NHTSA Complaint #10303182 — 2007 CHEVROLET COBALT

THE POWER STEERING OF MY 2007 CHEVY COBALT WENT OUT NOV 27, 2009, LATE AT NITE ON I-95 - FREAKED ME OUT AND CAUSED ME TO BE STRANDED! NO DEALERSHIPS SERVICE DEPT. OPEN ON WEEKENDS, SO I GAVE UP AND DROVE IT BACK TO FLORIDA ON SUNDAY (TOOK 10 HOURS). ANYWAY, CALLED LOCAL DEALERSHIP, CHEVY CORPORATE AND FILED A COMPLAINT WITH NHTSA... UNFORTUNATELY I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE IT TO DEALER FOR DIAGNOSTICS AND THEN CALL CORPORATE BACK WHERE THEY SAID THEY "MIGHT BE ABLE TO ASSIST WITH REPAIRS BUT WOULDN'T KNOW UNTIL DIAGNOSTICS WERE DONE..." DEALERSHIP INFORMED ME THAT THEY "BELIEVE" THE PROBLEM COULD BE SOLVED BY REPLACING THE POWER STEERING MOTOR IF I WOULD ONLY PAY $350 FOR LABOR (THEY WOULD GENEROUSLY DONATE THE MOTOR...) I DECLINED (FOR NOW ANYWAY) AS WE WILL TRY TO REPAIR IT OURSELVES... I CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY FOR THIS AND SHOULDN'T HAVE TO AS THE CAR ISN'T THAT OLD. THE WARRANTY JUST RAN OUT IN SEPTEMBER AS SEEMS TO BE THE CASE FOR MANY WHO'S BLOGS I HAVE READ. THEY ALSO NOTED ON THE SUMMARY THAT THE MOTOR MIGHT NOT ACTUALLY TAKE CARE OF THE PROBLEM AND IF IT DIDN'T THEN THEY WOULD HAVE TO REPLACE THE STEERING COLUMN FOR ANOTHER $800 PLUS LABOR !! MY CAR HAS NOT YET BEEN REPAIRED AND IS STILL DANGEROUS SO I DON'T DRIVE IT UNLESS I JUST HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE AND HAVE NO OTHER OPTION. *TR