Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SERVICE BRAKES | |||
| 01/16/2013 | 105000 | 1 | |
| The traction control light has turned on several times before but usually goes away. while hitting my brakes on the freeway to exit, my traction control light turned on today. i was going about 60 and slowing when it happened. the vehicle jerked violently causing me to slam forward in my chair and almost causing the person behind me to hit me. once i stopped at the light and hit the accelerator again, it again jerked. i parked my car and shut it off. i turned it back on and put it into drive and immediately the car jolts. it continues to do this each time i switch from park to drive and from braking to driving. *tr | |||
| 01/16/2013 | 105000 | ||
| The traction control light has turned on several times before but usually goes away. while hitting my brakes on the freeway to exit, my traction control light turned on today. i was going about 60 and slowing when it happened. the vehicle jerked violently causing me to slam forward in my chair and almost causing the person behind me to hit me. once i stopped at the light and hit the accelerator again, it again jerked. i parked my car and shut it off. i turned it back on and put it into drive and immediately the car jolts. it continues to do this each time i switch from park to drive and from braking to driving. | |||
| 01/06/2013 | 83800 | 1 | |
| Caliper leaking. *tr | |||
| 01/06/2013 | 83800 | ||
| Caliper leaking | |||
| 09/08/2012 | 45000 | 1 | |
| I had to get my rear brakes completely changed out at around 45000 miles as well as my e-brake assembly. apparently cobalt rear brakes are known to wear extremely quickly, please recall everything that was replaced: rotors calipers pads e-brake assembly brake lines. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, AIR | |||
| 07/25/2008 | 27538 | ||
| Tl-contact stated she was driving at 45mph and her brakes locked on her. this has happen over eight times. contact took the vehicle back to the dealer they stated she had low tires and making her abs brakes go crazy and locking up the tires. they went ahead and plugged a hole in her tire. the vehicle was fine once she left the dealer. the next day it started again. there is no indication of anything warning before it happens. contact has not taken the vehicle angain to the dealer. | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRIC | |||
| 02/10/2010 | 20660 | 1 | |
| On february 10, 2010, while traveling west on 14th street another driver in the left lane entered my lane (right lane), and i slammed on brakes to stop from hitting the other drivers vehicle. despite the fact it was a sunny very cold day outside and the streets were dry the brakes on my vehicle locked up as though i have an anti-locking braking system, which i don't have on my car. the steering wheel became none responsive and my car ended up jumping the curb and hitting a telephone pole on the front driver side of the car. there is damage to the driver side headlight and a dent in the same area in the shape of the pole; furthermore, the airbag never deployed. the car is currently at a gm body shop being repaired by the other drivers insurance; however, in light of the recent gm recall about an issue with the steering wheel i am bringing my accident to your attention just in case the issues are related. *tr | |||
| 09/05/2008 | 15000 | 1 | |
| I have a 2007 chevrolet cobalt and at approximately 15,000 miles began having some slight vibrations when braking. i went to have the brakes checked to make sure everything was okay and was told that my brake pads were good. i drove more until approximately 20,000 miles and the vibrations increased. i finally ended up getting it into the dealership at 26000 and they told me my rotors were warped and they resurfaced them and they were fixed. now only an additional 15000 miles and the vibration is back but even worse. i believe they just resurfaced them knowing that they are malfunctioning so that when it happened again they were not covered under warranty. when i contacted the dealership back to inform them that they are not fixed they informed me that it was my own maintenance problem even though they are obviously defective. i am at a loss as new rotors will surely find the same fate and it is very expensive to replace rotors every 15,000 - 20,000 miles. i have never owned a vehicle that i even had to have rotors resurfaced or replaced with regular maintenance. very disappointed and upset that this is not being researched and recalled by chevrolet as a defect and safety issue. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | |||
| 12/21/2012 | 70000 | 1 | |
| Tl- the contact owns a 2007 chevrolet cobalt. the contact stated that while driving 45 mph, she depressed the brake pedal and the steering wheel independently turned to the left, causing the vehicle to crash into a brick wall. the air bags deployed however, the contact was transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries to her left foot, ankle wrist and pains to her chest. the contact had to be cut out of the vehicle, which was destroyed. a police report was filed of the incident. the cause of failure was unknown. the manufacturer was notified but provided no assistance. the failure mileage was 70,000. kmj *tr | |||
| 10/17/2010 | 96867 | ||
