2005 Chevrolet Cobalt: multiple warning lights

Filed Sep 29, 2016 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 130,000 miles · MO

The first time it happened, was at interstate speeds.(60 to 70mph) the second, was in city stop and go traffic. The third was backing out of my driveway after a 5 minute idle. The fourth was when my last mechanic was test driving it because he thought he'd fixed it. Dash lights blink on and off, all warning lights come on, engine cooling fans stop operating, transmission hunts for what gear it should be in; resulting in the transmission self destructing. Engine management, other than the cooling fans, seems to be unaffected. I've replaced 4 TCM's so far; as all mechanics say that is the problem. It works for a few days or a week, then the same problem manifest. This seems to be a problem with quite a few gm vehicles.

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 Mar 3, 2014 · Electrical · 93,000 miles · MN

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated intermittently, all the lights and instrument panel gauge lights failed to illuminate. The vehicle was not taken for diagnosis or repairs. The approximate failure mileage was 93,000.

Filed Oct 23, 2012 · Lights · 70,000 miles · MD

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that the rear running lights and all of the dashboard lights failed without warning. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 70,000 and the current mileage was 78,000.

Filed Sep 4, 2012 · Electrical, Steering · 103,000 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that the tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge and several warning lights illuminated intermittently. The contact stated that while driving, power steering failed. As a result, the steering became hard to maneuver. The vehicle was not taken to a repair shop or dealer for inspection or repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who stated that the vehicle should be taken for diagnostic. The failure mileage was 103,000 and the current mileage was 153,000.

Filed Nov 7, 2011 · Steering · 101,445 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that the power steering failed intermittently and as a result, several warning lights were illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for repairs under the federal safety agency campaign id number: 10v073000 (steering:electric power assist system) yet the failure recurred one year later. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. No repairs were performed. The current mileage was 154,000 and the failure mileage was 101,445.

Filed Sep 7, 2011 · Steering · 75,500 miles · KS

Loss of power steering, multiple warning lights appeared. Recall was done 1/24/11. Loss of power steering and warning lights august 3, 2011. Dealer unable to find problem. Loss of power steering and warning lights august 31. Again, dealer unable to find problem.

Filed Jul 18, 2011 · Steering · 75,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that the vehicle was repaired for the recall associated with the federal safety agency campaign id number 10v073000 (steering:electric power assist system). The failure recurred approximately six months later. When approaching an intersection and depressing the brakes, all of the warning lights started to illuminate on the instrumental panel. The power steering suddenly failed and she was unable to manuever the vehicle. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where they did not offer any assitance because the vehicle was already repaired under the recall. The failure and current mileages were approximately 75,000.

Filed Aug 2, 2010 · Electrical · 88,500 miles · OK

After having the recall work done on my 2005 chevy cobalt for the power steering assist less than 2 hours later all of the lights on the dash start flashing ( brake, ABS, traction control, security ) the transmission starts acting up and you could hear a clicking noise coming from the shifter and the dash LED said power steering......and sure enough the power steering failed, pulled to the side of the road shut the car off for a few minutes then restarted the power steering re-set but the rest of the problems persisted, finally got the car to the house by manually shifting the transmission because if I didn't it shifted very hard like it was going to tear something up, got on line found that this problem is found in other cobalts, one suggestion was to remove the battery cable over night and that should re-set everything, I did that and sure enough it re-set it, however this has happened about 15-20 times since the re-call work so it's not the assist motor at fault it is g.m. At fault for not re-calling this problem.

Filed Jul 12, 2009 · Steering · 43,572 miles · GA

I bought a 2005 chevy cobalt lt sedanfrom carmax in june 2008. Since I have had it the power steering has frozen numerous time during driving, locking up while going 45 MPH is very dangerous to say the least. I have taken this car back to the dealer and they claim not to find anything wrong with the car. Now the power steering will lock up one day and the next day it will be fine for two-three weeks, then the same thing will happen again only worse. First time it happened, the power steering was slow to respond and the transmission was jerky. The second time, the power steering was hard to turn the lights came on in the drivers info center indicating a problem and the transmission started making clicking noises. The third time the power steering actually froze during driving, all the dashboard lights came on and the transmission, speed odometer all were acting if there was water in the gas or something meaning it was not responding when I put my foot on the gas. I have taken it back to carmax, they acknowledge a problem, but they "cant fix", they then say it has to be taken to a gm dealer who say they cant detect a problem during a diagnostic test. This a very dangerous situation and a very dangerous car to drive. I have refused to drive unless they fix the power steering, they have kept my car waiting for it to "duplicate" the problem which is ridiculous. This car needs to be recalled and that power steering system replaced. Gm knows that this is a huge problem but refuses to now even listen to any complaints now that they are in bankruptcy. But this car definitely needs to be recalled before someone is killed.