Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRIC | |||
| 03/03/2010 | |||
| Rear brake rotors and discs wear out far too quickly in average day to day use. | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | |||
| 12/01/2011 | 46000 | ||
| I have had to replace the rear brakes 4 times and still haven't replaced the front i get stock pads and rotors from chevy dealer! and within 500 miles the rotors are all scored up and look like they have 20k on them. i see this being a serious safety hazard for someone who does not realize it because they just replaced them! fix this issue please! i noticed this for the 4th time on december 1st. i was backing up and it made a horrible sound i got out to check and the rear pads are almost gone! i have put maybe 8k on them and the rotors look like a tiger attacked them, i dont believe i should have to pay for this again so soon! | |||
| 08/01/2011 | 11000 | ||
| Rear brake rotars are irreperably scored and warped after 11,000 miles, preventing the rear brakes from working correctly and decreasing braking effectiveness. this is common on 2008 cobalt sses. | |||
| 10/11/2011 | 35000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss. the contact was driving 10 mph when the vehicle failed to decrease in speed as the brakes were depressed. the vehicle was taken to a private mechanic. the manufacturer was not contacted. the vehicle was repaired. the vin was unavailable. the failure mileage was 35,000 and the current mileage was 35,300. | |||
| 10/11/2011 | 35000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss. the contact was driving 10 mph when the vehicle failed to decrease in speed as the brakes were depressed. the vehicle was taken to a private mechanic. the manufacturer was not contacted. the vehicle was repaired. the vin was unavailable. the failure mileage was 35,000 and the current mileage was 35,300. kmj | |||
| 10/11/2011 | 35000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss. the contact was driving 10 miles per hour when the vehicle failed to decrease speed despite the brakes being depressed. the vehicle was taken to a private mechanic. the manufacturer was not contacted. the vehicle was repaired. the vin was unknown. the failure mileage was 35,000 and the current mileage was 35,300. rds | |||
| 06/01/2009 | |||
| Bought my cobalt ss new from dealer, with less then 5,000 miles reare break were squealing and very obnoxious. upon inspecting and bringing the car to the dealership was told that my breaks had gouges in them and needed to be refinished and cleaned as well asnew pads installed. this was not covered under the warranty as they said it was wear and tear and the noise was normal. | |||
| 01/10/2011 | |||
| Rear brake rotors have massive gouges casuing a grinding noise. | |||
| 04/01/2010 | 18000 | ||
| At 8000 miles the rear brake rotors were deeply groved. the front rotors looked fine, no groves. at 18,000 we had to swap out the pads as the friction surface was completely gone. we discussed the problem with the dealer on both ocasions, but they said there was nothing they could do as there was no recall. i also tried to question if the problem was with the rotors or pads or calipers, but they said they could not answer these questions. i'm just looking for some answers and service support. | |||
| 09/27/2010 | 1000 | ||
| The rear brakes on the 2008-2010 models of the chevrolet cobalt ss wear out immaturely causing pulsation, lack of braking poor, and costly fixes | |||
| 09/11/2010 | 15000 | ||
| I have noticed excessive wear on my rear brakes and groves forming on my rotors too. i have a 2008 chevy cobalt ss turbo. the dealer is saying it is normal wear and tear but i believe it is something more than wear and tear. my complaints to the dealer has gone unheard and will not be addressed. | |||
| 06/01/2009 | 5000 | ||
| My rear rotors have scarred so bad it is affecting braking, and they have already been replaced once. they are noisy, dangerous, and visually unpleasing. | |||
| 01/10/2010 | 20000 | ||
| Rear brakes wearing out, parking brake does not hold, squeals when stopping | |||
| 04/22/2010 | |||
| The rear brakes on the chevrolet cobalt ss are pure crap. they squeal pretty badly when you come to a stop, no matter if it's a fast stop or a slow stop. it gets even louder when they get hot. i've taken to my car to the dealer since my 08 cobalt is still under warranty and they've told me that high performance brakes are supposed to be loud...i'm sorry gm, but not this loud! so they rotated my rotors, and gave me new brakes about a month ago, and it's still as bad as when i got the car back in april of this year | |||
| 05/17/2010 | 12500 | ||
