The first occurrence was on 9/9/2011 at 7:30 am in the morning. The vehicle would not start. The second occurrence was on 9/9/10 at 5:00 p.m. The vehicle started and when arriving at designated location the vehicle would not stop in park. The engine continued to run, unable to take key out of ignition, the vehicle when put into other gears was able to drive. We attempted to get the engine to stop and get the key out of the ignition but we failed to do so for a lengthy period of time. The battery had to be disconnected with the engine running. This decision was made after no other alternatives could be made to shut off the vehicle. This was a dangerous situation and could have cause electrical burns or other issues while doing this.
2009 Chevrolet Cobalt electrical complaints
Page 6 of 6: complaints 131 to 151 of 151, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Issue: my ignition key will not turn once inside the ignition, preventing my car from starting. Dealership: will charge for replacing and cylinder, housing and key if vehicle exceeds bumper-to-bumper warranty (36,000 miles or ~2 years, whichever comes first). Cost including labor is $797 + tax! Number of occurrences: 2 safety: depending on where you last park your car, you can be stranded anywhere! Tip: I have learned from the tow company that this is the most frequent problem from these chevy vehicles and that many people have had this problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that he was unable to power the vehicle off and the engine remained running. The dealer informed the contact that the vehicle had not been included in any recalls. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. No repairs were performed. The current and failure mileages were 38,000.
I have a big issue about the odometer reading on my cobalt. I have made several complaints to the dealership. I bought my car 7/29/09 and it now has 59,740 miles on it. This is only an in town car. I bought tires in 3/11 and the tire place last week said I put over 12,000 miles since then. This is no way possible. They say they have tested it and there is no problems. I have not change my driving habits since I bought this car. The car I had before this had a regular odometer and not the digital. The car was 1997 and it had 155,000 and I drove out of town a lot. By the end of the year I won't have a power train warranty anymore. There is just no way in hell this is correct and I have heard others say the same. Someone needs to step up to this issue.. This looks like a way for the manufactures to get out of warranties.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that the key was removed from the ignitin yet the engine continued to operate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who advised that the engine lock cylinder would need replacing and that there were no recalls for the failure. The manufacturer was contacted who stated they will contact the dealer and check on the failure. The failure mileage was 39,900. The VIN was not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that the vehicle would not shut off when it was in park and turned off. The key broke inside the ignition when the contact attempted to pull it out. The dealer and manufacturer denied any assistance with repairs to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 60,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated that the vehicle would not shut off even after removing the key from the ignition. The fuse was disconnected in order to shut off the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but did not provide any assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 62,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated the key would not turn off the ignition. The contact had to disconnect the rally for the fuel injectors in order for the vehicle to be shut off. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and the dealer advised that the ignition switch lock cylinder needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. In addition, the contact stated that vehicle would drift from left to right when driving at least 60 MPH. The vehicle was not inspected for the drifting failure. The failure mileage was 51,000.
I went to shut off my car saturday night, may 28th and was unable to remove key had to remove battery cable to shut car off. Dealer familiar with problem . Apparently at least 200$ solution. This has happened to other folks also.
Could not shut car off when parked. The key would not move lock to shut car off. Could move key forward (to start), but could not move to off. Immediately drove car to dealer. Dealer told me they had to disconnect battery (while the car was running) to shut of the car then proceeded to replace the ignition cylinder. The remarks on dealer repair invoice were " replaced ignition cylinder due to the key getting stuck in the housing and the cylinder blowing up". Note that I consider not being able to shut off a running car extremely unsafe! In case something happens like throttle sticking etc. (don't know if there is any history of throttle sticking on this model yet). Also, generally it is bad practise to disconnect the battery cable on a running engine. This may affect the computer (future safety issue? Or future expensive electrical system repairs). Does gm condone this practise at their dealers? Dealer used my extended warranty and charged $106.00 for the deductible to fix this safety item. I found similar 2009 cobalt ignition issues on your the federal safety agency website, ref. Odi id's 10364046, 10368042, 10361530, 10394051
After shutting off my 2009 chevy cobalt I was not able to turn the ignition switch to restart the car. I had to have it towed to the dealer and have a new ignition lock cylinder replaced.
The battery continues to die and it causes the default factory alarm to lock the car. The keys are always getting stuck in the ignition. Right now im locked out the vehicle. The extra key can't unlock the doors (cant override the alarm lock).
