2007 Chevrolet Cobalt: battery drain or dead battery

Filed Nov 15, 2019 · Electrical, Lights · 50,000 miles · MD

The automatic headlights on the car do shut off intermittently. They also turn on by themselves sometimes when the car is parked and off. We have been stranded with a dead battery when this happens. This seems to be a common problem with the 2007 and newer cobalts. Typically cars had a physical relay to control the headlights. In these cars the relay circuit is built in the underside of the engine compartment fuse box. The box is not seal properly and moisture gets into the box, causing a failure on the circuit board. This car first started doing this back in 2009 when my daughter had it. I recently took the car back and it was still behaving in this manner. The work around that seemed to work for a long time was to manually turn the auto lights off using the multifunction lever on the steering wheel. Today, the lights started coming on by themselves when the car was parked. Also, turning the auto lights off manually has stopped being effective. We are now fearful, will the lights shut off while we are driving, and off course will we be stranded with a dead battery when parking the car. The solution seems to be to replace the fuse box in the engine compartment a $200 part plus a few labor hours. Then you have to rig up a solution to make the defective box seal, such as adding weatherstripping. I feel this should be a safety recall for gm to fix at no cost to customer. [xxx] *pm information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Dec 27, 2014 · Electrical, Seat belts · 75,550 miles · TX

On the 2007 chevy cobalt, the key gets stuck in the accessory position and cannot be removed. You must either jump the car or push the switch under the steering column to remove the key. With the key in the accessory position, the battery drains and renders the radio inactive. This adds to an additional safety concern because the seatbelt chime and blinker sound go through the radio and cannot be heard when the radio is inactive. Chevy stated that you must bring in the car to have the radio reprogrammed for $130 each time the battery goes dead.

Filed Oct 24, 2014 · Electrical, Engine · 80,000 miles · VA

First the battery died in the car. After that the car fell apart. The keys became lodged in the ignition and would not come out. The stereo lost all and complete power. Fuses were checked for the radio none were blown. As a result of the keys being stuck in the ignition, it drained power from the battery and I had to turn the interior overhead light to on and the car would then regain power and start. All except the radio. The recall for the ignition cylinder was announced and I had the car serviced at a gm dealer. After the repair of the ignition cylinder the keys still were lodged in the ignition switch. I was told the switch lever needed to be replaced. How could a dead battery cause all of this at once. The radio and electrical issues happened directly after the battery died and never returned back to normal even after purchasing a brand new battery.

Filed May 13, 2014 · Electrical · 67,201 miles · MN

I stopped the car, put it park, I turned the key off but it would only turn to aux. I could not get the key out. I used my spare key to lock my car after turning off all lights, radio, anything that might drain the battery. No safe with key in the ignition yet the car is locked. I did this for a month and looked in the car manual that came with the car and I found there is a emergency release in the steering column. After removing the small square emergency door under the steering column, I had to figure out through the wire harness where the small button I needed to push it in and hold it with one hand and use the other hand to turn the key to the off position and release it from the cylinder and have been doing that since. When the recall came in from gm with the ignition problem stopping in aux which will not deploy the airbags and seatbelts, I took my car to get it replaced as the recall directed. When it was replaced at the dealer, I still could not get the key out as prior repair. I have contacted gm and they said they contacted the dealer and then dealer called me and said I needed to pay $255.00 to fix it. I called gm back and they refused to correct their liability. If I get in an accident, the safety airbags and seatbelts will no work causing more damage to my passengers and myself. I should not have to pay for their liability.

Filed Sep 30, 2012 · Electrical, Steering · 151,000 miles · IN

Battery died in car, had to jump the car. Car started fine, steering seemed to be a little tight. After a few minutes of driving the tightness in the steering went away. However upon arriving at home the key would not come out of the ignition, and the shifter would shift into any gear easily without having to press in the shifter button. Also in attempts to remove the key the steering wheel is now locked all the way to the right with the wheels locked in the right position. Was able to remove key from ignition by locating the emergency key release switch under the steering column but car will not start now as key wont turn all the way, and shifter still shifts into any gear without having to press the shifter button. Car was parked front first against building so I have no idea how I will get it towed out of there to a shop to fix it! I suspect the shifter cable assembly at the end of the shifter which is made out of plastic is broken. Will verify when its taken apart. I have seen at least 50 other cases on the internet where this piece breaks and causes the car not to register it being in park and will not release key from ignition. Gm recalled certain years for shifter problems but not the 2007 unfortunately!

Filed Mar 4, 2010 · Electrical · 46,000 miles · TX

The key gets stuck in the ignition and drains the battery.

Filed Jun 8, 2009 · Electrical · 39,000 miles · MD

Key stuck in the ignition of a 2007 chevy cobalt. My daughter went to the mall and realized that she could not remove the key from the ignition. She had to drive all the way back home and park in the garage(thank god we had one). It was the weekend so there was no service that could be done for the car. Since it was in the acc position, her battery died over the weekend. Roadside assistance provided jump however, the car had to be taken to the dealer and at the rate of $99.00 per hour they will diagnose the problem (which is already reported as a tech service bulletin. Where does the madness stop?... This is a known problem yet, the dealer can still charge for repairs. This is crazy.