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 she received notification of NHTSA recall campaign id number and contacted her local dealer to secure an appointment for repairs. The dealer advised the parts needed to make the repairs were not yet available. An independent mechanic attempted to locate the parts needed for the repair also but to no avail. The vehicle was not repaired and the contact believed the recall was not being addressed within a reasonable amount of time. There were no failures to date. The current mileage was 123,000.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. While the contact was driving approximately 50 mph the steering wheel locked without warning. The vehicle stopped in the middle of the road. The power steering warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence, and then to the dealer. The technician replaced the steering column and the bushings at the cost of $1322. A recall notification was received after the service repair. The defect was related to the recall under NHTSA campaign id number 10V073000 (component: Steering: Electric power assist the manufacturer refused to reimburse for the prior repair related to the recall. The failure mileage was 77,909.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. While the contact was driving approximately 45 mph the power steering failed without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The failure was related to the body control module (BCM). The vehicle was repaired for the malfunction. The contact received a recall notification after the service repair was performed on the vehicle. The prior repair was not included in the reimbursement. The contact stated that the defect was related to computer failure. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was 50,000. The current mileage was 80,000.
In October 2008 while driving 15 mph my 2005 Chevy Cobalt had a power steering failure which almost caused a collision with another vehicle. My vehicle jumped a curb, luckily no one was hurt. There was only 41,223 miles on the vehicle. I had to tow the vehicle to a GM Chevrolet dealership where they informed me that I had to pay $773.81 to replace the steering column, because it was out of warranty. On March 3, 2010 after having accumulated 62,522 miles driven on my vehicle. I while driving to the store, started having steering problems. I noticed that the steering was becoming difficult to turn. Then I became aware (while watching the news that night ) that a recall on the electric steering motors for 2005 Chevy Cobalts was issued. I contacted GM Chevrolet but was told I had to wait to receive a recall letter on my vehicle. I informed GM Chevrolet of my previous steering problem in 2008, but was offered little assistance. I was informed that if I wanted the vehicle inspected I would have to pay a diagnostic fee and I would have to pay for any repairs performed. I was made to wait a month for a recall letter. In my circumstances I think requiring me to pay for a diagnostic and repair on a vehicle which has a recall is unfair, considering I had a previous problem steering in 2008, before a recall was issued. I received the recall letter yesterday, and had the vehicle repaired today, but I couldn't drive the vehicle for the last month, because of the steering problem. Now they are stating that they will not reimburse me for the original repair that was done on 10/30/2008, even though another GM dealership informed me that it was the same problem, although in 2008 they replaced the whole steering columns which was the norm, but now the are correcting the steering problems by replacing the electric steering motor.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 mph, the power steering failed. She then noticed the failure on an intermittent basis. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealership for a diagnostic test; the dealer informed the contact that the power steering was defective. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was approximately 66,000. The current mileage was 70,485.
2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, had power steering motor fail while driving in November 2009, had it replaced at a Chevrolet dealer, dealer stated steering shaft will also fail as a result of bad motor and should be replaced, no money, steering shaft now making noise and vibration, Chevrolet dealer said steering shaft is bad and needs replaced, GM representative, after 10 days of dealing with them said until I receive letter from GM they will not reimburse even though I had GM dealer do work. They stated steering shaft not included in recall although car is becoming increasingly difficult to drive. Please help. Thank you
I was driving on rt 222 in Pennsylvania when the power steering in my Chevy Cobalt failed. This made it difficult to steer the vehicle. I stopped teh vehicle approx 20 nminutes after the power steering failed and turned the vehicle off. I then restarted the vehicle and the power steering began working again.
The contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. While attempting to pull away from a stop light at 5 mph, the engine suddenly shut off. The contact was able to restart the vehicle but the power steering would not function. Each time the vehicle was restarted, the power steering would stop working once the steering wheel was turned. The vehicle was towed to the dealership where the contact was informed that the power steering was defective. The dealer repaired the problem and the contact had not noticed any failures since. The failure mileage was approximately 72,000. The current mileage was approximately 76,600.
Power steering failed while driving my 2005 Cobalt. I pulled over on the side of the road, turned the engine off. When I turned on the car power steering worked. However since then it randomly happens while driving. Notified dealer today, they have not returned my call. (paddock Chevrolet buffalo NY)
I have a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The power steering intermittantly goes out. This has been going on for about a year and I have taken it back to the dealer twice, but they have been unable to fix it.
