2005 Chevrolet Cobalt: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Oct 7, 2015 · Acceleration, Electrical · TX

2005 chevrolet cobalt. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle electrical issues. *smd the consumer stated she experienced problems with the cruise control and clutch not working upon purchasing the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the repair shop 2-3 times. In july 2015, the vehicle stalled.

Filed Nov 4, 2012 · Acceleration, Steering · 87,666 miles · MI

After having taken my car into the chevrolet dealer for a power steering failure the car acted up again. They replaced the power steering motor however after about 1 hour of driving the cruise control disengaged and the power steering message came on the display. The gauges started going crazy and the check engine light would flash on and off as well as the parking brake light. At lower speeds there was a clicking sound from under the automatic transmission box and the car jerked when changing gears. This is extremely dangerous as driving on the free way at those speeds can lead to fatalities. I am extremely thankful nothing happened. General motors needs to get this right as clearly replacing the power steering motor is not the solution to the problem!

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.

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 Dec 26, 2008 · 60,000 miles · TX · crash · 1 injury

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. While driving approximately 70 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle suddenly flipped over three times. The weather conditions were dry. Due to shock, all the contact could remember was climbing out of the vehicle. She was informed by witnesses at the scene that the vehicle was traveling at a high speed and flipped over while exiting off of the freeway. The contact sustained a fractured vertebrae, internal bruising, and a cracked tailbone. A police report was filed. A couple of months prior to the failure, the contact stated that the power steering was difficult to maneuver and the warning indicator was illuminated. The vehicle was not serviced at that time. The contact had previously taken the vehicle to get a rod inspected, which was located between the brake and the steering. She was informed that it was not a serious issue at that time. The current and failure mileages were 60,000.

Filed Sep 3, 2007 · Electrical · 26,996 miles · NC

I had been driving my 2005 chevy cobalt coupe yesterday for about an hour and a half when it just suddenly shut off. I had the cruise control on and was going about 80mph and I have about 27,000 miles on the car. I lost power steering and had to coast over to the side of the road. No warnling lights came on before hand. After I pulled the car over, I was able to restart it with no problems and it drove fine all the way home for another hour or so. I have seen many other complaints on this website similar to this one. Luckily there were no cars around and the road wasn't very busy but its disturbing to imagine what would have happened if that had not been the case. The car is going to be worked on tomorrow so I don't know what the dealer thinks is wrong with it yet.

Filed May 15, 2007 · Acceleration · AZ

I was traveling home from work yesterday when a came upon a slow vehicle going at 55 MPH. I was going at 65 MPH. I turned off the cruise control when I came upon the slow vehicle and some oncoming traffic went by. When it was clear I started accelerating to pass the slow vehicle. As I was accelerating the gas pedal completely fell and stuck to the floor and rpms shot up to 4 , range from 0 to 8. The car accelerated to 70 MPH then 80 MPH, and then 90 MPH. As the car was continuing to accelerate I tried braking but the car was still accelerating while it was braking at the same time. I was getting closer and closer to a car ahead of me. I was getting real close when I put the gear into neutral and I tried braking , but it was hard to press the brake pedal. The car finally slowed down and I managed to pull over to the side of the road. When I was pulled to the side of the road the car engine was still racing and the rpms were still at 4. I put the gear in park) and turned off the engine. I tried restarting the car, but initially it wouldn't start. I waited a few minutes and the car started. This malfunction almost caused me to hit another vehicle from behind at 90 MPH! I drove home at 50-55 MPH, afraid to go faster than 55 MPH. I took the car to the dealership/repair shop where I purchased the car, and they told me it was only the floor mat that got caught on the gas pedal. After, I pulled off the road after the incident I checked the floor mat, but it was no where near the gas pedal, and why would the gas pedal fall into the floor if the floor mat was in the way? I am afraid to drive the car , and am now renting a car to commute to and from work. I called other auto repair shops, and they indicated that I should not bring the car in until it happened again. This incident almost caused a serious accident! So now I am just suppose to drive it until another incident similar to my experience happened again?!