| 1) i drove my car and used the brakes. 2) scored brakes, sounds like a 747 coming in for a landing every time i stop. 3) nothing yet, called the dealership today (05/24/10) | |||
| 08/01/2009 | 20000 | ||
| The rear brake calipers fail to release properly, causing the inside brake pad to wear more than twice as fast as the outside pad. therefore forcing the rear pads to be replaced twice as often as the front brake pads. | |||
| 01/25/2010 | 50000 | ||
| My 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss rear brakes had to be changed before the front brakes (40000km). the rotors were heavily scored to a point where they could not be resurfaced. the pads were worn out unevenly and had a different levels of wear. the front brakes at 60000 still have lots of brake pad left. i replaced the brakes myself and did not keep the old parts. | |||
| 05/03/2010 | 21000 | ||
| Rear brake pads worn out after 20k mile and rotor are groved and you can hear the brake pads rubbing metal on metal. also the rear calipers aren't releasing the rear rotors correclty due to caliper slide pins not being lubricated from the factory. front brake pads and rotor are wearing normally. i dropped my car off at my local chevrolet dealership for the brakes to be fixed under warranty. i was told if it was a caliper issue then it would be covered underwarranty. | |||
| 10/17/2009 | 14000 | ||
| The rear brakes on my 2008 cobalt ss/tc were completely shot at around 14000 miles. the gouges in the rotors were too deep to get turned and i had to do a full brake job on the rear brakes because gm said that they only cover the brakes until 12000 miles. the new brakes still make strange noises and when the car is in reverse sometimes a very loud screech comes from them. | |||
| 04/21/2010 | 20000 | ||
| The problem i am experiencing with my 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss is the rear brake pads wearing out quickly under normal driving conditions. because the brake bias is set to the front brakes, they should wear out long before the rear brakes. i believe the problem lies in the hardware of the braking package. either the caliper is causing the pad to constantly rub the rotor or some other issue is present. i first noticed that the rotors were scored at about 3,000 miles, was told it was normal. at 20,000 miles the rear pads were down to the metal on the inside pad. also, its not just a problem with the rear pads, every rotor on the car is scored beyond normal wear. this is a known problem with a lot of the 2008+ ss cobalts, not with the way they are being driven. general motors is aware of the problem, as many people have complained. when i took my car to the dealer, they too said that it was uneven wear that should not have happened. but, instead of looking into the cause of the problem, they simply replaced the rear pads. this was a temporary patch not a fix. in 5,000 miles, they'll start to wear again unevenly. i think general motors needs to evaluate the rotors and pads on these cars. under no circumstances, is there an excuse for the brakes and rotors to be worn out on these cars at 20,000 miles under daily driving conditions. if the problem only effected a couple of cars, it could be blamed on the driving patterns of the operator. however, this is a common problem for all the owners as passed along through enthusiast car forums. | |||
| 04/08/2010 | 23500 | ||
| Rear brake calipers not applying even force on both inner and outer pads, causing premature wear and tear on the pads and rotors, and additional stress on the braking system. | |||
| 03/25/2010 | 10000 | ||
| Everything was fine until about 6000 miles when i noticed slight brake noise coming from the rear brakes. i didnt notice the groves in the rotors until after i got stuck on interstate 465 in the snow because the back brakes were dragging. i know the back brakes were dragging because i had to put my car into first gear and push my own car with the door open. i know bad idea. i noticed that the rear tires didn't start rolling until they got to clean pavement. there was less than one inch of snow on the roads. it took me two hours to get home from work which is a fifteen minute drive normally. i had to wait a week for the snow to melt so i could drive my car to the dealership and they gave me a loner vehicle which i drove for over three weeks waiting for them to fix my car. they couldn't tell me what was wrong but they did replace the pads and rotors. this occured at roughly 10,000 miles. and 10,000 miles later the rotors were grooved again. so i went back to the dealership again this time they didn't want to fix the brakes but my uncle knows the owner of the dealership and he got them to fix it. i drove a loner again for a few weeks. and finally i took my car back to the dealership last week with 32,895 miles on it with the exact same problem. this time they said g.m. won't cover the repair under warranty. they said the brakes failed due to being dirty. lol ! i wash my car every week. i still have the defective parts on my car that i drive everyday. the brake noise is slowly getting worse. almost forgot due to the rear brake issue my rims have discoloration from the heat. not horrible but it shouldn't be like that. | |||