Chev 2005 Cobalt 63000 mile on the clock, I purchased the car in December 2008. In Jan 2010 I was driving on a highway at 50 miles an hour when a chime sounded and the console flashed power steering. I did not feel much difference in the car at that time. This next happened 2 days later. It seemed that turning the car off would rectify the problem. With in the month, the car was experiencing the problem on each drive I took with in the first 15 min. I had a problem while in the school car park that it failed and I lost all control I was able to stop the car with the brakes. Almost hitting a small child and the car mounting the curb as I was unable to turn the wheels. I contacted GM in late February when the incident happened and was told the problem is not something they are aware of and that maybe a patch on ice caused the loss of control. It was the following day that while driving on the highway at 50 miles an hour the chime sounded and the console flashed power steering. The car lost all power. It did not stall or run out of gas it quick working. I was unable to get the car to restart. I was lucky that I was in the right hand lane of traffic and was able to pull over to the hard shoulder. The car would not start for over an hour. When the car started I returned home. I had a mechanic look over the vehicle while it was working and no problem other than the failure of the power steering could be found. The car has lost all power and shut down with in 5 mins of the car running. The car will not start. It will be days before the start. It now when it starts, the chime sounds and flash power steering flashes and the car shuts down. This is an unsafe car. The problem is serious and life threatening. To think I could have taken the life of a child if the car had not stopped when it did. The car is sat in the garage I am not able to drive.
I have a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt I think I got the car in like February of 2007 I'm not sure on the dates but I say a little bit after I had got it like about 6 or 7 mouths after I had bought the car it stated to do what it wanted to do like the power steering would lock up on me on a turn or when I would turn the wheel really sharp. My sister was driving the car and she was like you need to get this fixed before you have a wreck or something bad happens. I'm like I cant get it fixed the warranty has ran out on the car. Then I would turn the car off and turn it back on and it would work fine. Then on one occasion me and my 2 friends was going shopping and I let her drive my car and we was in the middle of the intersection when she adjusted the steering wheel and the car shut completely off on us while going down the intersection cars were everywhere around us. All the gauges went down all the light went off everything just cut off and shut down so we let it coast to the gas station that was on our right we could not do anything the steering wheel was hard so it took 2 of us to turn it. I think that something in the electrical system has a short in it or is felling because my lights when I put it in gear or out of gear the light dim on me and then my power locks don't work so I cant lock my car any time I want to. The locks sometimes you can hear them going up and down in the car. My car got broken into the other night and I have a police report for that because my locks did don't work there for somebody got in my car and stole something from me. If my locks would not keep going up and down then I could keep my car locked. But about a month ago my light on my gear shift just quit working. I have to like tap on it or put the gear shift up in park then back down to drive for it to come on and then it will go right back off. Then I have to change headlight and bulbs around my car every other day cause they just go out. But it has to be electrical cause they short out.
Power steering failure on my 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. No prior problems, just happened suddenly. Occurs weekly. Receive "power steering" warning on dash display and lose all power steering.
TL * the contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. While sitting idle at a traffic light, the power steering failed without warning. She then shut off the engine and restarted it to find the power steering had reset itself. She also stated that the drivers side door latch was inoperable. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where she was awaiting completion of unknown repairs. The failure and current mileages were 54,000.
2005 Chevy Cobalt had power-steering failure that led to accident causing total damage to the vehicle and partial damage to another vehicle. Minor injury of passenger.
Power steering on my 2005 Chevy Cobalt quits intermittently, at least 10 times in the last two weeks. Contacted dealer, gage motors in grand haven, mi, who denied that a recall (GM# N100023) has been issued on this problem, (ref NHTSA campaign id# 10V073000).
- the contact owns a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated while pulling out of the driveway at 20 mph the power steering failed without warning. The vehicle was taken an authorized dealer on two separate occasions for the identical failure and a diagnostic test was performed. The repair parts were at a cost of $300. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The failure and current mileages were 98,000. The VIN was unavailable.
05 Chevy Cobalt (eps) power steering just stops working you can dive the car maybe a mile and the power steering just stops working. You can turn off the car and restart it and it will do the same thing in a mile or so has started doing it just driving strait.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Deltona, FL, USA