NHTSA Complaint #10560257 — 2005 CHEVROLET COBALT

RANDOMLY, THE DRIVER'S DOOR LATCH FAILS TO FUNCTION. IF THE DOOR IS OPEN, IT WILL NOT LATCH CLOSED. IF THE DOOR IS CLOSED, NEITHER THE INTERIOR OR EXTERIOR DOOR HANDLE WILL OPEN THE DOOR. OBVIOUSLY, THIS IS RATHER A SEVERE SAFETY CONCERN. IF THIS WERE TO OCCUR AFTER AN ACCIDENT, AN UN-INJURED OCCUPANT COULD DIE FROM FIRE--OR DROWN IF THE CAR WERE SUBMERGED. I EXPLORED THE ISSUE ON MULTIPLE INTERNET FORUMS AND FOUND THIS IS A RATHER COMMON ISSUE. FOR INSTANCE, HERE IS A QUERY ON THE COBALT SS FORUM. JUST ENTERING "DOOR LATCH" COMES UP WITH THESE SEARCH RESULTS. HTTP://WWW.COBALTSS.NET/FORUMS/ESP_SEARCH.PHP?QUERY=DOOR+LATCH&REF=ESP-NAV-BAR&TYPE=ALL ON ONE POLL, FULLY 50% OF ALL COBALT OWNERS HAVE EXPERIENCED THIS ISSUE. 50%. I FOUND THERE IS AN NHTSA CASE ON THE ISSUE. THE ACTION NUMBER IS: "NHTSA: ACTION NUMBER: 10038344 SERVICE BULLETIN NUMBER: 308836." THIS REFERENCES THE DEALER SERVICE BULLETIN #PI0011A. A DEALER APPLIED THE BULLETIN, THE ISSUE REMAINS. I AM NOW HAVING THE LATCH REPLACED, HOWEVER THAT IS NO GUARANTEE THAT THE ISSUE WILL BE RESOLVED. WORRIED I MAY HAVE THIS PROBLEM AT SOME POINT WITH THE PASSENGER DOOR, I LOOKED INTO THE LATCH ON THE PASSENGER DOOR. THE LATCH IS NOT AVAILABLE AND HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED BY GM. EVEN THOUGH THERE IS AN NHTSA ACTION ON THIS ISSUE, GM HAS SEEN FIT TO MAKE FIXING THE PROBLEM IMPOSSIBLE. ONE HAS TO ASK, "WHY IS THE PART SOLD OUT?" CLEARLY, THE FAILURE RATE HAS BEEN SO HIGH THAT GM HAS SOLD OUT THEIR ENTIRE STOCK OF REPLACEMENT PARTS. THE PART NUMBERS NEEDED FOR MY PASSENGER DOOR LATCH ARE EITHER 15906018 OR 15892690. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NO RECALL FOR THIS. PEOPLE WILL DIE. GM ISN'T EVEN STOCKING ALL OF THE PARTS THAT MIGHT FIX THE ISSUE. THE SERVICE BULLETIN DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. GM KNOWS HOW TO MAKE A DOOR LATCH THAT WORKS. PLEASE, REQUIRE GM TO FIX THIS BEFORE PEOPLE DIE. *TR