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 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that the key became lodged in the ignition switch and she was unable to shift gears since the shifter failed to move. The contact mentioned that the failure prevented her from turning off the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 90,000.
Battery died in car, had to jump the car. Car started fine, steering seemed to be a little tight. After a few minutes of driving the tightness in the steering went away. However upon arriving at home the key would not come out of the ignition, and the shifter would shift into any gear easily without having to press in the shifter button. Also in attempts to remove the key the steering wheel is now locked all the way to the right with the wheels locked in the right position. Was able to remove key from ignition by locating the emergency key release switch under the steering column but car will not start now as key wont turn all the way, and shifter still shifts into any gear without having to press the shifter button. Car was parked front first against building so I have no idea how I will get it towed out of there to a shop to fix it! I suspect the shifter cable assembly at the end of the shifter which is made out of plastic is broken. Will verify when its taken apart. I have seen at least 50 other cases on the internet where this piece breaks and causes the car not to register it being in park and will not release key from ignition. GM recalled certain years for shifter problems but not the 2007 unfortunately!
Purchased vehicle brand new in 2007 and no problems till now. 22 year old daughter driving vehicle, she is a college student. She drives in major city daily and driving home from school gauge cluster went crazy and power steering went out. Scaring her, she parked the car in a church lot and I sent the car to a dealer the next day. I had found on the internet that there was a recall on the power steering assist motor and informed the dealership of such when the work was to be done. They replaced the motor under the recall but also charged me $780 to replace the steering column which they said was bad. I have found 1000 + complaints on the internet of people saying their steering columns were supposedly bad as well with 1 person having theirs replaced 3 times now. She picked the car up and 2 weeks later the same thing occurs again. The dealership looks at it for 4 days and claim they can't find anything wrong so do nothing but investigate. They claim the codes were erased on the computer because we drove it after the fault but the car was parked and immediately hauled to the dealer on a flatbed truck. As I said before there are well over 1,000 complaints on the internet that I have found myself so I am sure there are a lot more. As soon as I can afford it this car will be put in town square with a big lemon sign on it and she will be driving something other than GM.
When coming to a stop, the car will accelerate on its own. It does this at random times, today at stop sign the car speedometer accelerated to 80 mph and car shut down while at a complete stop. No codes to read nor did check engine light come on.
- Woodsfield, OH, USA
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The key can not be removed from the ignition switch. Eventhough the shifter is in the park position. The key does not return to the remove position. You can turn the engine off, but the key remains in the accessory position so the battery runs down. Repeated efforts of cycling the shifter and turning the wheel does not rectify the problem. When I took it to the dealer the shifter was replaced at a cost of $287. Fortunately, this happened when I returned home and was able to park in my own garage. It would have been unfortunate if I had been on a trip or an important errand and would have to left the key in the ignition in a public area. When I "googled" this problem on the internet in an effort to find a simple solution, I found numerous similar complaints in regards to the Cobalt car.
Driving down the road the power steering light comes on, power steering goes out, RPM, speedometer and fuel gauges go to zero then rapidly move back and forth, transmission slips, check engine light and auto theft lights come on. I have had the power steering recall fixed. This has happened multiple times now. At first it would go away if the vehicle was restarted, however, now I have to have it towed to the dealership to have it fixed. This will be the second trip to the dealership in 1.5 weeks.
The power steering of my 2007 Chevy Cobalt went out Nov 27, 2009, late at nite on I-95 - freaked me out and caused me to be stranded! no dealerships service dept. Open on weekends, so I gave up and drove it back to Florida on Sunday (took 10 hours). Anyway, called local dealership, Chevy corporate and filed a complaint with NHTSA... unfortunately I had no choice but to take it to dealer for diagnostics and then call corporate back where they said they "might be able to assist with repairs but wouldn't know until diagnostics were done..." dealership informed me that they "believe" the problem could be solved by replacing the power steering motor if I would only pay $350 for labor (they would generously donate the motor...) I declined (for now anyway) as we will try to repair it ourselves... I cannot afford to pay for this and shouldn't have to as the car isn't that old. The warranty just ran out in September as seems to be the case for many who's blogs I have read. They also noted on the summary that the motor might not actually take care of the problem and if it didn't then they would have to replace the steering column for another $800 plus labor !! my car has not yet been repaired and is still dangerous so I don't drive it unless I just have to go somewhere and have no other option.
Clutch failure, theres a mechanism that does not allow you to spin the wheels into 3rd gear on the 2007 Chevy Cobalt ss. This mechanism has caused my girlfriends clutch to be burned up over a one month period. The vechicles clutch no longer fully disengages and will not allow the car to move. The part(s) have not been established yet because it is currently in the shop as of 3 P.M. today. If you would like more information on this please contact me through either my email or phone number, or even reedman of langhorne.
While driving down the road my power steering light flashed and suddenly I could barely turn the wheel I was able to get to a gas station and my car is currently being repaired but thousands of other people have had the same problem with this car which was easy to see with just a little research online.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- St Petersburg , FL, USA