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2005 Chevrolet Cobalt body complaints

Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 46, newest first, as owners wrote them.

See the summary of 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt body problems: which part fails, at what mileage and related recalls.

Filed May 5, 2015 · Body · 139,000 miles · ME

Doors are sticking and not opening from the outside, one door will not open at all, handles breaking and got locked inside the car for 2 hours.

Filed Feb 23, 2015 · Airbags, Body · SC · crash · 2 injuries

[xxx]. Was front passenger in a 2005 chevrolet cobalt driven by his cousin [xxx]. On april 19th, 2009. [xxx] lost control of the vehicle and severely wrecked the vehicle. [xxx] was stuck under the vehicle for approximately 4 hours and had to be air lifted to richland memorial hospital when emergency personnel arrived. [xxx] was severely injured and suffered life time injuries. [xxx] airbag did not deploy which caused him to suffer more extensive injuries than he would have if the airbags did deploy. [xxx]. Later found out that gm had known of the problems with the airbag system in the 2005-2006 chevrolet cobalt vehicles but not report this until after [xxx] was severely injured on april 19th, 2009. [xxx] suffered a broken neck, broken bone in his right foot, his right hip was knocked out of joint, also severe back and spine pain. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Feb 1, 2015 · Body · 25,000 miles · NJ

Paint has been fading for the last 5 year from defects in pant job. Part of the frame above the rear passenger said door is bare metal and chipping away. Estimated cost to repair is $5,500.00. I have seen other 2005 chest cobalt with the same problem.

Filed Jan 26, 2015 · Body · 81,000 miles · LA

The door doesn't open from either the inside or outside, even when the car is unlocked.

Filed Dec 30, 2014 · Body, Engine · 212,668 miles · MI · crash · 1 injury

On 01//24/2012 I was driving my 2005 cobalt on the lodge freeway in michigan my car just turn off for no reason while I was driving at 55 MPH ,yes I was injured and lost control of my car .

Filed Dec 30, 2014 · Body, Engine · 202,668 miles · MI · crash · 1 injury

On 01//24/2012 I was driving my 2005 cobalt on the lodge freeway in michigan my car just turn off for no reason while I was driving at 55 MPH ,yes I was injured and lost control of my car.

Filed Jul 1, 2014 · Airbags, Body · 15,000 miles · NY · crash · 1 injury

I was going to work early in the morning. A train was in the distance which scared a huge buck deer. The buck deer with huge antlers ran straight into my car head on. I was not able to steer away from the deer and my car seemed to shut down. The huge buck deer hit me head on. The lights were totally smashed. The hood of the car was completely damaged. The windshield was totally smashed. The roof was damaged and the car was lopsided. The buck deer antlers went thru the windshield just inches away from me.the air bags did not work even though it was a head on collision with great force. My car seemed to shut off and I could not steer away from the deer. I was cut with glass on my face, arms and hands. My neck and back was hurt. I had my seat belt on but my stomach hurt from the dramatic impact. I complained that the air bags did not work and that my car acted strangely in which it seemed the ignition switch shut everything down and I could not control the car but I was totally ignored.

Filed May 17, 2014 · Airbags, Body · 4,700 miles · MS · crash · 1 injury

I rented this brand new cobalt 4 months after hurricane katrina from mobile alabama, so as to go back to my home town of san francisco, ca. By the time I made it through los angeles, at around 430 am. I lost control of car due to severe stiffness in the steering. Which LED to the vehicle running off of I-5 heading north bound at a speed of 60 miles per hour. Visibility was good, I veered off the freeway into the median portion of I-5, and I tried to slow down but no response which LED me to roll over few times, end to end and over and over, luckily I was wearing my seat belt and it held very well, suprisingly, no airbags, none of them deployed, and all the windows blew out, and not the reinforced kind including the front wind shield. The ambulance came, and so did the california highway patrol. There is a report about it which indicates that no airbags were deployed, and I do have pictures of car after incident. I had few bumps and bruises and had few cuts from the glass on my arms and legs, and I had to acquire a few rounds of physical therapy and accupuncture.but luckily I was in good spirits.the car was covered under 3 insurances, which paid for some damage, including my discover card, and my grandma's aarp. And the rental car company.