| 04/01/2010 | 16000 | ||
| 1. normal driving conditions since purchase of vehicle in july 2008. 2. failure includes extreme premature wear and scoring on rear rotors and uneven wear on rear brake pads. 3. original dealership turned and milled rear rotors at 7800 miles. vehicle is now back at same dealer at 16000 miles for same issue. | |||
| 02/10/2010 | 24000 | 1 | |
| Rear brakes wearing way too early. *tr | |||
| 01/28/2010 | 22000 | 1 | |
| Brakes wore out prematurely and grind. *tr | |||
| 11/17/2009 | 1 | ||
| Rear breaks grinding and worn out after 15k miles. *cn | |||
| 12/01/2009 | 7000 | 1 | |
| Back brakes on my cobalt ss are shot and the rotors and scorched and worn out. *tr | |||
| 01/15/2010 | 950 | 1 | |
| I own a 2008 chevy cobalt ss. the rear brake pads were wearing out very quickly and damaging the rotors. first noticed a grinding noise on the rear brakes at 950 miles and now at 16,500 miles, i am sitting at the dealer service dept. being told that my pads and rotors need to be replaced. the previous dealer ignored my requests to have this corrected before it got this bad. this dealer looked at it and they said that the car is not safe to drive until the brakes are replaced. so i am waiting to see if they will repair it or give me a loaner until it can be repaired. *tr updated 02/02/10 *bf updated 02/05/10*jb | |||
| 11/20/2009 | 5000 | 1 | |
| The rear rotors are grooved because of the faulty design and the pads are scoring the rotors. *tr | |||
| 11/20/2009 | 18000 | 1 | |
| The rear brakes on my 2008 chevy cobalt ss turbocharged make excessive noise in reverse, this problem is common from what i understand, and is no fault of the owner. *tr | |||
| 12/06/2009 | 25000 | 1 | |
| Just bought car used with 26k miles and rear brakes are metal to metal. so far dealer cant find parts in there system for my car. *tr | |||
| 11/26/2009 | 1500 | 1 | |
| Normal driving has caused my rear brakes to be totally shot at 15000 miles. have not tried to warranty the item yet, but i have heard they will not replace the item. *tr | |||
| 11/07/2009 | 3000 | 1 | |
| Rear brake issue on brand new 2008-2010 cobalt ss the rear brake pads are overly hard to the rotor, causing heavy scouring and warping this is a known issue in the community for this vehicle and many gm dealers are not repairing the item under warranty, this item needs a recall. *tr | |||
| 09/29/2009 | 17000 | 1 | |
| 2008 chevy cobalt ss under normal driving and braking conditions the rear disk brakes wear unevenly and fail prematurely. incident 1: 0% pad material on inner linings on both left and right rear wheels with >80% material outboard pads. failure occurred with about 17k miles. on inspection it was observed that gm had failed to apply lutricant to the guide pins of calipers. replacement of rotors and pads was required. incident 2: same failure as incident 1. 0% pad material on inner linings of both left and right rear wheels with >80% material on outboard pads. failure occurred within 20k miles. replacement of rotors and pads was again required. *tr | |||
| 03/07/2009 | 12000 | 1 | |
| I had only 12000 miles on my new cobalt turbo 08 model and had to pay out of pocket to have the rear pads and rotors replaced. *tr | |||
| 10/03/2009 | 1 | ||
| Rear brakes are wearing prematurely. grooves are forming in rotors from faulty equipment. car is at 23,000 miles. *tr | |||
| 08/15/2009 | 6000 | 1 | |
| At 6000 miles, my rear brakes are completely worn down, my rotors are scored, and one gm dealer said they would warranty my rotors if i purchased new pads for over $100, and another dealer said that the wear was normal for my car. this obviously is a manufacturer defect, and i am not very happy. the dealer said i have over 75% life left on the pads through his gauge system, and yet it makes horrible screeching noises. the rotors are scored very badly. *tr | |||
| 09/24/2009 | 3500 | 1 | |
| 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss rear brakes faulty. rear pads are gouging in to rotors very badly at this point, 11,000 miles. i driver conservatively. this gouging of rotors actually became noticeable at only 3500 miles. i have owned the car since new. i recommend gm puts recall out on rear brakes for this car to replace rotors and pads free of charge. *tr | |||
| 04/10/2008 | 1000 | 1 | |
