Steering Problems of Chevrolet Cavalier - part 1

Just purchased a 2002 chevy Cavalier for our daughter and have been trying to find out if any of the 5 recalls were performed on this vehicle or not. The NHTSA recall page isn't working at this time and the chevy local dealership isn't willing to help. Can someone please provide some assistance??.

See all problems of the 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

The whole steering column is loose the pins are all backed out I’m afraid to drive it I think this is a manufactured design flaw.

See all problems of the 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

Engine shakes when first started n when idling, but not when driving. Hoses n belts r not in good shape. Not sure about the air bags but seen on this site that there was a problem. I have seen that there are or where, quit a few recalls that were not taken care of. Especially safety ones.

See all problems of the 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

Every time I go to my job my power steering reservoir becomes empty after I put one or more quarts in the reservoir. Anytime I drive at highway speeds I sway back and forth no matter how much control I have over the vehicle. My steering gets so hard to the point where I almost crash every time I drive my car anywhere because I have no power steering or don't have a lot of control over the steering because it becomes so tight.

Lost partial control of the steering because sheer pen released and erratic speedometer-( instrument cluster failure ).

Instrumet cluster problems for a few years. Fuel sending unit has been replaced at about 52,000 miles after quiting twice while driving highway speed of 55 mph. Dealer claimed the car quit because of a bad battery the first time and did not diagnose the problem correctly. It was not the battery. The fuel sending unit intermittently reads well beyond full and interfears with the temperature gage function. Now speedometer is stuck at 85 mph while turned off. I was driving with the cruise doing 67 mph, I slowed down to make a turn at an at grade insection to a road posted at 55 mph. I completed the turn and sped up. The speedometer read 58 mph but it felt llike I was gong about 30 mph. I stopped at another intersection and the speed dropped to 40 mph. I made the turn and acelerated and the speed went to 110 mph but I was not going near that fast. The car is in driveway turned off but the speedometer reads 85 mph. Most recent issue is steering rack and k-frame rusted out and needed to be replaced. Mechanic stated he never saw a steering rack rust out or a k frame rusted as bad as the one on this vehicle. We are the original owners.

See all problems of the 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

Unnecessary gas odors. Seat belts keep unlocking. Steering.

See all problems of the 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

Metal on metal noise found out shoes and rotors are damageddamaged. I have no money. V can't fix this. Smell inside of leak. Temp running high. 200.

Tl-the contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier. The contact stated that while driving approximately 2 mph and making a turn, there was a loss of power steering without warning. The steering wheel became extremely difficult to mavnuever. The failure was permanent. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 08e063000 (steering). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unavailable. Js.

Around 4:00pm after getting off work. I was driving home and I went to make a left turn, my steering wheel moved up then down diagonally about a inch; inch and a half. It does it every time now when any kind of upward pressure is put on the steering wheel. I don't know how serious of a problem this is, but it does seem if it gets any worse it could effect your driving ability of the car.

The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier. While driving approximately 60 mph, the steering suddenly malfunctioned. The vehicle spun out and crashed into a second vehicle. No injuries were reported and a police report was filed. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, but the cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 100,000.

Steering wheel and shroud became totally disengaged and fell into my lap while trying to turn onto livernois road making it impossible for me to steer vehicle. Lucky I was leaving post office after mailing letters and not while on freeway.

The contact owns a 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start on the first attempt. The contact also stated that while driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was repaired. The contact was not aware of all the details involving the repair and the cause of the failure was not disclosed to the contact. The contact was notified of NHTSA campaign number: 02v286000 (steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 180,000.

See all problems of the 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

Driver was heading south on i684, on the exit ramp to 287 west, in heavy traffic. Vehicle suddenly appeared to shut off, making it impossible to steer and brake. Driver ran off the road and went nose first into a ditch, damaging the frame, radiator, airco and nose of vehicle. The vehicle was totaled as a result.

