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.
I was driving down a side street go to get something to eat. I missed my turn so I put my Cobalt in reverse and backed up a few feet. I turned right into the parking lot and my car started dinging and displaying "power steering". it was hard as '!@#$% to turn into a parking space.
Our Cobalt has always had very sensitive steering from day one. But we thought is was because it was a smaller car. On Thursday morning while going down a steep hill I hit a small patch of black ice. I lost control of the car. But even when I hit dry payment there still was no control. Trying to steer out of the skid just turning the steering wheel a little, I still was not able to gain control, it would over correct, until the car landed in the ditch. Luckily I was not injured. But car is damaged. Will not know until the shop calls us. This car definitely has a steering problem.
I have an 08 Chevy Cobalt lt and the power steering started to randomly go out at the end of January. I looked under the good to find out that they have electric power steering! wow that's new!! so when the problem got worse and it would shut off every half block after being reset many times. I decided to look up the problem on google, to find out there has been many problems with the power steering in Cobalts for a long time now! recall!! my car is under warranty thank goodness but through the used dealer ship I bought it from! I'm paying 100 dollars to have it fix which is only a fraction of the cost. I'm replacing the power steering motor and power steering module. I will be out at the beginning of the week thank goodness! but I have read that it will just continue to randomly go out until the parts are replaced!
Power steering failed while driving making it hard to steer. The steering however, would work again when the car was restarted after stopping. After a few days the power assist failed completely. The vehicle was taken to the Chevy dealer and the electric motor was replaced. The dealer kept the part.
My daughter was driving my 2008 Chevy Cobalt on rte. 219 between ridgewayand bradford, pa on Sept. 11, 2009, when she lost control of the steering. It was around noon and lightly sprinkling. She was traveling North at about 50 miles per hour. There was a truck in front of her which she considered passing. She turned to the left to see if she could pass. She decided not to pass and turned right. That is when she lost steering control. The steering took her too far right and into the guardrail, then she bounce off the rail and over to the left side of the road where she hit the opposite guardrail. The road was flat and straight, not the side of a mountain. The car then took her back to the right side of the road where she stopped. The car suffered about $6000 damage. Had there been a car on the opposite side of the road, she would have been struck head on. We assumed because the road was somewhat wet, she must have hydroplaned. We were just relieved she wasn't killed or injured. When I read the article in the paper about the steering, I asked my daughter to describe where happened in the accident. She spoke of losing control of the steering, so now I fear the steering may be faulty and her life my be in danger.
I lost control of my Chevy Cobalt, and totaled my car. The steering has been a problem with it pulling to the right, or left. It had been repaired once, but did not solve the problem. It was scheduled to be evaluated again. The day of the accident the road was snow covered.
While teaching my 16 year old how to angle park Jan 30, the steering locked. We were doing a lot of hard turns and had to stop practicing. Because we were in a large parking lot, we switched drivers and I tested the steering. It seemed to be ok but did tug several times. We went to jiffy lube one block away and they said to take it to our dealer. My husband then test drove it around the block and it seemed fine. Since the parking lesson I've noticed that the steering "tugs and then seems fine" when making hard turns, while parking, and while leaving a parking space. We have an appointment with our dealer tomorrow, dropping the car off tonight. My husband and I are sharing the van in the meantime.
I purchased a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt for my son to drive. He was practicing parking maneuvers in my driveway when he complained the steering was getting harder to turn. I check the steering and the power steering had failed. I assumed it was because the power steering pump had become hot but it should not fail under those conditions. I seen in the news of the complaints of power steering problems and that is the same problem I have. The dealer I spoke with said they could not do anything about it unless the power steering fails again. I told them am I supposed to wait for the power steering to fail when my kids are new drivers? they said yes.
I was driving down the road about to get on the freeway and "power steering" showed up on my cars message center. If, while driving, I put the car in neutral, turn it off and back on, the power steering works again, but only for a few seconds, usually long enough to do a turn. There have been numerous times that I have almost hit another car because I lost my power steering right before a turn.
Slowed from 25 mph to turn corner. Power steering failed in turn; all dash lights flashed. Unable to pull car back in time before entering opposing traffic lane. Fortunately, no opposing traffic present. Let car roll to a stop on opposite shoulder & turned car off. Waited a few minutes and turned car back on. Power steering was working when I turned car back on. Car is at dealership to be evaluated for that and for engine light on this morning.
1. squealing while turning squealing upon start-up stiff steering erratic function lack of power 2. it occurs often, cannot steer, I didn't realize what was wrong with my car until I found the symptoms on-line and I have all of them. 3. will take it into dealership.
My power steering failed - several times, after my 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt hit around 45,00miles. I was told the car had just run out of warranty and I would have to pay to have this fixed. I refused, because all over the internet were complaints from Chevrolet Cobalt users saying that even after it was fixed, the issue returned. They finally agreed to fix it for free. The part was replaced.
2008 Chevy Cobalt, power steering quit while driving approx length of trip was 70 miles. Shut vehicle off. Restarted approx 15 mins later and seemed fine. Drove straight to the dealer. Dealer says it has been repaired.
I have a 2008 Chevy Cobalt with a random message light "power steering". when the message light comes on, the power steering goes out. The message light goes off when the car is turned off and will randomly appear again, either going at a slow speed, such as turning a corner or just going down the expressway at 65 mph. I have taken it to the dealer who tells me the power steering motor is going out and is expected to cost about $500. The car was put into the shop today and they have told me now that they want to check everything out and will call me when they find the "exact" problem. I have today become aware that an investigation has been started by the NHTSA because of approximately 1132 complaints about the Cobalt's failing power steering systems. I was told by the dealer that they do not see this problem very often. However, if there have been this many reported incidents there is no telling how many have gone unreported.
I was driving my 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt with 14,000 miles on it and my power steering system failed. I was able to pull over and shut the car off and once I re-started the car I had power steering back only for a few blocks before it failed again. This happened several times on the same evening. I dropped the car off at the dealership on 2/2/10 and am still waiting to hear back from them.
The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt. While driving approximately 40 mph on normal road conditions the power steering light illuminated on the instrument panel and immediately there was a loss of power steering. The driver used extreme force to turn the steering wheel and drive onto the emergency lane. The vehicle was turned off and restarted; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was diagnosed by the dealer and an independent mechanic who were unable to duplicate the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Iron Ridge, WI, USA