Filed Apr 24, 2007 · Electrical · 24,000 miles · MI

My 2005 chevy cobalt has shut off 3 times while driving on the expressway. The car acts just like you turn off the ignition while you are in the driveway, except you are driving 70 MPH and there is traffic all around you. When we pull over and park the car, the car starts right back up and drives fine. There have been no obvious warning signs indicating that something is going to happen. The first failure was when my wife was driving the car for about 45 minutes. She told me that the cobalt turned off while she was driving and had to pull over and turn it back on. She was driving at 75 MPH and did not have cruise control on. The second time I was driving the cobalt with her as a passenger. We were driving at 75 MPH for about 40 minutes when the car turned off. We made an appointment with the dealership and told them about it. The dealership replaced the defroster switch and updated the computer. The third time I was driving with my wife. We were driving at 75 MPH with cruise on a really straight stretch of highway. I was not touching anything and was talking to my wife when the car turned off. I pulled over and immediately called the dealership. The dealership drove the car for 40-45 miles and checked the computer. They told us that they saw no codes and could not duplicate the problem. They gave us the gm customer service number and I them regarding this safety concern. Gm told me to take it to another dealership for them to look at it to see if they could duplicate the problem. This dealership only drove the car 8 miles and told us that they did not have time to spend driving the vehicle longer. I called gm again, the adm of the area passed on to us that, since the problem cannot be duplicated, the only things that we can do is to 1) attach a flight recorder to the vehicle and continue driving it in hopes that this problem continues and we can catch it with the flight recorder or 2) take a service man on a road trip to see if the problem duplicates.

Filed Jun 7, 2006 · Acceleration, Airbags · 10,819 miles · GA · crash · 1 injury

1) months prior to the accident at high way speed (65 to 75 MPH) after several hour (from 1 to 4) with the cruise control engaged, when disengaging the cruise control, the car would vibrate violently. Gm claims they can not duplicate the problem. 2) brakes failed - applied brakes in traffic, pedal was soft and then went hard like the power brakes was not working, but the car did not slow down, causing the impact in the rear of a pick-up truck. 3) according to the air bag report the car was traveling over 30 MPH, but the air bags did not deploy on the frontal crash.

Filed Feb 8, 2006 · Airbags, Brakes · GA · crash · 1 injury

The 2005 chevy cobalt we purchased for my daughter has a violent vibration that is intermittent. The vibration usually happens on long trips, when the car is at highway speeds of over 65 MPH for 45 minutes or longer with the cruise control on. Then when coming up on slower traffic, you touch the brakes to disengage the cruise control, a violent vibration proceeds. If you apply more brakes the vibration gets worse. This vibration requires the driver to maintain both hands on the wheel to control the car. This vibration will last from a few minutes to 15 miles. Usually when the vibration stops the cruise control will not work for a minute of 30 minutes and up to 3 days. We have take the car to the dealerships 5 times. 2 dealerships in or around tampa florida and the dealer we purchased it from in jonesboro georgia. Each time they dirve the car a few miles at highway speeds over 60 MPH and declare nothing is wrong. As we stated above and to the dealerships, it takes a minimum of 45 minutes or longer at speeds over 65 MPH for this vibration to happen, and sometimes it will not happen. We have started the lemon law process in georgia and have asked for a replacement car or purchase back by gm. We are awaiting there actions. Since the manufacturer's last attempt to fix the car, in which my daughter drove 2 hours and the vibration started as they were existing the express way to the dealership, she over heard the service manager acknowleged "the problem is in the brakes' they contacted the gm rep in atalanta area, and decided to do nothing to fixe the car. Now yesterday, when my daughter was about to slow down on the connector in atlanta, due to slower traffic, the brake pedal went soft and then "hard as a brick" causing the car not to stop and hitting the pickup truck in front of her. The air bags did not deploy and she now has a "mild concusion". She had to miss work yesterday and today. What can be done to force gm to fix this brake problem or replace the car?