My daughter was driving my 2008 chevy cobalt on rte. 219 between ridgewayand bradford, pa on sept. 11, 2009, when she lost control of the steering. It was around noon and lightly sprinkling. She was traveling north at about 50 miles per hour. There was a truck in front of her which she considered passing. She turned to the left to see if she could pass. She decided not to pass and turned right. That is when she lost steering control. The steering took her too far right and into the guardrail, then she bounce off the rail and over to the left side of the road where she hit the opposite guardrail. The road was flat and straight, not the side of a mountain. The car then took her back to the right side of the road where she stopped. The car suffered about $6000 damage. Had there been a car on the opposite side of the road, she would have been struck head on. We assumed because the road was somewhat wet, she must have hydroplaned. We were just relieved she wasn't killed or injured. When I read the article in the paper about the steering, I asked my daughter to describe where happened in the accident. She spoke of losing control of the steering, so now I fear the steering may be faulty and her life my be in danger.
2008 Chevrolet Cobalt steering complaints
Page 11 of 11: complaints 281 to 309 of 309, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I lost control of my chevy cobalt, and totaled my car. The steering has been a problem with it pulling to the right, or left. It had been repaired once, but did not solve the problem. It was scheduled to be evaluated again. The day of the accident the road was snow covered.
While teaching my 16 year old how to angle park jan 30, the steering locked. We were doing a lot of hard turns and had to stop practicing. Because we were in a large parking lot, we switched drivers and I tested the steering. It seemed to be ok but did tug several times. We went to jiffy lube one block away and they said to take it to our dealer. My husband then test drove it around the block and it seemed fine. Since the parking lesson I've noticed that the steering "tugs and then seems fine" when making hard turns, while parking, and while leaving a parking space. We have an appointment with our dealer tomorrow, dropping the car off tonight. My husband and I are sharing the van in the meantime.
I purchased a 2008 chevrolet cobalt for my son to drive. He was practicing parking maneuvers in my driveway when he complained the steering was getting harder to turn. I check the steering and the power steering had failed. I assumed it was because the power steering pump had become hot but it should not fail under those conditions. I seen in the news of the complaints of power steering problems and that is the same problem I have. The dealer I spoke with said they could not do anything about it unless the power steering fails again. I told them am I supposed to wait for the power steering to fail when my kids are new drivers? They said yes.
I was driving down the road about to get on the freeway and "power steering" showed up on my cars message center. If, while driving, I put the car in neutral, turn it off and back on, the power steering works again, but only for a few seconds, usually long enough to do a turn. There have been numerous times that I have almost hit another car because I lost my power steering right before a turn.
Slowed from 25 MPH to turn corner. Power steering failed in turn; all dash lights flashed. Unable to pull car back in time before entering opposing traffic lane. Fortunately, no opposing traffic present. Let car roll to a stop on opposite shoulder & turned car off. Waited a few minutes and turned car back on. Power steering was working when I turned car back on. Car is at dealership to be evaluated for that and for engine light on this morning.
1. Squealing while turning squealing upon start-up stiff steering erratic function lack of power 2. It occurs often, cannot steer, I didn't realize what was wrong with my car until I found the symptoms on-line and I have all of them. 3. Will take it into dealership.
My power steering failed - several times, after my 2008 chevrolet cobalt hit around 45,00miles. I was told the car had just run out of warranty and I would have to pay to have this fixed. I refused, because all over the internet were complaints from chevrolet cobalt users saying that even after it was fixed, the issue returned. They finally agreed to fix it for free. The part was replaced.
2008 chevy cobalt, power steering quit while driving approx length of trip was 70 miles. Shut vehicle off. Restarted approx 15 mins later and seemed fine. Drove straight to the dealer. Dealer says it has been repaired.
I have a 2008 chevy cobalt with a random message light "power steering". When the message light comes on, the power steering goes out. The message light goes off when the car is turned off and will randomly appear again, either going at a slow speed, such as turning a corner or just going down the expressway at 65 MPH. I have taken it to the dealer who tells me the power steering motor is going out and is expected to cost about $500.00. The car was put into the shop today and they have told me now that they want to check everything out and will call me when they find the "exact" problem. I have today become aware that an investigation has been started by the federal safety agency because of approximately 1132 complaints about the cobalt's failing power steering systems. I was told by the dealer that they do not see this problem very often. However, if there have been this many reported incidents there is no telling how many have gone unreported.
I was driving my 2008 chevrolet cobalt with 14,000 miles on it and my power steering system failed. I was able to pull over and shut the car off and once I re-started the car I had power steering back only for a few blocks before it failed again. This happened several times on the same evening. I dropped the car off at the dealership on 2/2/10 and am still waiting to hear back from them.
