Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. After the vehicle was started, the enhance traction system, check engine, and power steering warning light illuminated intermittently. In addition, when the vehicle was switched into the reverse position, there was an abnormal sound coming from the gear shift. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 10,377. Updated 03/11/16*lj
2005 Chevrolet Cobalt driver assistance complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 45, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Vehicle loses power steering use after driving for a few minutes causing steering to become very difficult especially at lower speeds causing the possibility of a vehicle collision which is very unsafe and chevrolet nor general motors wants to do anything about it, I urge you please do not purchase a general motors vehicle as once again they have shown they do not care about the lives of there customers
While driving home the chevrolet cobalt (which we've only had for two weeks) engine shut off, luckily we were in the neighborhood going slow when this happened. I started the car up again and pressed on the gas but it would not go forward, now only the reverse works.
I was driving around 55 MPH in traffic. I heard a chime and the display on the dash said power steering disabled, the orange indicator for traction control disabled illuminated, the tachometer jumped around and the transmission shifted extremely hard into gear. I struggled to pull over to the shoulder and the car slammed into park. I shut the car off and back on. It still shifted hard so I let it stay off for five minute. After that the car was fine. As an experienced mechanic it felt like the car lost communication with one of the computers. No dtcs were stored. There are a lot of complaints about this online as well.
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?
While in drive, the vehicle made a buzzing sound like electrical wires being fried, and then completely shut off. There were no brakes and no steering ability- the car was completely lifeless, no ability to control it at all, stranded in the middle of a street.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, the power steering failed. The contact also stated that the check engine and the traction control warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,000.
The car will lose power, like it is shifting down, transmission slipping, and either start to stall or will stall. Sometimes, if it has run for a long time the problem temporarily goes away. Not safe to drive however and 3 mechanics have attempted to repair with no success.
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.
On saturday march 29th 2014 I had my recall fixed on the power steering at ryan chevorlet here in minot nd. I get it fixed and parked my car at home until monday april 1st I am driving down the highway and come to a stop light then I began to hear a clicking noise in my dashboard then a notification pops up for my traction control. As I start to move my speedometer is moving from 10 to 20 but im barely going 5. My RPM's are going up also then a notification for my power steering comes up then im worried. I get to my destination and my power steering goes out and I can not turn the vehicle and it shuts completely off. I try to turn it on and it turns over just doesn't start. I call the chevy dealer here and they say they will take a look at it. They had my vehicle for a while just to tell me my car needed gas. Does this make sense or am I being fooled? I have research this issue and it seems like it has happened before to other people. Could someone help me?
I was traveling at 40 MPH when the check engine and traction control lights lit up on the dashboard. Steering was extremely hard, the power steering was not working and I pulled into the nearest parking lot. After several times restarting the car, the power steering was working again.
Power steering gave out while driving.
I went to crank my vehicle then proceeded to put it into drive to take off, but I had no power nothing. Turned my key over to recrank and it crank with no problem. This time allowing me to take off and drive. Now if I have the key in the ignition and turn it to the on position it sputters for atleast 50 to 60 secs before cranking.
My elderly parents purchased this car new from a chevy dealership in palm harbor, fl. They took the car in numerous time for the car seizing up while driving and power steering problems shortly after their purchase. The starter would turn off, the power steering would go out, and they often complained about the car stopping in the middle of driving. There were very few miles on the car when this happened since they purchased the vehicle new in 2005. They took the car in for repair for such problems but were told by the dealership that nothing wrong. They sold the car to me, their daughter, because they had gotten to old to drive and they were too scared to drive the vehicle. I purchased the car from them in apx. 2010 and it had apx 9000 miles. Since the purchase of the car I have had the same problem numerous times. I have taken the car into the chevy dealership for service several time in chapel hill, nc. They insist that they could not get the problem to repeat. When the power steering goes out, the ignition switch turns off thus turning off the car, and the stalling while driving is very scary to say the least. The most recent receipt from chevrolet for this problem is from 8/14/2013 with 42950 miles on the car. Again they said they could not get the problem to repeat. The most recent time it happened was about 2 weeks ago. I replaced the electrical power steering fuse and it has been not indicating that problem. The start still turns off while driving. I think chevrolet has know this was a problem with the chevy cobalt since 2005 and didn't want to do anything about it. $500 toward a new car..,.certainly not enough to want to make me purchase a chevy any time soon. If they can fix the car it would be greatly appreciated.
The traction control light came on, the car started jerking really bad. The check engine light came on, and the "power steering" started flashing on my dashboard. My power steering went out, I was unable to steer the car. I had the car towed to the dealership, they could not get it to duplicate the problem. Exactly one week later, it did it again, once again I had it towed to the dealer. They had the car for 2 weeks and could not get it to duplicate the problem. So, once again I have the car back, lets see how long it takes to screw up this time.
