2005 Chevrolet Cobalt: ABS light or ABS activating

Filed Jan 16, 2023 · Electrical · PA

ABS light lit, Traction light lit, power steering light lit, car jerking, not shifting. Stalling.

Filed Feb 26, 2018 · Airbags, Brakes · 210,464 miles · NC · crash

My wife was involved in a crash in our 2005 chevrolet cobalt on 23 february 2018. Car lost power to power steering motor, ABS brakes, and air bags did not deploy after hitting a tree due to loss of steering and braking ability. I drove the car the morning before the crash and noticed the gauges and speedometer fluctuating moving all around, power steering light flashing on dash, I pulled over and turned the car ignition off and restarted car it then went away. My wife then drove the car going to her work and she called me about 5 minutes after leaving our house saying she has lost control of the car with no power steering or brakes, she was scared and hysterical and said she had crashed under a tree with in 1 mile of our house. The air bags did not deploy upon impacting the tree. I went to help her, I missed seeing the car on the first pass by, because it was in a briar patch under a tree as you can see in the pictures and the amount of damage done. She is very lucky that she was not injured. This car has been in for recalls for power steering motor(2) and ignition switch (1). It was not raining the day of the crash, she crashed approximately 10:20 am. I pulled the car out of the briar patch and drove it back to our house. I feel that this crash was due to the car losing power to steering, braking and air bags. My wife said there was a on coming car, that she was trying to avoid hitting, when the car entered the grass on the right side of the road the soft ground pulled the car off the road into the field and came to a stop after hitting a briar patch and tree. It could have been much worse my wife or someone else could be dead because of the problems the chevrolet cobalt has had. I filed a claim with our insurance company with $500 deductible, so we will probably be without a car because of this accident because of defective problems with this car.

Filed Mar 2, 2016 · Driver assistance · 169,785 miles · CA

I was driving down the road and for no reason my chevy cobalt theft lock came on (ABS) light started flashing and tractions control light came on indicating that the traction control was off then in my dash board it said power steering failure then it was rough idling and fuel goes up and down then it gives rough gears this is the second time it has happened driving down the road this is not safe

Filed Jan 18, 2015 · Electrical · IN

The ABS and traction control light comes on and the car begins jerking.

Filed Oct 1, 2014 · Driver assistance, Electrical · KS

I have had problems with traction control light coming on and when it does the car won't shift properly (automatic), jumps and stutters and dies. Also lose power steering. This has been happening off and on ever since I got the car 5+ years ago. I have had it back to the dealership I bought it at (dodge dealer) at least twice who took it to a chevy dealer and have had it to local chevy dealers multiple times and no one can capture any codes or fix it. Now it thinks the key is in the ignition all the time and locks don't work properly even tho I had switch replaced on recall. Searched internet and see many others have had this same problem and some said it was ABS issue. Why has there been no recall?

Filed Jul 8, 2014 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 46,600 miles · NJ

On 6/22/14, I was coming home from philadelphia and while on the brunswick highway, my 2005 chevy cobalt's dashboard lit up like a christmas tree and I lost my power steering, traction control, brakes, ABS, engine lock, door locks were clicking on and off and I had to pull over 4 times off the highway. My odometer didn't work either. This also made my transmission jerk and slip. It was so bad that when it was switching gears, it was making my entire car shake. I was afraid for my life. I nearly crashed into a semi-truck because my brakes and power steering didn't work. Also, I couldn't go below 65mph on the highway because the transmission was slipping. I made it home but I was still shocked and scared. The next day I took it to the dealership to get it looked at. I thought it was the recall problem with the ignition but they couldn't find what the main cause was. They said it wasn't ignition but some sort of computer glitch. All they did was reset the computer and recommended me to buy anew car battery. I got the new battery and every was fine.on 7/714, the same issue happened again but worse. It happened while my car was parked and again the dashboard lit up. Everything went off again, I lost my power steering, traction control, brakes, ABS, engine lock, door locks were clicking on and off. It took me 6 times restarting the car for the dashboard to be cleared, and then 5 minutes again, the car chimed, and I lost my power steering, traction control, ABS and the odometer didn't work again. I nearly crashed again too. I took it again to the the dealership. On 7/8/14, they told me they replaced the recalled ignition switch, but they still couldn't find the root of the cause of the major electrical issue in my car. They did say my car isn't safe to drive on the road. They asked me to leave it for a couple of days to see if they can find the problem.

Filed Jun 29, 2014 · Electrical, Steering · 38,000 miles · OK

I have this problem on my 2005 cobalt of the gauge cluster going nuts, speedometer and RPM gauge jumping up and down, the lights in the cluster, ABS, security, brake, engine and some others start flashing, the transmission starts clicking near the shifter and the automatic transmission shifts very hard, in fact when slowing for a stop sign or traffic light I have to shift to neutral and then pull the shifter to 1st just to get it to go without stalling, the worse part of this problem is when this starts while traveling down the hi-way and the power steering stops working and I am going around a curve and it intermittently starts working and I have to try not to over steer causing an accident, this first appeared in 2008 and has done it since, no one can fix it not even the dealership.

