST PULLEY ARE MADE WITH CHEAP PLASTIC MATERIAL THE PULLEY DESIGN IS BADLY DESIGN THE WEB OR SPOKE DESIGN IS AT FAULT FROM THE START, THERE IS NO WAY THAT PULLEY IS CAPABLE IN LASTING, I BELIEVE THAT THERE WAS SEVERAL POROUS CAVITY WITH THE PULLEY WAS INJECTED OR MOLDED, THERE HOT SPOTS AND COLD SPOTS CAUSING A STRESS FRACTURE FROM THE START. THE TIMING BELT. I BELIEVE THAT THE ENGINEERS WHO DESIGN THIS CAR WERE OUT TO LUNCH WHEN THEY SIGNED OFF ON THIS CAR AND PROJECT MANAGER TO GENERAL MOTOR OF DIVIDE FELL SHORT THEY HAD NO INTENTION MAKING THIS CAR AVEO. GENERAL MOTORS KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING THAT THE TIMING BELT AND PULLEY SYSTEM WOULD FAIL FROM THE START, FOR SOME REASON I THOUGHT THAT MAYBE I COULD GET BY WITH THE AVEO FOR AWHILE AND HAVE IT PAID OFF, BUT NOW I'M STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK AND HARD PLACE TRYING TO GET THE FIX OR BUY A USED ENGINE.

I had the idler pulley replaced on my 2005 Chevy Aveo at 11,000 miles and that was under warranty. Then at a little over 63000 miles it dies on the highway. Had it towed to the dealer and the idler pulley broke again, this time causing major damage to the engine. So far GM is not taking responsibility for the problem. Dealer is telling me $2,500 minimum to fix it. The car isn't worth much more than that since it dents and chips soo easily. I just had to replace the wheel bearings and the horn in the last 5 months, now this. I can't wait to be rid of this car!

My 2005 Aveo died on the highway at 70 mph- my mechanic told me the idler pulley broke in half, and that she had never seen such a thing happen in any car. She advised me to contact GM, as we only had 60,455 miles on the car, and she thought GM should address why such a dangerous break happened. We had the car towed to our local dealer, and they did their own diagnostic, confirmed what my mechanic said, and then told us we were screwed because we were past warranty, AND we had never replaced the timing belt. I've clawed my way up the shady GM food chain as far as our District Manager, the person responsible for deciding we'd be denied coverage for repair costs. I have no contact information for her, and nobody in the GM system will give it to me. I've called the wildly misnamed Customer Assistance Center every single day, e-mailed every day, and am quickly getting nowhere fast. Please advise. Bail ME out, GM!!