Last year, my 05 cobalt experienced power steering failure and concurrent hard shifting between gears upon power steering notice of failure. I took my car in to the dealer to be fixed in accordance with the associated recall. Last week, one year later, I have experienced the same exact problems again. The car will chime and report "power steering failure". If driving above 15 MPH, there isn't much to notice regarding power steering, however, if changing speed requires your car to shift up or down to a different gear, the car will jerk ("hiccup") heavily, as if an inexperienced driver was trying to drive a car with a manual transmission. The car has 46,000 miles on it and this is clearly not my problem. Please insist that gm issue a recall with a real remedy for this issue.
2005 chevy cobalt --traction light came on dash. Light wouldn't go off. Kept hearing clicking noises in the transmission shift area. Dealer says they can repair but it seems to be a problem on many chevy cobalts and it can be a safety issue because it causes the car to lose power to transmission. Car only has 30,000 miles. Original owner. Light stays on all the time. We tried resetting the warning, but light still remains and clicking sound still remains. Recommend it be a safety recall.
My 2005 chevy cobalt has had repeated problems with error codes that the dealer has been unable to resolve. When these errors occur, the speedometer moves back and forward and the the car attempts to stall. The car does stall at slower speeds at times. Whenever I take the vehicle to bob bell chevy in bel air ,maryland they tell me the can't find anything wrong when drive it . On 02/11/2011, I was told by the dealer rep ray, again,that he could not find anything wrong and to drive vehicle until it does this again and bring vehile in without turning it off and they will then check the codes. My chevy cobalt did the exact same again along with the error code "power sterring" across the screen as I was leaving the dealershipp on 02/11/2011 and I immediately returned to the service shop and the serviice technian obtained the error codes. Ray from the service bob bell chevy stated now I had to pay for any diagnostic work and repairs even though this was a recall problem. My times this vehicle has been in the shop has been well documented by the dealership who each time intially deny their is a problem and state they cannot diagnose any problems unless they can reproduce they problem or I drive the vechile to them while it is happening without turning it off. This car is unsafe and has stalled several times when these error codes occur causing near accidents. I feel more investigation should be completed into why the makers of the chevy cobalt are unable to correctly diagnose error codes and continue to but my life and my family at risk. I am unable to trade this car in to anyone because of the repeated problems and I would never sell it to an innocent buyer who could by hurt with this car. Why gm is allowed to get away with this defective car is not fair.
With no advanced signs or warning (mileage at 99,930), upon starting the vehicle, the traction control and security light came on. The car's RPM revved up and down and wanted to stall. The fuel gauge jumped back and forth. There was a constant clicking in the gear shift and the steering wheel locked into place where I could not turn it. I shut the car off and restarted three additional times before everything seemed to go back to normal and I was able to drive. The next time this occurred was when mileage was at 99960. After several attempts at stopping and starting the vehicle, the traction control and security warning lights went out and I put the car into gear to drive, only to be practically jerked out of my seat with hard shifting and acting light it wanted to stall when coming to a stop. I drove the car directly to the dealership and the problem continued on the entire drive there. Once the car was shut off, the problem could not be recreated at the dealership and therefore I was sent on my way with no explanation of what might be wrong. The next repeat event occurred 3 weeks later (mileage 100,450) but corrected itself with several off/on of the engine. Next occurrence again at 100,600 with same results. This has not yet happened while driving, but I did ask the dealership about the possibility of this happening and he said if it did, I would easily be able to control the car and pull off the road. Personally, I do not want to experience this while driving 55-65 MPH! The dealership said that this could be a costly fix since it is a process of elimination and no guarantees each time whatever they tried would fix it...not much confidence coming from the chevy dealership mechanic!!
*please note...the incident date is approximate. We have a 2005 chevrolet cobalt sedan that was involved in the recall for the power steering motor intermittent power steering failure. We had never had a problem with the steering prior to the recall being performed. After the recall was performed, we began having trouble with intermittent power steering failure - plus additional failures. Upon start-up, we have experienced no power steering, and had to shut the vehicle off and retry numerous times before the power steering returns. In addition to loss of power steering, we have experienced the following electrical problems: traction control light illuminating random clicking of the brake safety interlock relay / actuator (without touching the brake). Check engine light transmission going into "limp mode"..."slamming" into gear when shifting from park - or improper shifting while driving. Random dash gauge failure random failures of the "driver's information center" - flashing, etc. This was initially happening only upon start-up...but started happening while driving as well - nearly leading to an accident while my wife was driving on a busy urban street. She was fortunately able to drift into the turn lane and come to a stop to avoid a collision and likely serious injury to herself and others, as it was virtually uncontrollable. In addition to the loss of power steering (while driving), the transmission also went into "limp mode", causing very hard shifting and much difficulty in drivability. This has also happened while I was driving the vehicle. I am 6'3", 260lbs., and I was struggling to control the vehicle. I have also been in contact with other cobalt owners with the exact same set of "symptoms". It is clear that the motor replacement was not sufficient to repair the problem, and - in some cases - may be leading to further problems as in our case. This vehicle is very dangerous!