Filed Apr 2, 2014 · Airbags, Body · 53,379 miles · NY · crash · 2 injuries

I was stopped at a red signal for a few minutes. Suddenly, a university of buffalo student hit my car from the rear at full force. He was texting and when he got out of the car he was still texting. He admitted it was his fault because he was not looking at the road and was texting on his phone. I called the police and obtained a police report. The air bags did not work. My mom and I were jolted forward at full force with back and neck trauma. My car stalled on impact of the other car. Luckily my foot was on the brake and I did not hit the car in front of me. I had to restart my car and I pulled the car over to the side of the road in order to not block the busy street. I complained that my air bags did not work but I was ignored. Also, the ignition switch had turned off the car which I thought was strange.

Filed Feb 14, 2014 · Airbags, Body · 97,000 miles · AL · crash · 1 injury

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.

Filed Jan 16, 2014 · Body, Locks · 70,000 miles · WA

Randomly, the driver's door latch fails to function. If the door is open, it will not latch closed. If the door is closed, neither the interior or exterior door handle will open the door. Obviously, this is rather a severe safety concern. If this were to occur after an accident, an un-injured occupant could die from fire--or drown if the car were submerged. I explored the issue on multiple internet forums and found this is a rather common issue. For instance, here is a query on the cobalt ss forum. Just entering "door latch" comes up with these search results. Http://www.cobaltss.net/forums/esp_search.php?query=door+latch&ref=esp-nav-bar&type=all on one poll, fully 50% of all cobalt owners have experienced this issue. 50%. I found there is an the federal safety agency case on the issue. The action number is: "the federal safety agency: action number: 10038344 service bulletin number: 308836." this references the dealer service bulletin #pi0011a. A dealer applied the bulletin, the issue remains. I am now having the latch replaced, however that is no guarantee that the issue will be resolved. Worried I may have this problem at some point with the passenger door, I looked into the latch on the passenger door. The latch is not available and has been discontinued by gm. Even though there is an the federal safety agency action on this issue, gm has seen fit to make fixing the problem impossible. One has to ask, "why is the part sold out?" clearly, the failure rate has been so high that gm has sold out their entire stock of replacement parts. The part numbers needed for my passenger door latch are either 15906018 or 15892690. I can't believe that there is no recall for this. People will die. Gm isn't even stocking all of the parts that might fix the issue. The service bulletin does not fix the problem. Gm knows how to make a door latch that works. Please, require gm to fix this before people die.

Filed Dec 4, 2013 · Body, Electrical · 95,000 miles · CA

Driver's side door will not open from inside or outside. Both the inside and the outside door handles will become "loose" and while easy to pull handles, the door will still not open.

Filed Aug 18, 2013 · Body · 74,230 miles · OH

Rear door opened while driving. Power steering cuts off.

Filed Apr 1, 2013 · Body · 65,000 miles · NE

Can not open door from inside or outside. Vehicle is not locked, will not open. Huge safety concern.

Filed Mar 4, 2013 · Body · 83,000 miles · OH

Unable to open drivers side door either from inside or outside. Doors appear to lock/unlock fine but handle feels like it is disconnected. This has happened multiple times. In researching on internet, I found that many cobalt owners are having the same problem and that a quick fix is to pound on the outside of the door around the handle and that whatever is out of alignment will pop back into place. I consider this to be a very serious safety hazard in that one might be trapped inside of the car with no quick means of exit.

Filed Feb 2, 2013 · Body, Locks · 80,000 miles · PA

At multiple times, the driver side door will not open from either the inside or the outside latch. This seems to happen mainly when it gets very cold outside. When I pull the latch it doesn't feel like it catches anything inside the door. This problem will go on for a couple weeks, and then suddenly the latch will begin to work again.

Filed Jan 13, 2012 · Body · 113,000 miles · NC

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked and upon exiting, the front driver's door would not close properly. The contact was able to successfully shut the door after repeated attempts. The contact also stated that the same door would intermittently fail to open from the inside. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer for diagnostic testing or to be repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 113,000.

Filed Jan 4, 2012 · Body, Locks · 90,000 miles · MS

I was in town with my 5 month old baby and my door handle messed up. I had parked, and exited the car and went around to passenger side of car to open the door and get my son but the door wouldn't open. I locked and unlocked the car door and it was still stuck. It was as though the door handle wasn't latched to anything. It was just there, it wouldn't do anything. I beat and bang on the door for almost an hour until the passenger side door finally opened. The driver side door still won't open, inside or out. This car needs to be recalled. I have read of many others with same problem. My child who is only 5 months old was screaming and I couldn't get to him. This could have been very tragic had it been hot outside. Someone needs to do something about this!!