Chevy cobalt power steering failure. Power steering intermittent . Not working at the moment.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet cobalt. While driving approximately 40 MPH on normal road conditions the power steering light illuminated on the instrument panel and immediately there was a loss of power steering. The driver used extreme force to turn the steering wheel and drive onto the emergency lane. The vehicle was turned off and restarted; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was diagnosed by the dealer and an independent mechanic who were unable to duplicate the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000.
Power steering coming on and going off while driving. I am having to replace it myself.
All of a sudden, the steering wheel has shifted. While driving straight, the wheel is turned a quarter turn to the left. Whenever turning the steering wheel, I hear a squeaking noise and sometimes a "clunk" noise.
In march of 2008 I purchased a brand new 2008 chevrolet cobal in november of 2009 the power steering started randomly going out while driving, completely out
I have a 2008 chevy cobalt that was purchased new and with 51,000 miles on it I have replaced the lower control arm on the right side, sway bar bushing, sway bar, and tires. And now I have to fix the left side I also have a friend that had the same car, same year and about the same mileage he also had to do the same repairs.
My power steering without warning goes out on my 2008 cheverolet cobalt and I only have 45,000 miles on it. There is no recall to fix the problem and warranty does not cover this.
The power steering failure in the '08 chevy cobalt seems to occur at random. With only 6k miles on the vehicle it was taken back to the dealer to be fixed. Now at 10k miles the same problem is occurring. The power steering will stop working and the light in the dash will flash at random. The longer it goes without repair the worse it gets. Eventually it will go out every 5 minutes or less. Only way to fix it is to shut the car off and turn it back on.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 chevy cobalt. While driving 30 MPH the contact merged to the right lane and the power steering malfunctioned almost causing the vehicle to crash. He turned the vehicle off and after restarting it he was able to continue driving normally. Two weeks later, the power steering failure recurred. The dealer has not diagnosed the failure. The VIN was not available. The current mileage was 23,000 and the failure mileage was 22,500.
My daughter was driving a 2008 chevy cobalt and the power steering locked up and she went through a fence into a hay field.
Driving the car on the road, the power steering light comes on, can no longer steer the car.
I was driving about 45 MPH and suddenly the it was hard to steer and the words power steering popped up on my dash. There was lots of traffic. It was almost impossible for me to turn left and right. I turned the car off once I got home for about twenty minutes and I started it up and took it around the block, not even one minute of starting it power steering flashed on my dash. I have had 2 other electrical problems with this car this will be my 3rd time taking it into the dealer for something electrical. My warranty ended at 30,000 it currently had 30,060.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet cobalt. While driving 40 MPH he noticed the power steering failure light illuminated on the dash board and the steering wheel became very difficult to maneuver. He shut the engine off and after five minutes restarted it and he was able to continue driving normally. The contact is in the process of taking the vehicle to the dealer to be inspected. The contact called the manufacturer and was informed that no compensation would be offered since there were no related recalls. The vehicle identification number was unavailable. The failure mileage was 42,000 and the current mileage was 42,500.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet cobalt. While driving the vehicle, the power steering locked and made it difficult to control the steering wheel. The dealer stated that the power steering column and the motor failed. The vehicle was repaired per the warranty. The contact stated that after the vehicle was repaired she continued to have difficulty turning the steering wheel. The dealer has not been notified. The failure mileage was 31000 and current mileage was 31400.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet cobalt. While driving approximately 2 MPH in a parking lot, the steering wheel suddenly locked when the vehicle was shifted into reverse. The driver had to exert greater effort to turn the steering wheel. The failure only occurs when parallel parking in reverse. There were no warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was able to resume normal operation. The authorized dealer was notified of the failure, but there were no resolutions. The technician stated that the failure was common for her vehicle. The vehicle was not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 21,000. Updated 5/27/09 *cn updated 06/01/09.
Driving in inclement weather, car performs poorly. Hard to control and poor traction. Car has 18,000 miles on it. Spoke to an owner with similar car (pontiac g5) who has similar complaint. A week ago an 18 year old girl lost control of her 2007 cobalt during winter weather. Worst car in winter weather I have owned.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet cobalt. When the vehicle is in motion, the power steering fails and the warning indicator illuminates. The dealer stated that the power steering component was burned. Through online research, the contact discovered several complaints on the steering. The vehicle was out of warranty and they stated that the repair would cost approximately $12,000. The failure and current mileages were 63,000.
Driving in traffic and my power steering failed. There is no power steering fluid to check in these cars and it cost $600 just for the part not including labor.
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