2006 chevrolet cobalt with several different issues customer states that car is a lemon and that she drove the 2007 cobalt and it ran beautifully**cc the consumer stated the entire shifter system had to be replaced. The ignition key would not turn in the ignition, the steering column was replaced and the system was reprogrammed, the rotors were machined.
2006 Chevrolet Cobalt electrical complaints
Page 15 of 15: complaints 401 to 412 of 412, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I parked my 2006 chevrolet cobalt in my driveway and overnight an animal climbed up under a plastic schroud over the 4 cyl engine and literally chewed the main wire harness off the connector that feeds the electrical wiring to the engine components , approximately 20 - 30 wires. The wires were inches too short to reconnect to the engine connector, and the whole wiring harness had to be replaced at a cost of $826.00 at a chevrolet dealer. This area is accessible to animals, such as squirrels/ chipmunks, etc. They apparently used the wiring materials for nesting purposes. Should this area be enclosed or further protection be provided on the wiring components to prevent fires or malfunctioning components/sensors to prevent accidents of system faults. Every wire on the connector was separated and shortened overnight. It took the gm service garage several hours to find this fault, and was not covered by any gm liability for leaving access to this area.
Events that lead to failure: 2006 chevrolet cobalt randomly shut off, instrument gauge needles randomly flicker/twitch, bad smell that in my opinion resembled a burnt food/sulfur combination. It started out lightly and randomly for a few weeks, but became heavier and constant over a week. A knocking noise came from the rear of the car, idle surged, and cruise control failed to disengage. Failure & consequences: fire! Component that failed was a canister/sending unit rear of the gas tank with the consequence of a fire and the total loss of my 2006 chevrolet cobalt. The evening prior I contacted my local dealer about the smell and I told them I have no warning lights on. The next day driving to the dealership the smell/odder intensified. My thoughts were, we'll at least they can't say they don't smell it or give me the "can't duplicate it" decision. I only made it halfway when my car had a major electrical/mechanical failure. I was assisted by cars traveling behind me as one pointed out my car was on fire and the car shut down, all without any warning lights! The fire severely burned the entire back half of the car. After being inspected by a very well seasoned fire inspector the fire was diagnosed to come from a canister/sending unit malfunction. Again no warning lights gm! In my opinion the random shutting down of the car, the gauges twitching/flickering, the strange knocking noise and the smell/odder was all part of the same problem. Corrected failures: in reference to the fire, that will be up to gm however, after reading the federal safety agency alarming number of 2005-2007 chevrolet cobalt complaints and technical service bulletins one would be LED to believe that there should be more than just a couple of recalls.
(1) car shuts itself off while I was driving down the freeway. During@ rush hour I veered away ( w-no power to car ),from traffic behind me. Parked ,shut car off, took key out of ignition, then replaced and started it back up, and proceeded enroute. (2) after market cruise control failure to shut off and turn on. (3) result of above (2)after market cruise control takes its own mind and decides to fully accelerate until gearing down in hopes it 'awakes' the computer (automatic transmission),then cruise control will finally shut off. (consequence ) passenger had a heart attack. I called a taxi. "he's ok" (4) service air bags light have been on since 20,k miles I now have 47,xxx miles. (5)stock tires and rims wobble with irritating continous noises -can't ge rid of it. (6) stock seats driver and passenger sides both were installed incorrectlythey are really slantedlike this ( / \ ). (7) a clunking bucket sounding noise fills very slowly, (health problems) an odor is always present leaving me light headed ,nautious while driving, dizzy exiting car,and with breathing problems -like shortness of breath. I have severe back problems now, and can not sit in the car for more than 20 min, upon a break of fresh air and a walk for the spine. (8) brakes sound and feel (when applied),scratchy.@5,000 miles the chevy dealership had to turn and shave allready my disc brakes saying they were worn in. (9) my heater makes a lot of noises when using it. (10) acceleration hesitation.
2006 chev cobalt warning lights did not come on to state that something was wrong**cc the consumer stated she ran over something in the road and as a result radiator was damaged which caused coolant to leak.