Filed Aug 24, 2011 · Body, Suspension · 68,902 miles · 00

I have a 2005 cobalt that has less then 70,000km on it and have recently been hearing a loud clunking coming from the front end of the car. I have just had a licensed mechanic look at the car and was informed that my front rear control arm bushings are completely gone and the car is now a hazard to drive till it can be fixed. With such low kms the mechanic had no reason or idea as to why they would be so far gone. I was advised that if the car was driven any further, the tires could fall of and the car would crash.

Filed May 20, 2011 · Body, Locks · 78,000 miles · OR

- sun roof (won't close on one corner) - sun roof switch literally fell out of the socket while driving - power door locks randomly (and rapidly) lock and unlock, whether the car is on or not. It's fun to watch your car lock your keys inside right in front of you. - passenger seat heater button sucked into the dash after being pressed using a normal amount of force. - both seat heaters failed within a few weeks of each other, fuses and connections are good. - heater randomly loses temperature control and won't switch between any of the settings, the heater won't stop blowing hot air in your face, even with the AC on, and the coldest setting. - driver side door randomly won't engage from the inside or outside handle while unlocked, and if it is locked, the key does nothing. In a crash, it may make it impossible to exit the vehicle. - driver's side top corner windshield seal failed. Could lead to water in the electrical system, and fires. - cruise control won't reengage after braking. The fix for this is to push the cc button (turning it off) and pressing the brakes. It resets the cc, and will work again, until it fails later. - passenger side front mudflap came off backing (slowly) over an average-sized speed bump. Luckily, the front fasteners are integrated into the front bumper, so to replace the mudflap would require replacing the entire front bumper. - driver's and passenger's side rear wheel well skirt plastic fasteners have mostly fallen out, causing the foam filler to droop down and rub the tires, or fall out completely. - passenger side rear seat latch in the trunk (that releases the seat to fold down) broke off during normal use. - at highway speeds, the front end shakes violently (also on a completely random schedule) to the point that braking nearly causes the vehicle to go out of control. 2 visits to two different (gm certified) dealerships and all they could tell me was, "we can't reproduce the problem, and don't know what is wrong with it".

Filed Mar 1, 2011 · Body · 115,000 miles · TN

The drivers door cannot be opened from either the inside handle or the outside handle of the the door, thus trapping the driver inside the car or preventing the driver from accessing the car if they are not in it when this happens. The door cannot be opened with either the door key, the remote or unlocking the door from the inside. This results in the driver being forced to enter and exit the car by entering the passenger side and then climbing over the console. This is a common complaint from many owners of cobalts and needs to be addressed. If the occupant was involved in an accident in which it was critical to exit the vehicle, they could not. After several days the door began working again. This has happened several times.

Filed May 20, 2010 · Body, Suspension · 10,225 miles · NH

I own a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. It has 10225 miles on it. It would not pass the new hampshire state inspection because it was unsafe to drive. The front end controller arms needed to be replaced. I feel that there must be others out there with like problems.

Filed Mar 17, 2010 · Body, Locks · 45,000 miles · MD

My 2005 cobalt has problems with the doors getting stuck shut. They will not open from the inside or outside . I feel that this is a major safety issue due to the fact that if I need to get out of my car in a hurry that this will not be possible. Something needs to be done about this problem.

Filed Mar 2, 2010 · Body, Seat belts · 61,882 miles · KY

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact was driving approximately between 15-20 MPH on normal road conditions. A chime sounded inside the vehicle; followed by the power steering warning light indicator illumination. Immediately, there was a loss of power steering. The driver pulled over to the side of the road. The engine was turned off and restarted. The vehicle was able to resume normal operation for a short period of five seconds. In addition, the front driver door caused an extremely intense electrical shock whenever accessing the door. The front driver side seat belt buckle failed to function. The failure occurrences were whenever the vehicle was in operation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer. The technician refused to perform a diagnostic testing without a service charge. The vehicle has not been inspected for the failure or repaired at this time. The contact had concern of the potential safety hazard. The failure mileage was 61,882.

