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 stated while driving approximately 55 mph, the vehicle stalled as the power steering warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the ignition switch needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The approximate failure mileage was 31,000 and the current mileage was 71,155.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that the ignition module failed and caused the vehicle to stall sporadically and without warning. The failure was recurring. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic twice, who was unable to diagnose the failure both times. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign id number:14V047000 (air bags, electrical system) after the failure and was awaiting the parts needed to repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
I am not quite sure of the date as it was a years ago. My grand daughter was driving this car when someone turned left in front of her. It was deemed the other persons fault. She hit this car going somewhere between 25 to 35 mph. The air bag never deployed. I am now only bringing this up as I am reading about the 2005 Cobalt being recalled and that it some cases the air bag did not deploy. I still own this car and today received my first notice from GM that this car is being recalled for an ignition problem. The engine never stopped in this accident that I am aware of. I just wanted to pass this information along to you Agency. Thank you this may not be the date but I had to put something in the required field. The car was purchased from progressive Chevrolet. That is also where it was repaired they may have info. On actual date.
The 05 Cobalt, regularly serviced by the dealer where it was bought crashed after going out of control when the ignition switched off on the interstate at 60 mph. The steering locked, the ABS did not function, when it crashed into the guard rail the air bags did not deploy. The only warning was the dash warning lights all lighting up and the alarm sounds. The one second or so did not allow any chance to the driver to react before the crash. After the accident, when the dealer was contacted, we were advised to contact the GM person. The GM person was friendly and nice, but very firm in stating that we needed to have proof that the car failed, rather the driver at the wheel. The cars computer was not analyzed because the wrecking yard demanded over $700 to tow the car out of the wrecking yard so any investigator could look over the car. GM told us that it was our problem to pay the bill to allow their investigator to look at the car. We did not have the money. After reading numerous comments on the NHTSA site and blogs, people never heard a word from GM after they retrieved the computer. The salient point is that many of the over a thousand complaints about the Cobalt and other similar GM cars that identified the power steering as the problem that caused a crash are wrong. The power steering was not the cause of the crash. The problem was that the ignition switch turned off. The GM recalls about the power steering problem hide the fact that the ignition switches were turning off while the car was moving down the road. We know that the lack of power assist only affect the car at a stop or very slow speeds. Experienced drivers do not crash their car into guard rails, ditches, trees or other car simply because the power assist fails. That story is what GM has been selling in the past few years.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated while driving approximately 50 mph, the check engine warning light illuminated as the vehicle stalled, causing the contact to crash into the rear of another vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. There were no injuries however, a police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and ruled as destroyed. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign id number: 14V047000 (air bags, electrical system) and stated that the recall notification was not received until after the crash had occurred. The vehicle was not inspected to determine the cause of the stalling or air bag failure. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 103,000.
- Kinston, NC, USA
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This submission is an addendum to the report that I submitted on Aug 15, 2011; reference number 10419491 with the attachments that include the police report, may statement and photos. I submitted my report two days after the accident. Now, after reading the news articles and the GM statements regarding the faulty ignition switch, it is apparent that what I thought was a steering malfunction (per the recalls I received and the statements made to me by GM representatives) was clearly the ignition switch. While driving down the freeway at 60 mph my dash lights turned on, I immediately lost steering control (I could not turn my steering wheel) and swerved had to the left crashing into the guard rail. The accident report shows my skid marks across three traffic lanes that clearly indicate that my ABS system also was not working. My airbags did not deploy even though my front end was crushed and the car totaled. Nothing on my car worked because the ignition switch had turned off. My original report should indicate that my car suffered an ignition switch malfunction that caused the accident. I was belted in so after being released from the hospital emergency room (I was taken by ambulance from the crash site) I was diagnosed with a cervical sprain, multiple cuts and bruises, sprained ankle and knee. My head impacted the windshield even though I had my seat belt on.
I was on my way home from work when a kid failed to yield to oncoming traffic. I hit him on the passenger side with the front of my vehicle. I was traveling approximately 40 mph. His airbags deployed, my air bags did not. I proceeded to file a complaint with GM. After several months going back and forth with the complaint process with GM: They said there was nothing wrong with the car. They also stated that with the type of front end impact, they would not expect the airbags to deploy. I argued that the other cars did with a side impact, mine should have with a frontal impact. I do have pictures that tell the story very clearly. I also went through 6 - 8 weeks of physical therapy to try and cope with the pain. I still have pain 3.5 years after the crash. Updated 04/07/14 updated 07/22/14
Was hit from a car going 70 miles per hr. The seat belts that morning were not working for the driver side, enabling my mother to have safety protection. We have evidence and pictures of this, she was thrown out of the car. The passenger side airbag did not deploy, because we were hit at such a fast speed, it caused our car to spin around in circles and run into a building. The passenger side seat belt also did not lock up, causing me to be thrown into the driver seat without the airbags presence to keep me in place. I am disgusted to know there was acknowledgment of this in 2004 yet they just now choose to call a recall on these situations.
