The 2006 added it’s own special flare with gas leaks due to cracks in the “return portion of the modular reservoir assembly.” A recall of 2006 Cobalts was issued to fix the problem, but only to vehicles sold in or current registered in Arizona and Nevada, leaving other owners to pay for repairs themselves.
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 power steering on my 2006 Chevy Cobalt has failed 3 times in the past 2 weeks. The first 2 times, I was just pulling into my driveway after driving about 60 miles when the steering failed. The car chimed, the dashboard display read "power steering, " and the car instantly became difficult to maneuver. Both times, the failure occurred just after or during a sharp turn after a long drive. The most recent failure, today, happened while driving in a straight line, at low speed, after only 20 miles of driving. When the car is restarted, the steering becomes fully functional again. However, I am worried that it will fail again at a critical moment. I cannot predict when it will happen next.
We lost the power steering on our car twice. The first time, was when we were turning around. The second, was on the highway going 70 miles an hour. After the second incident, we had the power steering motor replaced. They installed a motor kit, part number 1 20763801. We do not have the old parts.
While driving, my vehicle beeped, read "power steering" on the dashboard, and all power steering was lost. Once the car was turned off and restarted, power steering appeared fine but continued to fail with no notice.
Power steering quit during turn coming from school. I left college last night to go home (a two mile trip) when I turned from the main hwy onto my street the power steering light flashed and the chime ding twice I had no steering! I went into a parking lot and stopped I was frighten and didn't know what to do I called my dad who is 3 hours away crying he said turn it off and start it again. The light went out and I had steering but one mile after that it went out again. I refuse to drive this death trap. He is coming to get it Saturday and try to get it fixed but that it for me cant trust it on the hwy trying to come home on the weekends.
Power steering warning came on and wheel became very hard to turn. I was on a curve at the time and almost went into a ditch. I was able to stop the car on the side of the road. GM dealer says they have never heard of this problem even though many, many people have described steering problems on Cobalts. GM should recall them immediately.
- St. Charles, MO, USA
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The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact was driving approximately 50 mph on normal road conditions. There was a sudden loss of power steering. The steering wheel required greater force to turn. The driver pulled over to the side of the road with caution. The engine was turned off. The vehicle restarted and resumed to normal operation for a short period of time. The failure was intermittent and progressed whenever the vehicle was in operation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing. The failure was contributed to the electric power steering motor. The vehicle is in the process of being repaired for the malfunction. The failure mileage was 85,000. The VIN was rejected from the system.
On 9-1-09 I was driving my '06 Chevy Cobalt lt 4dr sdn on a city street traveling at approx. 25 miles per hour when the steering warning light came on and it became extremely difficult to control and steer the vehicle. I luckily managed to get it to the dealership who diagnosed the problem as an eps motor failure. They replaced the motor at a cost to me of over $400.
The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact was driving approximately 5 mph on normal road conditions when the power steering warning light indicator illuminated on the instrument panel. Immediately, there was a loss of power steering. The driver backed into a parking space. The engine was turned off with the warning indicator illumination. The vehicle restarted and resumed normal operation. The failure occurred intermittently and progressed. The vehicle will be taken to an authorized dealer for inspection. The failure mileage was 94,300. Updated 3/17/10 the dealer replaced the power steering motor. Updated 06/18/10.
Power steering failure on my vehicle. I currently own a 2006 Chevy Cobalt. At slow speeds my power steering feels as though it wants to go out, it is hard to steer my vehicle. I have had this car in the shop four different times for the steering column and other reasons. Overall my car has been in the shop over 25 times.