| I drove my car about 1/2 mile to the local cvs. when i left i started the car and the brake pedal went all the way to the floor. i had lost pressure and did not have brakes. i have a manual transmissions. i pulled over in another parking lot and pumped the brakes to get pressure back. car ran fine for a 15 miles. the same night i drove to another location and lost pressure of the brake pedal while sitting at a stop light. i pulled over and pumped the brakes again. i have driven the car since to the dealer and they cannot replicate the problem, nor diagnose it. they said it was intermittent and most likely the brake master cylinder. there was no evidence of brake fluid leaking from any of the brake lines or around the tires. the problem is they cannot say for sure if the master cylinder is leaking internally or if a gasket or seal is failing. i am going to have the master cylinder replaced and hope that is the problem, but i am afraid to drive on the freeway or at fast speeds because i have no cause for the brake failure. i am thankful i was not going fast, otherwise the only way to slow the car would be to down shift and use the emergency brake. this part is also not warrantied, but i am surprised it is already failing before i have changed the brake pads, rotors, or drums. it is weird. now i have to wait for the part to come from the plant? they do not even have it in stock. is this a common problem? i will be asking for the old part, but am unsure if i will be able to see if the master cylinder is bad. | |||
| 02/14/2010 | 62000 | 1 | |
| Driver was changing lanes on highway in a 2007 chevy cobalt when her steering wheel froze up on her. she could not correct steering and her brakes seemed to lose power as well. she hit a concrete barrier, her car went airborne and started rolling. she was ejected about fifty feet. vehicle was a complete loss. the auto insurance company won't investigate due to her car being just 12,000 miles over warranty. (economic loss rule) the car is still being held for further investigation per request of the driver. vehicle never had trouble before this. driver was severely injured spending 10 days in hospital, 2 of those in icu. driver had complications due to injuries, now on round the clock iv's at home. *tr | |||
| 02/26/2010 | 64591 | 1 | |
| Driving to work, we had some light snow and the wind was rather strong. i drive a 2007 chevy cobalt. the check engine light comes on mentioning reduced power. seconds later traction control light comes on. at that point in time i can not accelerate or brake at all. i tired to push the brake as hard as i could with no effect. gave up on that and used the emergency brake to slow the vehicle down and have it towed. luckily i was going rather slowly due to the inclement weather, and there were no cars ahead of me. the chevy dealer blamed it on a fuel tank pressure sensor. *tr | |||
| 10/27/2009 | 51000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2007 chevrolet cobalt. she stated while driving at speeds of less than 60 mph on the highway in light rain conditions, she heard a loud boom and screeching sound. immediatley afterward, the vehicle began to pull to the left. she attempted to steer the vehicle off the highway however, the vehicle would not respond to her steering. she then tapped on the brakes and the vehicle spun out of control until the vehicle was now proceeding backward. the vehicle then proceeded up a nearby grassy hill, turning out of control until she was able to turn the vehicle front ward. the brakes and steering still would not respond to driver initiation. the vehicle then proceeded back down the grassy hill and back toward traffic. the vehicle stopped once back onto the cement pavement. the front driver's side wheel was totally collapsed outward and the tire was shredded. the vehicle was towed to the dealer where they found the rack and pinion failed, however they would not take any liability for the failures. they stated she must have hit something in the highway to have experienced catastrophic failures. the contact was sure she did not hit anything in the road and the failure was unexpected and unexplained. no repairs were made to the vehicle, to date. the failure and current mileages were 51,000. | |||
| 07/21/2009 | 23895 | 1 | |
| My 2007 cobalt has less then 24,000 miles. i was leaving the hairdresser and i went to press on the break to put the car in gear. my brake pedal went straight down. this continued on the way home. took it to the dealer and they found nothing wrong with the breaks. but did find that the bushings on both side were gone. dealer replaced the bushings. the next day i was driving home down a hill and the wheels were not turning. it seemed like i was losing power. i went to go up and hill and i had no power. took it back to the dealer. they found nothing wrong. as i was leaving the brake pedal went to the floor again, back to the dealer. still nothing. only a week went by. the brake pedal went to the floor several times. i fear that i'm going to loose control of the car and hit someone. back to the dealer yet again. still this has not happened to them. they keep telling me my brakes are fine!!!!! *tr | |||
| 02/16/2009 | 0 | 1 | |