Ignition stuck in the on position. We had to disable the distributor to stop the car.
Driving home from work stopped at store, tried to turn my vehicle off, the key got stuck in the ignition and wouldn't come out. Drove the car home, had to leave the car running until the tow truck came. The tow truck man informed me that this has been a problem with 2010 cobalts and that he has had to tow many of them away. The car was towed to a dealership, still at the dealership, been there for almost two weeks. Was quoted a an outrageous price to fix the problem.
Tl*the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet cobalt. The contact attempted to park and shut the vehicle off but the key could not be removed from the ignition. A mechanic arrived to disconnect the engine. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer who was diagnosing the problem. The current and failure mileages were approximately 54,100. The VIN was unavailable.
Tl*the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet cobalt. The contact stated the key in the ignition could not be removed and it would not shut the vehicle off. The contact was only able to shut the vehicle off by disconnecting the battery. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a dealer for diagnostic testing. The contact stated that this was a safety issue because the battery could electrocute someone while the vehicle was turned on. The failure mileage was 39,000.
2009 chevy cobalt. Over past 6 months, on a couple of occasions: ignition switch would not turn off. I had to select ign switch on/off several times before engine would switch off and I could remove key. Sept 21 parked at hotel to check in. Returned to car- started normally. I parked car at room ignition switch would not turn off. Key jammed in ignition. I had to disconnect battery to shut off car. Upon return home car taken to dealer-ignition switch,collar and key removed/replaced. Dealer service mgr stated had several of these and mechanic familiar with replacement. I had a 2006 chevy cobalt that ign switch started to do same thing ,but car was total loss accident before I could take to dealer. I think this is a fire/safety defect.
2009 chevy cobalt ls, the odometer registers 1 mile, slightly before you actually drive 1 mile. I found this using mile markers on the highway after seeing major differences from older vehicles with analog odometers as I tried to measure miles I'd hit my stop watch running on the shoulder of the road. This makes the warranty expire I guess 3-4% sooner than it should and could quite possible !@#$%'. Over the consumer whose not getting what they paid for. I wouldn't call this a safety issue but a sneaky way to screw their customer over. I just spoke to gm today about it but doubt anything will be done to resolve this. The car has about 17,000 miles on it which is really more like 16,500 or a little bit under and if something happens just after the mileage for warranty purposes, that's !@#$%'. Over your customer. I know this is going on at least in my cobalt and I find it interesting to hear today there are cases of power steering issues. I have yet to experience that thus far but will complain again is that comes up. Gm is !@#$%'. It's customers over!!
Background: I have a chevy cobalt ('07) and currently having a serious problem with power steering. I did some research and noticed hundreds of owners experienced the same or similar problem all over the country(us). 1. Problem occurs after start driving for couple hundreds feet or less. Regardless of speed or turning the steering wheel, problem will occur. 2. How often? Varies from couple minutes to couple seconds, but problem occurs every time the car runs. 3. Shutting down the engine and reignite it again. This will restart the programming of the vehicle but does not solve the problem. After couple of hundred of feet, problem arise.
We purchased a 2009 chevy cobalt for our son who is just learning to drive. While practicing parallel parking and the 3 point turn the steering locked up and was impossible to move. We took it into the dealer who said that this is a problem that could occur (and there was a bulletin issued by gm) because the power steering is run by computer and it could overheat which could happen when practicing parallel parking. However, there was nothing they can do to fix it. I do not find this an acceptable solution since my son is a first time driver and has not even taken his driving test yet. I would like to know if there are any options available.
No incident has occurred at this point, however, I see this as a potential safety hazard. I have a 2009 chevy cobalt with battery installed in the trunk. The battery vent tube is connected to the top of the battery by a plastic elbow, a plastic vent tube is connected to the male nipple on the elbow. The plastic vent tube inside diameter appears to be too small inside diameter for the male nipple. The plastic vent tube is split where it attaches to my battery where it is pushed onto the male nipple which will allow the vented hydrogen gas to vent into the trunk (which is part of the passenger compartment only separated by the back seat) I think presents a potential safety hazard and potential fire risk. I can send you a picture of the split vent tube if you need to see it. I assume that this is a factory installation defect, this is not an improper repair defect, so this situation could exist on other models using this type of vent tubing.
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