2008 Pontiac G5: harsh or hard shifting

5 of the 115 complaints about the 2008 Pontiac G5 describe harsh or hard shifting.

owner complaints: 5
of this car's complaints: 4%
typical mileage: 40,000
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 34 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Harsh or hard shifting by model year

2008
5
2007
1

What owners say

Filed Jul 31, 2012 · Suspension · 31,350 miles · MI

Front suspension bushings on the pontiac g5 and probably chevrolet cobalt wear out rapidly. On my vehicle the driver's side bushing failed at 31,350 miles and the passenger side at 42,850 miles. The factory replacement on the drivers side is starting to fail again at 44,500 miles. Failure is defined as a clunking noise while going over road imperfections. The design is either faulty or the part is produced badly as neither part showed effects of the rubber being bonded to the metal. All suspension bushings should have the rubber bonded to both the outer and inner metal sleeve. Without bonding, the suspension bushing will make noise in the short term, but over time as the rubber degrades, large amounts of suspension movement then can cause the bolt to fail and can lead to loss of vehicle control. Gm should correct the design and then provide replacement parts as needed.

Filed Jun 19, 2012 · Steering, Suspension · 85,500 miles · TX

There is something wrong with the steering in these cars. Steering will still lock up, at low vehicle speeds. The recall two years ago has not helped the situation. There is something wrong with the steering column and steering rack with these cars. Suspension/steering clunks and rattles like it is about to fall off! Very unsafe!

Filed Oct 3, 2011 · Steering, Suspension · 40,000 miles · TX

Vehicle starting making clunking and rattling sounds in front suspension. Had to have lower control arm bushings replaced, new tie rods, and sway bar links installed. Before the repairs, the steering had become extremely loose and was hard to handle on the highway.

Filed Oct 3, 2011 · Suspension · 77,000 miles · TX · crash

Vehicle was being drivin on a two lane highway and all of the sudden the front right fell to the ground and the car spun out and slid into a ditch. The front right ball joint failed and broke apart. My mechanic says he replaces ball joints on these cars at the rate of five cars per month. While being repaired, I had the control arm bushings, tie rods, and sway bar endlinks replaced again because there were rattling and clunking again. My brother works at a chevy dealer and he says that cobalt's/g5's/hhr's come in all the time for front suspension problems. Gm knows of these issues but does not want to do anything for it's customers when the warranty runs out. A crash can very well happen if one of these components fails when driving and that is what happened to me. Every suspension part on these cars is faulty. Please look into the suspension problems on these cars further. Thank you.

Filed Apr 5, 2010 · Steering · 15,000 miles · TX

Intermediate shaft on a 2008 pontiac g5 was replaced due to clunking when turning the steering wheel while vehicle is traveling at a low speed. The problem started around 15,000 miles and the part was replaced by the dealer at 29,000 miles.