I own a 2006 Chevy Cobalt which I purchased about two years ago. Love the car- however I've had an occurrence happen to me three times now with the power steering. The first occurrence happened when the car had approx 45,000 miles on it. I was driving down the highway (approx 55 mph) and the display on the dash in front of the steering wheel read "power steering" and the car began to lose power and jerk. I pulled over, made some calls, and turned the car back on. I drove to the nearest dealer (without any problems) and made an inquiry- we first checked for fluid however came to find that it is electronic and was told that if I continued to have problems to make an appointment to have the car scanned. I did not have any more problems until recently when we were driving on the highway again and the same thing happened. Only now the car has approx 80,000 miles on it. I have an appointment to get the car scanned however I felt it was necessary to file a complaint as it could have lead to a safety concern for passengers if an accident had occurred. This morning I adjusted the steering wheel height and again was presented with the "power steering" on the display screen proceeded by jerking and loss of power especially when driving at a lower speed (25 mph). I have done some online research and found that many other Cobalts have experienced similar incidents. I would suggest an investigation into the matter as well as a possible recall for such vehicles or parts before this could become a major safety issue for drivers. I would love to be able to continue to love my Chevy Cobalt, but do need to consider the safety of my passengers as well as myself. Thank you for your time.
I have a 06 four door Chevy Cobalt. When I got it from the dealer it was in good condition, but 50,000 miles later the power steering has been acting up. While driving I get a message that I have no power steering, I have power steering at first, when it starts, but shortly after the power steering goes out. The power steering is also electric, and the miles I put on the car is freeway miles. No excessive steering wear and tear. It is quite a chore driving around town, with no power steering. This is supposed to be a luxury compact car which I enjoy but with no power steering, it makes want to hate to drive it, instead of loving to drive it once I got it. Because of the bad malfunction, if asked, I would not recommend this car.
The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that the vehicle made a couple of loud sounds as if a bell was ringing and then the power steering failed. The vehicle was turned off and then back on in order for the power steering to function normally. The contact had to turn the vehicle off and on at every intersection in order to have the power steering work properly. The current mileage was 17898. The failure mileage was 17840.
I had a 2006 Cobalt that started having power steering problems shorting after reaching 36,000 miles. One time I was turning onto a road from a parking lot. The power steering went out and I could barely steer the car into the proper lane and avoid an accident as a car in the opposite lane was approaching. This is a dangerous engineering problem with Cobalt. I have not had any satisfactory reply from Chevrolet customer service on this problem. I believe, judging from many other complaints, that Chevrolet needs to issue a recall on this, or at least repair the problem at one cost to buyers. Thank you.
Vehicle was making a slow turn into a parking lot when the power steering experienced a complete failure. There was no prior warning that this failure was about to occur. This was the only time the failure was experienced. Steering became difficult, but since the vehicle was traveling at a slow speed, the driver was able to maintain full control and safely park the vehicle. The vehicle was allowed to sit for several hours and then restarted and the power steering was again operational. The vehicle was taken to a dealership for service the next day. A power steering motor kit # 6.605 was installed on the vehicle to correct the problem. The old part was retained by the dealer.
Power steering went out on my 2006 Chevy Cobalt, has just a little over 57,000 miles and from reading the reviews on line I am not the only one that has had this problem.
About 2 weeks after purchasing a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt (or as of approx 2 weeks ago) the vehicle's power steering began to random shut off. The power steering is available every time the car is started but is always disable after 1-2 minutes down the road and stays that way until the car is turned off and restarted, although at that point it last 1-2 minutes again and so the cycle continues. The consequences as of yet are simply the bother and difficulty with 'winding roads' and parking lots. Due to experience with a similar car and minimal travel there have been no related accidents as of yet. The failure has yet to corrected due to various constraints.
I have a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt and unexpectedly the power steering fails. It makes it very hard to turn into a parking space or any kind of movement for that part at slow speeds. Unfortunately I hear the fix cost over 1000 dollars, money that I don't have on a fixed income. I bought the car used in the summer of 2007 and by the summer of 2008 the problem started to happen sporadically and then more often. It seems to happen more quickly and often when it is hot outside and I live in Texas which is normally hot most of the year. It is very annoying to have to turn my car off to get the power steering to work.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Peachtree City, GA, USA