While making a left turn, the car felt as if it was sliding and hit a guardrail. Then, slide alongside it. That impact propelled my car across the street and it collided with a guard-wall, on the other side of the street, totaling the vehicle.
My son was driving back from work at 11:30 P.M. on a dark desert road when he came upon a man fixing a tire at the side of the road. This gentleman's car was out onto the road a bit and the dps officers were called by other drivers since it was a hazardous situation. My son then came along and hit the car with the right front of his car (no deployment of airbags at this point). Then attempted to correct the situation and rolled his car onto the desert floor landing on the roof. Still no bags deployed at this time. There were sparks coming from the vehicle and he crawled out the driver side window. At that time the dps officer was at the scene. He sustained seatbelt burn to his neck, road burn to arm, back and cut finger from broken glass.
This incident occurred at about 9:30pm on the night of 9/21/11. The failure of the air bags and steering occurred on NJ state route 78 West, about 50 feet before the ramp to route 31. There was no traffic congestion on the road, and visibility was good. I was fully awake, and was familiar with driving this route on a daily basis. While I was driving my 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt home from college, my vehicle lost power steering right before I got onto the ramp. Keep in mind that my vehicle was traveling completely straight at the time when the power steering light came on, and about half a second later my vehicle began spinning to the right. Before I could slow down or straighten the car, my vehicle had rotated almost a full 90 degrees to the right. At this point the ramp had started, and thus to avoid hitting the guard rail on the right side of the road I made a strong effort to turn the wheel to the left and straighten my car. I succeeded in turning the wheel to the left, and thus straightened my car out until my car then started to spin to the left, and bounced off of the guard rail on the left side of the ramp at approximately 40mph. A couple seconds elapsed from when the power steering light came on, to when my car hit the guard rail. After the car bounced off of the guard rail, it continued to spin for another 270 degrees, and came to rest on the narrow shoulder, parallel to the road. The air bag did not deploy, and after I shut the car off and turned it back on, the power steering warning light had disappeared entirely. Although I drove the car off of the ramp, as I was instructed to by police, the car was totaled due to significant damage to the front of the body and frame of the vehicle. After the incident I discovered the previous recall on the power steering motor, however when I checked with the dealer, their records indicated that the recall was fulfilled.
My 05 Chevy Cobalt was driving on the high way going about 70mph switch lanes and my power steering got out of control and got into a wreck hit some one beside me.
I have a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt 4 dr sedan. While traveling down the service road on I-35 I started to cough, I blacked out for a split second. After coming to I realized there was a sharp turn in the road. I hit the brakes hard, the ABS did not work. I went through a sign, it tore up the front drivers side of the car then hit a concrete barrier on the passenger side of the front end.I hit my head on the steering wheel and the air bags did not deploy on either side of the car. With the ABS locking up it caused the car to skid approx 300 feet, without safely slowing down. None of the airbags deployed.
Air bag light is on continuously and now the power steering light goes on and you loose steering as you are driving. The air bag light was fixed 1 time by dealer and now it is on again and they say they will not fix it because it has been tampered with but they are the only one's to work on it I have my repair invoice. The power steering light just started coming on and now you loose steering as soon as it goes on. It almost caused an accident the first time it happened because I was going around a curve and a car was coming the other way and I lost my steering. Luckily I didn't hit the other car but I think this is a major safety hazard.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that the front driver and passenger seat belt retractors were locked. He also stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated on the instrument control panel. He refused to have the dealer inspect the vehicle because they wanted to charge him $100. The vehicle has not been repaired. He called the manufacturer and they referred him back to the dealer. The failure mileage was 53,000. Updated 5/19/08 updated 05/19/08
After driving for 30 minutes at a speed of 55-60 mph on the interstate, I was on the off ramp merging from one interstate to another, when the cars ahead of me starting slowing down. I applied a sudden pressure to the brakes to slow down also; however, the brake pedal went soft and then it seemed like the brakes locked, but did not slow down. The car made a sudden jolt to the right bringing me into the on coming traffic in the next lane. This resulted in a collision with another car. Resulting in a total loss to the Cobalt. The air bags did not deploy eventhough the front end of the car was destroyed.
My Cobalt has been in repair the center at 2 different dealerships for a total of 17 visits. The air conditioner leaks excessively into the passenger floorboard. My headlight indicator comes on repeatedly, my temperature controls do not always work, my emergency brake light comes when the brake is not on, most recently my gauges have been quitting as I am driving and my left blinker has stopped working. My car has been in a shop for a total of over 60 days since I bought it in Sept. 2005. I have contacted GM/Chevrolet in an attempt to settle these problems and they will not assist me. My warranty will expire in less than 8000 miles. GM/Chevrolet - manufacturer and dealerships- will not assist me. I am very unsatisfied with my purchase, GM delivered a defective car and they will not stand by their reputation.
I got in an accident on October 17, 2006 and my air bags did not go off. I had a frontal impact and nothing came out. Result was that I hit my head at the connecting part of the windshield and roof of my car.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Avonmore, PA, USA