General Motors is recalling 778,562 Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5’s due to ignition switch failures. The recall covers Cobalts from 2005 to 2007 and G5s from 2007. “An issue with the ignition switch is causing the airbag issues, as well as causing the engine and other components to shut off without warning.” This is pretty scary considering if your ignition shuts off you will lose not only the air bag safety systems but also the ability to effectively control your vehicle, when the engine shuts off you also lose your power steering and power brakes making it exponentially harder to control and stop the vehicle should the engine shut off due to this failure.
According to Automotive News a number of factors can cause the ignition to come out of the “run” position, some of the listed causes are weights on the key ring as well as rough or bumpy roads and other “jarring events”. Whatever the reason these failures have resulted in five fatal front end collisions which took the lives of six people. A GM spokesperson noted that air bag deployment was not the only reason for these deaths that other factors contributed to these fatalities i.e. alcohol and lack of seat belts. Small comfort for the families and friends of the decedents.
GM is contacting owners of these vehicles to report to their local Chevy and Pontiac dealerships and of course will perform the repairs at no cost to the vehicle owners. Owners that have not been able to report to these GM dealerships are being advised to remove all non-essential items from their key rings.
We at Mr. Locksmith-Automotive recognize the seriousness of this issue, and strongly recommend owners of these vehicles take immediate action to have this issue corrected.
I find it a strange coincidence I have worked on 2 Cobalts this week for lock issues. Below are pictures of a Cobalt door and trunk locks
I could not find any recall listed in the Transport Canada Database at this time. You may check all recalls for vehicles in Canada here:Road Safety Recalls Database – Transports Canada
It’s not only GM that has ignition issues, look at the Ford Focus and it’s ignition issues Is your Ford Focus ignition jammed? You are not alone Or Honda’s with Sidewinder ignitions Issues with Honda Keys
I have also repaired numerous ignitions on Dodge products.