| Rear brakes started to be noisy at about 2000km, huge grooves on the rotors. i downshift/rev match all my gears,i don't abuse my car, i don't go in dirt road. brakes are supposed to last 60k minimum. dealers won`t put the job under warranty. *tr | |||
| 09/19/2009 | 31000 | 1 | |
| 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss. rear brake rotors badly grooved. inner brake pad worn completely out. outer pad worn to less than 50%. front rotors have small grooves and have just under 40% of pad life left. gm dealer would not fix under warranty but acknowledged that they didn't know why rear brakes are wearing before fronts. i have owned car since it was new. no racing just daily commuting to and from work (40miles one-way). installed oem pads at 15000. have seen problem progressively get worse since about 7000 miles. current mileage approx. 32000,pads worn out in same manner as stated above and rotors are severely grooved, worn past safe refinish limits. front pads are in ok shape and small grooves in rotors. 95% of driving is done on highway. *tr | |||
| 04/11/2009 | 1100 | 1 | |
| Scoring of inner rear rotor. noticed after 1100mi. due to some part of caliper rubbing on rotor. *tr | |||
| 07/12/2009 | 19000 | 1 | |
| Since i purchased my 08 cobalt ss, i noticed the brakes made noises and the rear brakes wore funny. brought it to the dealer where they deemed this normal for these brake pads. at 19,000 miles i already needed new rear brakes as the dealer said they were grinding against the metal and my rotors needed to be resurfaced. something has to be done about this as putting a new pad on does not fix the problem and i will only need new pads and rotors in another 15,000 miles or so. *tr | |||
| 07/22/2009 | 10000 | 1 | |
| 2008 cobalt ss. scoring on both sides of front and rear rotors. noise from rear brakes. first noticed at 10,000 miles (car now has 12000). dealer would not fix under warranty because in their view, scored rotors arecosmetic. *tr | |||
| 04/13/2008 | 15000 | 1 | |
| The rear rotors on my 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss seem to be wearing very fast. my car has 19,000 miles on it, and it is about a year and a half old. i took delivery on may 31st 2008. i noticed the rotors starting to wear this past spring. *tr | |||
| 08/08/2009 | 14000 | 1 | |
| Rear rotors beginning to show grooves in them with only 14k miles on car. *tr | |||
| 09/05/2009 | 18000 | 1 | |
| At approximately 18,000 miles, my 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss had a grinding noise coming from the rear brakes. this noise was worse when i used the brakes. i drove the vehicle another 30 miles to my destination. upon arrival, i noticed that i had lost about 50% of my braking power and that the grinding noise was much worse than when i first noticed it, 30 miles earlier. of course, i replaced the brake pads, knowing that the noise they were making was caused by the pads wearing out and the metal grinding against the rotor. to my surprise, only the inside brake pads were worn to the metal, and the outer brake pads had just over 1/4 of an inch of pad left. i immediately called my local gm dealer and i was informed that there is a tsb (technical service bulletin) posted in their computer systems that says the problem is caused by the driver and that gm dealers are not to cover the rear brake problem. i know that this problem will occur in another 20,000 miles because there is something wrong with the calipers or entire brake system. the inside pads should not wear out faster than the front. they should also wear evenly. another concern i have is the loss of braking power in only 30 miles from the earliest sign of a brake problem. i don't like the fact that the rear brakes, specifically the inside brake pads, are doing approximately 50% of the braking. most of the braking should be done by the front brakes, which have well of 1/4 of an inch of brake pad left on the inside and outside pads. *tr | |||
| 09/09/2009 | 10000 | 1 | |
| The rear brakes are toast on my new car. i have around 10,000 miles and will soon have to pay for new rotors and pads. hopefully i can afford to do this before my calipers go out too. 2008 cobalt ss - premature ware - never driving hard - daily driver - *tr | |||
| 08/22/2009 | 17500 | 1 | |
| Rear brakes: inner pads metal on metal, outer pads still plenty of life left at 17,500 miles. reported brake squeal/grinding by 4,000 miles, had parking brake re-adjusted at that time. *tr | |||
| 09/05/2009 | 14000 | 1 | |
| Rear driver side rotor grinding bad about 1 inch from the top on the inside. passenger side rotor groving all of the inside. car has 14,000 miles on it. *tr | |||
| 07/15/2009 | 10450 | 1 | |