Filed Feb 12, 2010 · Body, Steering · 50,000 miles · KY

I have a 2005 chevy cobalt, for the last month or so the power steering has stopped working lots of times, sometimes it goes out a couple times a day. Other times it don't go out for a week. I am an older lady an I thought with gas mileage the cobalt would be a great car for me. Now I am scared every time I drive,as I am afraid the steering will go out and cause me to wreck. I can't afford to have this worked on . Want to know if there will be a recall as on the tv they said there were lots of cobalts doing this.

Filed Jan 18, 2008 · Body, Electrical · 6,000 miles · MS

Went out to warm up my car, as I do every morning. The car would not start. When we got it started , it sounded like a go kart or 4 wheeler putting. Decided to drive it to dealer and had my husband follow. It made it about 5 miles and started smoking and sparks were coming from the exhaust. It died and wouldn't start back. We had to call in a tow truck to take it to a dealer. The dealer just informed me that it is an ignition module. We will see if that fixes the problem. This car had problems since the day I got it. When I got home with it in august 2005, the trunk ajar light stayed on even though the trunk was not open. Took it in to a shop and they replaced a computer, which immediately burnt out while there. I had to wait an additional week for them to get another one in. About may of 2006 the car was leaking from the air vents and the passenger dashboard. Took it in and the problem seemed to be fixed for a while. May of 2007 I had the same problem and took it to another chevy dealership the problem seemed to be fixed for only 2 days. It still leaks to this day and I get condensation on the dashboard when it s hot enough. My radio has shorted out twice from this problem. My trunk constantly makes weird tapping noises and when people are in my car, they think someone is in the trunk. My car is now at the third local dealership on about its 6 + visit. I see other people with the same complaints as myself, and wonder why we are all paying out of pocket for things that should apparently be recalls. My gauges also work by themselves, when the car is off and keys are removed. The dealers claim this never happens in their view. I am very dissatisfied with my purchase and would not recommend this vehicle to anyone. Mainly because of the lack of concern from the chevy dealers to fix the solutions for myself and others that I have read about.

Filed Oct 18, 2007 · Body · PA · crash

2005 chevy cobalt with inadequate protection in an accident. Consumer writing would like any information about this recall due to his client being killed in an accident with this same model and year of vehicle. *kb (lawyer representing the estate of his deceased client) )

Filed Sep 7, 2007 · Body, Electrical · PA

I have a 2005 chevy cobalt with less that 30k miles I was driving home from work when my car just shut off no hazard lights turn signals brakes steering no power at all I could have been killed in all traffic because there was no way of signaling. It took three tries to get it started again there was no warning check engine light never came on I immediately took it to the dealership because this was the second time it has happened to me I had this problem last year also gm never had a recall they just put a plastic piece around the ignition and said it was fixed I told my dealer that there was a bulletin out about this and I asked them why there was no recall to replace the ignition switch after this second incident gm wanted to put a magnetic device in to keep the key from moving in the ignition any they placed a piece of plastic in my actual key I called gm and placed a formal complaint because this is a serious safety concern people are going to be hurt or killed if they get involved in a rear end collision or have no way of pulling off roadway spoke to my service manager and dealership replaced ignition switch there has never been a recall on this I do not trust that it will not happen again I am afraid to drive this car this is not the only problem I have had with this car the fan blower the shift on the floor the sunroof switch keeps falling out of the roof the window motors have burned out my interior paint and door handles were peeling after the first year I don't blame my service department because they have fixed the car the way gm told them to I feel very unsafe in this car why should I have to wait until he ignition shuts off a third time this could be my last if what is gm doing about this? Are they going to do a recall? What else has to happen to me before they take this seriously? I am extremely dissatisfied with this car and I do not want it anymore. *tr * 12/12/07 *bf the dealer stated driver side rear power window was inoperable. Updated 12/12/07

Filed Mar 27, 2007 · Body · 8,000 miles · CO

Tl* - the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet 2005 cobalt. The contact received recall 07v014000 for the structure. The dealer stated it would take two weeks for the part to come in. The current mileage was 8,000. The contact had not experienced any problems.

Filed Mar 26, 2007 · Body, Lights · NM

Tl*- the contact received two recalls 04560000 concerning exterir lighting:headlights and 07v014000 concerning structure on the 2005 chevrolet cobalt in august 2006. He made three attempts to get the vehicle repaired. The dealer will not give him a loaner vehicle for the day and/or will not give him a ride to work. The current mileage was 45,000. There had been no failures to date.

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