CarComplaints.com Notes: The Cobalt was introduced to replace two of Chevy’s smaller cars, the Cavalier and Prizm. But the compact’s fresh start that Chevy was hoping for was riddled with issues, most notably widespread power steering failure.
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact received a recall notice and was waiting for further notification. The contact stated that while driving 35 mph the check engine light illuminated on the instrument panel and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and who made minor repairs. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 13,000 miles. The current mileage was 13,252 miles. Updated 6/17/14
My Cobalt, which is now totaled, was in a highway accident and the car malfunctioned. The front end of the car collided into the rear end of pickup truck and then went out of control and the left side of the car smashed into the concrete guardrail. At some point during the crash, the car shut off and the airbags never deployed. When the car finally stopped, my fianc was unable to turn it back on and had to push it off the busy highway before someone else hit the car.
The vehicle shuts off while running. I've stopped at stop lights and when I try to continue driving the car will shut totally off while in drive. The door locks are constantly running up and down and will not stay locked. Many times I've come back to the car thinking it was locked to find it unlocked itself. The electrical problem has created a problem with brand new batteries. I've replaced it twice since purchasing the car in 2010.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. He received a recall notice in the mail and he was advised that the parts were not available. He was driving approximately 65 mph and the vehicle shut off he hit a pot hole and his temperature light came on and GM stated they are not responsible. The contact occasionally had difficulty getting the vehicle to start and had to make several attempts with the key. He had to wait until the vehicle cooled down almost two hours and was able to drive very slowly to his residence. He advised them in 2005 that something was wrong with his ignition after he purchased the vehicle in July 2005. The failure occurred in November of 2005. The dealer drove 20 mph to test drive the vehicle and was unable to reproduce the failure. The contact advised them that he was driving 65 mph when the failure occurred. He cannot drive the vehicle because the anti freeze continued to leak out of the vehicle. He was advised that the struts, bushings, timing chain, link and the water pump was leaking because of the failure. The manufacturer made an appointment for him to have the vehicle diagnosed at a dealer and was told that it would take 20 days to a month before the manufacturer could send someone to diagnose the failure. The vehicle is currently at his residence. The dealer notified him today to ask if the manufacturer scheduled an appointment to diagnose the failure. The dealer where the vehicle was purchased and diagnosed are no longer in business. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was over 120,000 miles.
I know my car is involved with the GM recall for the ignition, as I called the Chevrolet 1-800 number. Yet I have still not received a recall letter. Which concerns me very much. How do I get a letter? and when will I get this letter. Why is GM not moving faster with this recall and trying to get the cars fixed, when it is so dangerous to drive the car, but we have no choice too.
- Milton, NY, USA
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I was traveling home with one other passenger in the car with me at 35 mph, the car turned off, the steering wheel locked up. I was scared and didn't know what to do. I shifted the car from drive into neutral and then restarted it, then slipped it back into drive... I've never been more scared then when I had absolute no control over my car. Im just lucky I didn't panic. This has happened twice to me. I now don't feel safe driving my Cobalt and very disappointed this problem has been fixed. To me I don't feel safe driving myself or my family in that car.
After stopping at a light, I proceeded into the intersection and the car just turned off, locking the steering and would not restart. I coasted over the lanes of traffic and attempted to restart the car three times. Eventually I was able to restart it.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that while driving 25 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning and caused the contact to crash into another vehicle. The contact sustained bruising and contusions to the face and hands. A police report was filed of the incident. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 93,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that while driving 60 mph, the vehicle stalled accompanied by the illumination of the check engine warning light. The failure was recurring. In addition, the instrument panel failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 13,000.
My 2005 Chevy Cobalt cuts off on me whenever I am on hills, going through curves, stopping at red lights or stop sign and sometime when I am simply driving down the street. If I am in rush hour traffic it cuts off on the highway as well. Once or twice a week my power steering will go completely out while I am driving. I just read in the newspaper that if you only have the one key that it will not cut off but that's not true either. My car cuts off weather I use mu key on the key ring or the key that I have that is not on the key chain. Not knowing what was causing the car to cut off all of the time, I have changed the battery, ignition switch, and the throttle something or another. I have invested a lot of money into this car trying to figure out what the problem is. I am at my wits end T this point and was just about to give up when I read the article in today's (03/09/2014) paper. Maybe I can get some kind of help with this issue now.
Car has shut off twice in the past 4-5 weeks. It happens on rough road. Engine dies and car shuts off. Car has to be restarted. This is a safety issue on the road. Recall has been noted on media and newspaper article for 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. These incidents when car shuts off actually happened before I seen the recall on the news. When I called Chevrolet to report issue I was told I would need to wait for recall letter before I could get the repair done. I feel that due to safety issue and my car actually having this problem that I should not wait until April for recall letter. I was told recall letters would not go out until April 2014. This same problem also happened to my Cobalt last year on 3-4 occasions during winter months when roads are more rough. GM's number for initial recall is 13454 and 14063 for the expansion recall. I do not want to pay out of pocket for the repairs. I am reporting this due to safety issue on the road. Need this car for work!
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that while traveling various speeds, the vehicle suddenly lost power. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 119,000.
The ignition on the car is loose and just through the weight of the key chain and by hitting a bump, the key can shift out of the "on" position, causing the car to turn off. This has happened on several occasions, typically on the highway - the car will completely shut off. Fortunately, each time my wife was able to coast to the side of the road and restart the car. The dealership said that this is a common problem in this model year. The dangers of this condition are obvious.
Car stalls out when you stop or even on the highway!! my car stalled on the highway. Will not start again. No engine light came on!!!. needs new engine!!!! after googling my car. Numerous same issues. This should be a recall!!
Sitting at a turn light, cars started to move and I started to accelerate when I heard a loud pop noise (was not going over more than 10mph). So I pulled over and looked opened the hood to find my oil cap, filter, a black piece, and spring had popped out of the oil filter location which was in the block. Oil had been spewed all over. I took the oil cap to a Chevrolet dealership and the service guy said he had never seen the oil cap and filter pop out of the block, he examined the cap and only noticed one minor break in the threads of the cap. He said that the black piece and the spring that go in the cap must have failed which in turn cause the cap to pop out of the block, he also told me to look at the block to make sure it was not cracked. I then inspected block to make sure it was not cracked, which it was not, and had a new cap, filter and oil installed.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that while driving 25 mph, the engine stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and repaired but the contact did not know what was specifically repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 205,510.
While driving, the check engine light came on and the information display on the dashboard flashed "power steering." The car began shifting in and out of gear. The shifts are very rough and cause the car to jerk. There is also a rapid clicking sound that comes from the area of the gear selector. The code for the check engine light relates to the transmission control module.
After starting the Cobalt or even if I am driving down the interstate at 70 mph, the T/C lights, brake lights, power steering lights all light up on the dash. The speedometer and RPM gauges start going crazy. The radio will also go in and out. Usually on the interstate, the car will continue to drive, which is very scary. But if I am in town or slowing down to stop, the car will cut off. Then after I crank it again and start to move, the transmission changes gears really rough and feels like it is going to fall out. The only thing I have found to fix this (after weeks at different dealerships) is to turn the car off and flip the key on and off several(20 plus) times.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hanover Park, IL, USA