| Rear brakes on 2008 chevy cobalt ss, wear rapidly causing destruction of the rotors and excessive stress on the front brakes. replaced under warranty the first time at ~12,000 miles. rear pads completely shot again at ~22,000 miles. this time, the dealership wouldn't cover it. the extended abuse to the rear brake system cause abnormal noise from the rear during low speeds. *tr | |||
| 11/14/2008 | 6018 | 1 | |
| The rear brakes are wearing prematurely. the pads have damaged(create deep ruts in) the rotors on the surface. the dealer told me it was normal and did nothing. this wear started within 5k miles. the car has a manual transmission and i hardly use the brakes. *tr | |||
| 08/30/2009 | 1900 | 1 | |
| Rear brakes are gouging and wearing at an alarming rate. at 15k miles i am about due to replace the pads and rotors in fear that they will fail. i had them inspected at 1900 miles when the problem first occurred, dealer stated it was normal wear. dealer denied me warranty coverage due to only a 12k warranty on the brakes. *tr | |||
| 09/01/2009 | 9200 | 1 | |
| Rear brake pads on 2008 cobalt ss have grooved in the rear brake rotors. driver's side rear rotor is much more grooved in than passenger's, leading to my belief that brake pads are wearing unevenly in addition to scoring rotors. problem has occurred with many other owners, see cobaltss.net/forums. when vehicle was brought in to gm dealer, service manager informed me that wearing was natural, and that i should bring the vehicle back in at 15000 miles. *tr | |||
| 08/18/2009 | 1 | ||
| 2008 cobalt ss rear brakes are wearing prematurely and rotors badly grooved. rotors were turned at approx 7000 miles. now at 23000 miles and inner brake pads are down to metal and rotors are once again badly grooved. *tr | |||
| 01/15/2009 | 16500 | 1 | |
| 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss. rear brake rotors badly grooved. inner brake pad worn completely out. outer pad worn to 50%. front rotors are smooth and 80% of pad life left.gm dealer would not fix under warranty but acknowledged that they didn't know why rear brakes are wearing before fronts. i have owned car since it was new. no racing just daily commuting. had rotors turned and installed oem pads at 16500. have seen problem progressively get worse since about 4000 miles. current mileage 35000,pads worn out in same manner as stated above and rotors are severely grooved again,worn past safe refinish limits. front pads are still in very good shape and no grooves in rotors. car is driven mostly on interstate. *tr | |||
| 06/01/2009 | 10400 | 1 | |
| Severe groove wear on rear rotors of my 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss. *tr | |||
| 07/15/2008 | 4000 | 1 | |
| The rear brake rotors on both sides are severely grooved on the inner and outer surfaces. the inner brake pads on both sides are worn noticeably more than the outer pads. the brakes make a grinding noise. the parking brake doesn't hold the car in place. this is at 4k miles. *tr | |||
| 02/14/2009 | 6100 | 1 | |
| Rear brake noise and grinding and rotors scored and grooved after 6k miles. the rear brake noise was present even when i was driving and worse when braking. the car went to two dealerships and was told this advanced and premature wear was normal. *tr | |||
| 04/03/2009 | 18000 | 1 | |
| After driving 18k miles of highway in less than a year my rear brake pads were worn to the backing plate. on top of that my brake rotor were badly grooved and needed to be machined. this vehicle has never been to a track, minimal city driving, never excessive speeds, and minimal heavy braking. *tr | |||
| 07/28/2009 | 14000 | 1 | |
| Rear brakes wear very rapidly. the rear brake pads were completely gone within 14k miles, rear rotors scored so heavily they needed to be replaced. 10k miles later the replacement brakes are almost gone. not covered under warranty. the front brakes have been fine this entire time - still plenty of life left. *tr | |||
| 07/29/2009 | 20000 | 1 | |
| Rear rotors are severely grooved on both the inside and outside. the car has approximately 20k miles. *tr | |||
| 04/10/2009 | 10000 | 1 | |
| Rear rotors failure. massive scoring on rear brakes due to gm poor quality in brakes. grinding noise when stopping. *tr | |||
| 03/26/2009 | 20700 | 1 | |
| Terrible premature wear of rear brake pads and rotors on 2008 chevrolet cobalt ss turbocharged with roughly 20,000 miles... inside pad and inward facing side of rotors show great damage. very deep gauges to inward side of both rear rotors. very common problem on all 2008-2009 cobalt ss turbocharged vehicles. *tr | |||
| 03/23/2009 | 16000 | 1 | |
| Premature rear brake wear on inside brake pads, rotors scored from pad failure. faulty equipment. gm would not cover under warranty at only 16,000miles. *tr | |||