1996 CHEVROLET COBALT Recalls, Complaints & Safety

No recalls found for this vehicle.

Complaint Statistics

1 total complaints

Top Reported Components

Component	Complaints
AIR BAGS:FRONTAL	1

Incident date: Aug 18, 2009

TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 1996 CHEVROLET COBALT. THE CONTACT STATED THAT HE NOTICED THAT THE AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED ON THE INSTRUMENT CONTROL PANEL, INDICATING THAT THE PASSENGER SIDE FRONT AIR BAG WAS INOPERATIVE. AS A CONSEQUENCE IN A SITUATION THAT WARRANTS THE AIR BAG MAY NOT DEPLOY WHICH... Read more

Technical Service Bulletins, 1996 CHEVROLET COBALT

2 manufacturer communications from 2 unique bulletins. TSBs describe known problems and recommended fixes from the manufacturer.

Most Affected Components

Component	Bulletins
355200 EQUIPMENT:OTHER:OWNERS/SERVICE/OTHER MANUAL	1
061600 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:ENGINE CONTROL MODULE (ECU/ECM)	1

355200 EQUIPMENT:OTHER:OWNERS/SERVICE/OTHER MANUAL

This warranty administration bulletin provides information regarding the field action courtesy transportation policy.

061600 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:ENGINE CONTROL MODULE (ECU/ECM)

Expanded Availability for Remanufacture and Return (R&R) Electronic Control Modules

NHTSA Safety Investigations, CHEVROLET COBALT

Investigations opened by NHTSA into potential safety defects. These are separate from recalls and may or may not result in a recall.

PE, Closed , Model Year: 2008

Fuel Line Leak

On July 5, 2020, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened PE20-011 to investigate instances of metal fuel lines under the vehicle corroding and leaking fuel in model year (MY) 2008 through 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt and 2008 through 2009 Chevrolet HHR passenger cars manufactured by General Motor... s (GM). The metal fuel lines are corroding and leaking fuel in the area between the front and rear wheels on the driver's side of the vehicle before the muffler. Most consumers allege a fuel odor and/or an observable fuel leak that alerts them to the condition.The subject metal fuel lines have a protective AGE coating and, in the vicinity of the left rear wheel, are further wrapped in a foil heat shield. The AGE coating consists of an annealed zinc aluminum alloy metal coating with extended corrosion protection paint. Under certain conditions, water and corrosive road deicing agents may enter a crevice between the heat shield and the AGE coating. With extended environmental exposure in high corrosive environments, the AGE coating can degrade. If it degrades enough, the base metal lines may begin to corrode beneath the heat shield.Corrosion to the fuel lines may eventually cause a perforation to develop in the line, allowing fuel vapors to escape from between the line and the heat shield, emitting a fuel odor that will be detectable to the vehicle operator. If the corrosion progresses, fuel may begin to weep from the line. Further metal degradation due to corrosion could create a drip or a mist of fuel. If this occurs, vehicle owners may see drips, spots, or puddles on the ground near the rear portion of the vehicle, primarily along the driver's side rear wheel.The majority of allegations (85%) were reported for vehicles that are operated in the salt belt region of the United States. This area includes states in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and Midwest regions. Additionally, the average failure mileage in the subject vehicles is approximately 111,000 across all data sources.Considering the low manufacturer complaint/warranty rates of fuel line replacement, the fact that the majority of failures are concentrated in salt belt states, high failure mileages, as well as the field exposure time for the subject vehicles, and the highly detectable and progressive nature of this failure over time, the potential safety consequences of this issue are very low. To date, there have been no reported crashes, injuries, or fatalities related to this issue. There are two reported fires in ODI data and no reported fires in GM data. Both ODI reported fires were minor, occurred after the vehicle was parked, and were extinguished utilizing fire extinguishers.In view of the progressive failure occurring at high mileages, the age of the subject vehicles, the high detectability of the leak, and the majority of failures occurred in salt belt states, this Preliminary Evaluation is closed. The agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by new circumstances.Review the ODI reports cited above at nhtsa.gov under the attached identification numbers.Read more

PE, Closed , Model Year: 2005

Electric Power Steering Failure

In a March 1, 2010 letter, General Motors Corporation (GM) provided a defect information report to NHTSA regarding a problem that could result in sudden loss of power steering assist in certain model year (MY) 2005 through 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt and MY 2007 through 2010 Pontiac G5 vehicles equipped w... Read more

CHEVROLET COBALT - All Years Overview

Complete safety history for the CHEVROLET COBALT across all model years (2005, 2010).

35 Total Recalls

10,115 Total Complaints

2 Investigations

876 Reported Crashes

101 Reported Fires

78 Reported Deaths

CHEVROLET COBALT - Year by Year

Compare recalls and complaints across model years. Click any year to see full details.

Year	Recalls	Complaints
2017	0	1	View
2016	0	1	View
2012	0	1	View
2011	0	2	View
2010	6	795	View
2009	6	916	View
2008	5	1,104	View
2007	6	2,004	View
2006	6	3,056	View
2005	6	2,231	View
2002	0	2	View
2000	0	1	View
1996 (current)	0	1

Other CHEVROLET Models

Model	Recalls	Complaints
SUBURBAN	246	10,458	View
TAHOE	240	12,622	View
MALIBU	216	29,080	View
SILVERADO 1500	200	22,534	View
CORVETTE	187	6,308	View
CAMARO	179	4,298	View
SILVERADO	159	10,964	View
SILVERADO 3500	152	1,409	View

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1996 CHEVROLET COBALT