Tl* - the contact stated that her 06 chevy cobalt experienced stalling incidents on several occasions. The vehicle stalled while driving at various speeds. The weather condition at the time of the incidents has been fairly warm. The contact has taken the vehicle twice to the dealership the first time was on 12/05/06 and they replaced the ignition switch. The vehicle still continued to have the same problem, so she took it to the dealership for a second time and the dealership replaced the kill switch. The contact can provide copies of invoices if needed.
Upon driving up the on ramp to I-985, the car just shut off for no reason. I was able to move the car to the side of the road, take the key out and restart it. I got the car about 4 feet, and it stopped again. I let the car sit for about 5 minutes, and then restarted it.
I was driving my 2006 chevy cobalt when I was taking a friend to the airport. I was on I-495 n in the lane leading to the exit that takes you to the airport toll road. I applied my brakes and the car did not slow down. Hoping to coast down the exit and pull off to the side of the road, I turned the steering wheel to veer the car left. The car kept going straight. I kept hitting the brakes and turned the steering wheel to the left, but the car did not stop, nor did it turn. We crashed into the guardrail at about 50 MPH. The airbags did not deploy. Turns out the car shut off while I was driving it. This was the second time this had occurred. It happened back in may 2006 and I took it in to the dealership. They kept it for a couple of days and said it was fine. Apparently not.
Dt: the contact stated while driving at various speeds the engine shut off four times suddenly without warning. After sitting a short while, the vehicle restarted every time. The check engine light did not illuminate in the vehicle prior to each incident. The manufacturer alerted the dealership the problem was with the ignition coil. The dealership replaced the ignition coil and corrected the problem. Updated 9/20/2006 -
When turning the headlights from the automatic to the manual position the dashboard instrumentation does not light up. This poses a safety hazard on cloudy / foggy days when the automatic sensor sensitivity is set to high to allow for proper lighting of the headlights and dash instrumentation. When the lights are switched to manual this should bypass the automatic sensor and allow for dashboard illumination however this is not the case.
Two of my friends and I went to brunch on sunday, 5-21-06. I had purchased the vehicle on 5-13-06. It is a cobalt ss. We parked the car in the parking lot. I could not remove the key from the ignition. Since I had another key, I turned the motor off and locked the door. When we came back about an hour later, I opened the door and was able to remove the key. The dealer states: "they inspected shifter and lock cylinder per bulletin 06-07-30-004b and was unable to verify the complaint..." then I started the car with my foot on the brake and put it in reverse. The car lunged backwards, I put it in neutral and then park, then put the hand brake on, but nothing would stop it until it hit a tree brace in the parking lot. The dealer stated, "unable to duplicate but reprogrammed the PCM with updated calibrations j6354..." of course, they would not repair the damage to my 7-day old car. I am lucky there were no people walking in the parking lot at the time!! I obtained 3 appraisals to repair the damages, the lowest being $790.91. I believe gm is responsible for this. It definitely was a safety hazard and I'm afraid it will happen again. Thank you.
2-incidents of sudden acceleration at freeway speeds: the first time the cruise was activated and on hitting resume the car took off on it's own. The coast function did not slow the car and turning off the cruise did not slow the car. I was in fairly light traffic and was able to steer and brake out of trouble until the accelerator returned to normal[the brakes only partially slowed the car because of the high speed involved]. About an hour later I was entering a freeway and at about 40-45 MPH the accelerator went to the floor on its own again and I had only partial control of the car's speed. The cruise was off this time and again after a few minutes and miles the engine revved down to normal on its own. Again traffic was fairly light so I was able to steer and brake through without a crash but in heavier traffic this would be a serious problem. The dealer test drove the car for about 18-miles but could not replicate the incident which is random and intermittent and their diagnostic tests showed these incidents never happened but believe me this is a real problem when these computers or electronic systems malfunction. General motors has opined that this is impossible which is a cover up since everything is controlled electronically. This is particularly dangerous since it happens at freeway speeds and the pedal goes to the max.
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