over 300 reports, no action yet?

[klaudone]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL

Ok, so you're driving down the road at a decent mph (minding the speed limits of course) when all of a sudden during a lane change, your power steering decides to turn off. Now you either get into a wonderful accident or somehow avoid danger and pull off to the side of the road. Now to keep the response fair, make and model of car will not be mentioned. Let's just say the car has 22k miles and well this shouldn't happen. So the NHTSA has already recieved over 300 reports of this same problem however it has yet to act to make this a recall. I'm sure there are countless others who have not reported the incident simply because it still fell under warranty.

Does anyone have any advice as far as a lawsuit for a defective part due to manufacturing? Or any other information that could be useful in a situation like this?

Anything is greatly appreciated.

[cyjeff]

From a manufacturer's perspective, 300 errors is nothing.

Has the dealer offered to fix it under warranty?

[tranquility]

For a products liability lawsuit, you need personal injury. How much were you injured?

[justalayman]

Originally Posted by klaudone

Does anyone have any advice as far as a lawsuit for a defective part due to manufacturing? Or any other information that could be useful in a situation like this?

Anything is greatly appreciated.

if it is still under warranty, get it fixed for free. If it isn't under warranty. gripe about it a lot and hope they will fix it for free. You can try to sue but chances of winning are really low (if there is a warranty, there is 0% chance of winning becuase it will not be allowed to proceed through court).

Curious as to why you believe there is a problem with stating the make and model of car? If this happened to you, there is nothing wrong with saying what car it is.

[klaudone]

It's a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. Didn't want to mention it at first, well, not sure why I guess. I know it's not a top-of-the-line car by any means but c'mon, I bought the car brand new and have only put 22k miles on it.

As far as injury, I was able to get it to the side of the road fine so that particular situation there was no personal injury. My main concern was that the car is out of its 3-year 36k mile warranty and according to others the repair can cost up to $1200. Again not a lot of money in some peoples perspective but as a college student it's impossible to afford right now.

Another detail I forgot to mention during the first post was that this once the car has been parked and powered off, upon restarting the car the power steering works without a problem, so initially I thought nothing of it. It ran fine for at least 4 to 5 days without an issue then once again the light came on while driving and PS was cut off. This made me do a little more research and thats what has brought me here.

If I do gripe enough will that be the best chance I have of getting through this situation without more financial stress?

[justalayman]

this does seem to be a very common problem/ First, if you haven't already done so, file a complaint with the NHTSA. Then, ask the local dealer if they will do anything considering there is only 22k miles on the car. If they say no, contact the GM zone rep and ask them. That will be a start.

as to suing them..maybe but you may have a very expensive suit on your hands. They apparently do have an engineering problem and this is a safety issue so they could have a great deal of liability in this situation.

[klaudone]

Thanks for the advice. I went to a dealership, turns out my car is 6 months out of warranty. They instructed that I have them run diagnostics then they will let me know if the problem will be covered. Sorry but I'm not going to pay someone $150 to tell me something I pretty much already know. Contacted GM customer service, they instructed that I needed to have the company run the diagnostic test then to call them back and they "might" be able to provide the service for "good will".

I have already filed the complaint with the NHTSA and have also emailed them with concerns to how many failures are needed for a problem to be assessed.

Thanks again for the help, I'll be back to post with any more information/if I need to know anything else about this high class lawsuit.

[deltadart1]

Do a Google search for a TSB(Technical Service Bulletin)for your car. Chances are other people have had this problem and GM should have a fix for it. I had a Ford Explorer where they fixed for free bad sway bar links even after the factory warranty had expired. Hope this helps.

[deltadart1]

I checked for a TSB on your problem and here is what I found. There was a bulletin released on 08/01/2007 that addresses a problem with the 2005 Chevy Cobalt concerning it's steering. The Service Bulletin Number is:070232007 and the NHTSA Item Number is:10022958. In the summery it tells about the problem with the 2005 Cobalt and it's power steering. Just as I suspected the 05 Cobalt has a electric power steering pump and you do need to run a diagnostic check on it and check for fault codes. My guess is that they check it with a code reader that will display fault codes that might be stored in the car's computer. Have never had a vehicle with electric power steering so i'm guessing this is the only way to troubleshoot the problem.Do you have any dash warning lights that have stayed on? If so this would mean that a code has been stored. I hope this information can be of some help.

[CJane]

The power steering 'shut off'? How fast were you going? My car has speed sensitive power steering - it's SUPPOSED to shut the power steering down at a certain speed to avoid over-correction at high speeds if the steering is 'too soft'.

[justalayman]

cjane, this a common problem with cobalts. google it.

the power steering just quits being power whenever it wants to. Some folks have had it repaired and have it happen to the repaired vehicle even. There is apparently a problem that Chevy is ignoring as long as they can.


Wow, if GM files bankruptcy, guess what might happen with the warranties?

[ErynSMA]

Originally Posted by justalayman

cjane, this a common problem with cobalts. google it.

It's true. My friend actually died last summer when he was speeding down the road 10 MPH over the limit and the power steering on his Cobalt went- officially, both his speed and the power speeding failure were found to the cause of his accident, and at one point the family was even contemplating a lawsuit, although I am not sure if they moved forward with it or not.

Were I you, I would see the dealer ASAP to see if they can do a fix for this since it's still under warranty, sell the car and buy a new one, or pay for the repair of pocket, lest you find yourself like my friend.

[shubh]

There may be some technical production sag, so if your vehicle is under warrantee, report the matter at the earliest to the manufacturing company involving your local dealer. Otherwise you are free to take legal action. Try to club up all the sufferers.

[I_Got_Banned]

Originally Posted by klaudone

So the NHTSA has already recieved over 300 reports of this same problem however it has yet to act to make this a recall.

Interestingly, the NHTSA is only showing 160 total "steering related" complaints about the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt. Only 26 of those 160 complaints are related to the Power Steering Pump (electric or hydraulic)...

Originally Posted by klaudone

I'll be back to post with any more information/if I need to know anything else about this high class lawsuit.

Originally Posted by ErynSMA

It's true. My friend actually died last summer

Out of the 160 reports that the NHTSA has received, no injuries or deaths were reported!

Source of my information: [url=http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/index.cfm]Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)[/url]

[justalayman]

look under electrical systems and or steering: electrical power assist system

I suspect many of the complaints are hidden in other sub-groups.


the following is for a 2008 Cobalt

TSB Number:070232007 NHTSA Number:10022958 TSB Date:August 1, 2007 Date Added to File:October 9, 2007
Failing Component:
Steering
Summary:
Diagnostic tips for power steering inoperative/steering wheel hard to turn, power steering message displayed on dic, DTC's c0176, c0176, c0475, c0476, c0550, U2105, U2107 set.

there are others that also relate to PS problems that may also be due to a loss of steering.



I ran across this one. I wonder what it is for:

Service Bulletin Number: 11122004 Replacement Bulletin Number:
NHTSA Item Number: 10011955 Date of Bulletin: 20041112
Failing Component: 980000 OTHER
Date Added to File: 2005-02-08
Summary:
STOP DELIVERY ORDER OF ALL 2005 CHEVROLET COBALT MODEL VEHICLES. *TT

this does appear to be a very common problem.