Filed Jun 25, 2014 · Brakes, Steering · 137,231 miles · OH

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact received notification for recall the federal safety agency campaign id number: 14v171000 (electrical system), the federal safety agency campaign id number: 10v073000 (steering) and the federal safety agency campaign id number: 14v047000 (air bags , electrical system). The recalls repairs were performed but the failures recurred. The dealer was notified of the failure but no action was taken to remedy the failure. The contact stated that the check engine and ABS sensor illuminated intermittently. The steering wheel became hard to maneuver and each time the contact applied the brakes it made a loud noise. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for further inspection, diagnosis and repair. The technician indicated that authorization from the manufacturer was required. The contact was waiting for the vehicle to be inspected and repaired again by a another dealer. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 137,231. Pam

Filed May 23, 2014 · Brakes · NJ

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH the brakes were applied and failed to function properly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician stated the rotors, brakes, master cylinder and the ABS system needed to be repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure and current mileage were unknown.

Filed Mar 11, 2014 · Airbags, Electrical · 28,000 miles · VA · crash

The 05 cobalt, regularly serviced by the dealer where it was bought crashed after going out of control when the ignition switched off on the interstate at 60 MPH. The steering locked, the ABS did not function, when it crashed into the guard rail the air bags did not deploy. The only warning was the dash warning lights all lighting up and the alarm sounds. The one second or so did not allow any chance to the driver to react before the crash. After the accident, when the dealer was contacted, we were advised to contact the gm person. The gm person was friendly and nice, but very firm in stating that we needed to have proof that the car failed, rather the driver at the wheel. The cars computer was not analyzed because the wrecking yard demanded over $700 to tow the car out of the wrecking yard so any investigator could look over the car. Gm told us that it was our problem to pay the bill to allow their investigator to look at the car. We did not have the money. After reading numerous comments on the federal safety agency site and blogs, people never heard a word from gm after they retrieved the computer. The salient point is that many of the over a thousand complaints about the cobalt and other similar gm cars that identified the power steering as the problem that caused a crash are wrong. The power steering was not the cause of the crash. The problem was that the ignition switch turned off. The gm recalls about the power steering problem hide the fact that the ignition switches were turning off while the car was moving down the road. We know that the lack of power assist only affect the car at a stop or very slow speeds. Experienced drivers do not crash their car into guard rails, ditches, trees or other car simply because the power assist fails. That story is what gm has been selling in the past few years.

Filed Mar 8, 2014 · Airbags, Electrical · 25,749 miles · VA · crash · 1 injury

This submission is an addendum to the report that I submitted on aug 15, 2011; reference number 10419491 with the attachments that include the police report, may statement and photos. I submitted my report two days after the accident. Now, after reading the news articles and the gm statements regarding the faulty ignition switch, it is apparent that what I thought was a steering malfunction (per the recalls I received and the statements made to me by gm representatives) was clearly the ignition switch. While driving down the freeway at 60 MPH my dash lights turned on, I immediately lost steering control (I could not turn my steering wheel) and swerved had to the left crashing into the guard rail. The accident report shows my skid marks across three traffic lanes that clearly indicate that my ABS system also was not working. My airbags did not deploy even though my front end was crushed and the car totaled. Nothing on my car worked because the ignition switch had turned off. My original report should indicate that my car suffered an ignition switch malfunction that caused the accident. I was belted in so after being released from the hospital emergency room (I was taken by ambulance from the crash site) I was diagnosed with a cervical sprain, multiple cuts and bruises, sprained ankle and knee. My head impacted the windshield even though I had my seat belt on.

Filed Feb 19, 2012 · Brakes · 142,368 miles · WA

I experienced "catastrophic" brake failure while driving my 2005 chevy cobalt lt sedan w/automatic transmission on the highway. I was forced to make a sudden emergency stop from approx 45mph to 0. The ABS system worked perfectly as the roads were wet and I did not lose control resulting from my sudden stop, with the ABS and traction control instrument lites illuminating. However upon quickly trying to resume travel (since I was straddling 2 lanes on the highway) the brakes would not "release" and fearing a rear end collision from approaching traffic, I shifted into 1st gear and simply drove 15' to the shoulder, fighting against the "grip" of the brakes. On the shoulder, with the ABS & tc lites still on, I was safely able to repeatedly shift in and out of park and repeatedly pumped the brake pedal until finally after approx 1min they released their grip and the ABS & tc lites turned off allowing me to resume travel. I traveled for approx 10 min at 65mph w/cruise control, when suddenly an alarm sounded with the ABS & tc lites illuminating again. I traveled approx 1mi before exiting the highway to investigate the alarms and their meaning. I entered the off ramp at approx 60mph and attempted to slow the vehicle but the brake pedal simply went straight to the floor with no pressure! I quickly repeated the action with the same result. Fearing a hydraulic loss, I began pumping the brakes with no success. Simultaneously I downshifted to 2nd however due to the near 60mph speed this had no effect as the automatic transmission will not downshift until reaching a safe RPM level for that gear. My final resort was using the parking brake which only slowed the car to approx 25mph until they also became inoperative with smoke billowing from the rear wheels. I ran through the intersection, finally stopping 1/2 way up the opposing on-ramp, thankfully due to the slight incline.