| This regards a chevy cobalt ss. this vehicle is mostly driven on city streets and occasional long freeway trips, no towing or overloading. noticed at somewhere around 10,000-15,000 miles (maybe sooner.) that rear brakes were very noisy when backing. loud enough that the neighbors could hear them in the morning when i backed out of the garage. easily be heard down the street. the brakes had always been noisier than i would expect for a new vehicle. finally got tired of noise at 17,000 miles and took car to dealer. (03/03/08.) they advised that there was nothing wrong with brakes, inspection report from jack maxton chevy states that front and rear linings have the appropriate thickness in mm. they applied anti-squeak to the brakes. as time passed the brakes returned to their noisy state. time for a 30,000 mile checkup so we took the car in and asked them to check the brakes again. they advised us that we needed new rotors and brake pads. they said it would cost over $400, we didn't want to pay that much at the time so they turned the rotors, installed new brake pads, costing over $200. the new brake pads squeak and squeal, took the car back in, they looked at it again, service rep advised that the new pads would sound that way while they broke in. i never had new brake pads make noises after having them installed on other vehicles in the past. they sent us a survey to complete. (they're always very concerned about these.) we reported all of this on the survey and all we ever received in response was a phone call advising us that we were going to receive a survey. (we received a call with the same advice prior to the survey too.) to add injury to insult, we purchased an extended, 7-year bumper-to-bumper warranty when we bought this vehicle. at the time we were told it would cover everything on the car, no matter what went wrong with it. we had been chevy fans for years and a few vehicles. we'll look at foreign cars next time. *tr | |||
| 01/20/2008 | 10000 | 1 | |
| Brakes done twice in a year struts going bad and fan motor squeaking gas tank sensor replaced need new tires. first time brakes were sanded down then put back on. second time they were replaced. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK | |||
| 01/17/2008 | 9265 | 1 | 08/01/2007 |
| Driving on highway when i slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting vehicle in front of me when my 2007 chevrolet cobalt fishtailed to the left. spun about 3 times in the middle of a 3 lane highway colliding with another vehicle. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK - CONTROL UNIT/MODULE | |||
| 11/29/2007 | 29917 | 1 | 10/26/2007 |
| I was driving and tried to brake before a curb and spun out of control i was not even going fast i might have been doing 25m.p.h. before the curb when the vehicle spun out of control and into a tree. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK - WHEEL SPEED SENSOR | |||
| 11/29/2007 | 29917 | 1 | 10/26/2007 |
| I was driving and tried to brake before a curb and spun out of control i was not even going fast i might have been doing 25m.p.h. before the curb when the vehicle spun out of control and into a tree. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - FOUNDATION COMPONENTS - DISC - ROTOR | |||
| 09/05/2008 | 16000 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2007 chevrolet cobalt. while driving 55 mph, the brakes pulsated when the brake pedal was depressed. the vehicle was taken to a repair shop and the mechanic stated that the rotors were faulty and needed to be turned. the rotors had been turned twice within 32,000 miles. the dealer stated that it was their policy to only turn the rotors. the vehicle has been repaired. the failure mileage was 16,000 and current mileage was 63,000. | |||
| 08/18/2008 | 30954 | 1 | |
| 2007 chevy cobalt ss, front brake rotors obtain dangerous runout conditions. in my case the original set lasted 8000 miles, and the replacement obtained from dealer in july 2007 lasted 20000 miles. symptoms of this runout include heavy shutter of brake pedal and steering wheel at freeway speeds down to about 30mph and noticeable thumping in steering wheel at freeway speeds when not applying brakes. runout on rotors is so severe that it actually causes a ride disturbance without applying brakes. have address this issue with sierra chevrolet in monrovia to no avail. was simply told that i would have to purchase new rotors. no remedy appears to be available to correct this problem. apparently, there is a poor design of rotors or some type of issue with the brake pads being too aggressive. suspect rotors obtain heavy grooving within a few thousand miles. after grooving is noticed, the vibrations begin very subtle soon after and progress to the point to where the vibrations are noticeable even when not applying brakes. i am on my third set of rotors, and am fearful that general motors will never pay any attention to this potentially dangerous issue. i believe that perhaps a less aggressive brake pad needs to be used or some kind of problem exists with how the rotors seats to the hub. i am only familiar with this problem on the ss models, i also have a 2005 cobalt base model that has no issues with the brakes what so ever. many complaints noticed on the web forums for ss cobalts. these people have complained to their local dealers to no avail also. i have run out of options, other than to keep an extra set of pads and rotors available at all times at the cost of 450 dollars per set. dealer refuses to consider premature rotor wear as a warranty issue or any issue for that matter, forcing me to buy the parts and pay the labor for a problem that i have no control of. *tr | |||