While driving vehicle traction control, security light, engine light, brake light, all come on then power steering warning comes on and transmission starts jerking, and is hard to control. It has problems braking and shifting gears. There are alot of problems with this model from chevy and no one seems to have an answer to what causes the problem. I have had into 2 different chevy dealers and still this problem not fixed.
Traction control warning light comes on then my daughters' car jerks violently at times and she has trouble maintaining control of her car , (2005 chevy cobalt). This problem almost caused her to loose total control of her car this past spring , coming too close to causing a serious accident. This happens periodically , no set time span , it has happened about 6 or 8 times since last spring. Our gm dealer said she should bring the car in while the warning light is on so they can pull the code. Unfortunately , when the car is stopped and put into park , the light goes away. And all of these times except one , this problem has occurred after the dealership is closed or well before they open , or she is nowhere near any gm or chevy dealership. This problem is not isolated , I have read of other cobalt owners experiencing the same traction control problem with some of the same results or results that are different from my daughters car. The point being (at least in this case) I believe that gm or chevy should be held responsible for taking care of the problem , before there is an accident that causes severe injury or death . I read about all the others with this problem on the "repair pal" website. The model years seem to be between "04" and "07". The one time my daughter was able to get her car into the gm dealer while the light was on , she had to put the car in park so she could go in to get someone to hook up their computer and pull the code. When they came back out , the traction control warning light was out , as I stated earlier about putting the vehicle in park. Therefore the technician was unable to do anything since there was no warning light ergo , no code to pull.
My 2005 chevy cobalt has several issue with traction control, ABS, and emergency brakes. I have taken this car to the chevy dealership for repairs multiple times and the same problem keeps recurring. All the warning light for tc, ABS, and emergency brake are on again and when this sensor fails the car shifts gears and loses traction control. Very dangerous especially in wet weather conditions. I have heard this a common problem with these types of chevy cars. So what's it going to take to get a recall! A fatality? Someone do something about this.
2005 chevy cobalt-stalls without warning, upon braking, stopping or backing, car will go dead and sometimes unable to re start. Complained to serv dept several time but they say they cant find a problem. Thousands on line with same complaint. Almost hit by train, and other vehicles due to the stalling.
Power steering stop working all the time.
Power steering keeps going in and out.
I was driving along I-20 when the power steering light came on and the power steering just gave out. Thank god I was able to pull to the side, turned the car off started it up, the light went out. Now as soon as I turn the car on it automatically comes on and the power steering is terrible. The car is, of course, out of warranty. Talked to dealer and was told they only had 1 car brought in with this problem and it was costly.
We purchased a used 2005 cobalt and have had this issue with the power steering going out on numerous occasions. Each time the car was taken in they would say they couldn't find the problem and would return the car to us unrepaired as it would do the same thing again and again and on one occasion it almost resulted in a severe accident while my wife and daughter were turning through an intersection and the steering went out. Thank god the other drivers were alert and a near and possibly fatal accident was avoided. They tell us it can be fixed but now that it's out of factory and somehow even extended warranty they had us purchase that was supposed to last until we paid it off have expired they want us to now pay for the repairs and even $100 to even look at the car. We got a report that this car had issues from day one and were never told but received it later from gm indicating the car had a some problems and was sold to our dealership at a gm auction. We feel stuck with this car and trusting in god each day that the problem won't occur and cause loss of life to anyone. Please make gm recall and repair these cobalts so that loss of life or limb isn't a result at anytime. This occurs quit often and should be addressed.
I own a 2005 chevy cobalt 2.2 engine. It started sept 8th 2009 my power steering in my car failed causing me to strain to turn the wheel. I made it with mild damage to my car. I replaced my steering column but the problem still exists. The car jumps like it doesn't know what gear to shift into causing the car to jump and be almost impossible to turn.
My 2005 chevy cobalt has power steering issues since I bought it (11/09). The traction control light comes on and power steering comes on the message board. When this happens and I am driving it, it is very hard to control my steering and jerks when I accelerate and/or change gears. It also becomes a little harder to come to a compete stop. I took it to the dealer and they greased the wires thinking that it was a connection problem. It worked alright for about a month and a half but then the light flashed on again about 2 weeks ago and has flashed on randomly ever since. This seems to be an ongoing problem.
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