For several years now, the interior light has been coming on intermittently when I hit a bump in the road. Last year I went shopping, got back into my car & started it, or rather tried to start it, but it shut down quite quickly. Thinking it was a fluke, I tried to start it several more times with the same results. Not even pushing on the gas could keep it going. After towing the car & having it sit around for a while before someone could finally find the electrical issue, it was 'repaired'. The issue was the wiring for the ignition switch. The repair completed was a cheaper route than replacing the actual switch. What I didn't know until too late last year was the 'service w/wrench' and 'theft system' lights were the warning that the switch was about to go out. The interior light has been doing the same thing again & the theft & service lights came on again last Wednesday, 7/15/15, and now I know I have no choice but to replace the ignition seitch. Last year I contacted gm but they only wanted to make a note about it. I'm sure that as time goes on others will have issues too. How can wires come loose or break behind a steering wheel? plugs, hoses & things like that I can fully understand, but not something that is hidden & supposedly safe behind a steering wheel.

I had been reading about recent recalls with gm, especially ignition switches. I have a 2003 chevy Cavalier and it was diagnosed with a bad ignition switch. I first noticed when I went to start the car in the morning, a day after coming home from work. Good thing it happened then because I would have been stranded off site. I went to start the car, nothing happened except wipers and radio did not work as well which I thought was strange. Finally the radio at least came on at some point, but car still would not start. After it was fixed they said the ignition switch was bad and the mechanic asked if I had looked for the recall on it. I searched online but did not find it. I know my car is older, however of all the cars I ever owned and I had many, I never had any issues with ignition switches! I think I had one of the defective switches and would like to look into this matter. Unfortunately I probably can't go back to get the physical ignition switch at this point, too late. I have the proper paperwork for it however. Also on another note, my rear driver side signal keeps going out, no matter how many times I replace it. That might be something gm should look into as well.

I was driving on the highway and a driver traveling well under the posted speed limit cut in front of me. I stepped on the brakes and the car started sliding and when I attempted turn the wheel to avoid collision, the wheel was locked and would not turn causing me to hit the car square in the rear. Upon impact, both airbags deployed. Airbags never touched me, but the driver's side cover shattered the windshield and the passenger side cover shattered the passenger window.

My son was pulling into a parking lot and as he describes it, everything but the radio went dead all by itself (the engine died and there was no power steering or brakes). Obviously the same symptoms as the current recalls. I called the dealer and was told the car isn't on the list. I've complained to chevy and am getting the runaround by multiple members of their "consumer support team" (we've assigned you a service request number but I am to wait until it happens again and then bring it in "so we could start reviewing on your case"). I took it to my own mechanic and he ran a bunch of tests but couldn't find anything that would cause the car to die.

The contact owns a 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier. The contact stated the vehicle was difficult to start and the steering wheel became loose. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 130,000.

Car shut off no power steering gauges shut off everything turned off but lights stayed on and flashers worked.

Doing my morning paper route. Went to turn left in a cul-DE-sac and the steering tilt broke. The steering wheel was going all kind of directions. I have two newspapers wedged into the right side and the bottom so I can drive it until I can somehow get it fixed. I have three or four parts that fell into the floorboard. All I was doing was turning the steering wheel to the left when I broke and the parts fell off. This is a 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier. I bought it in 2009. This is the first major problem I've had with the car. It seems that this shouldn't ever happen to any car. I have not had any accidents in this car. I can still steer, but the tilt is broken and the wheel is hard to keep still.

Broken k-member /477-03540.

My car has the same problem with the instrument cluster that was recalled for other gm vehicles. The fuel level gauge, temperature gauge, rpm, speedometer. . . . None of my gauges work. They gave the wrong readings, the hand wouldn't return to their starting positions, then the hands went lower than their starting positions to the point they all didn't work anymore. This car needs to be added to the gm recall list for the same problem.

Speedometer stops working and stays on 100 car only has 35,000 miles, also the power steering line broke open and the emergency brake at times pops onto my tire causing my car to slam forward and then it releases. I replaced the brake line and the power steering line but the main problem is the speedometer /cluster.

See all problems of the 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

Steering does not turn going at a rate of 5 mph.

See all problems of the 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

The contact owns a 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier. The contact was driving 10 mph when the steering wheel became resistant and locked. Without steering capability, the contact was unable to control the vehicle and crashed into a building. The contact sustained head injuries and a police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer sent an investigator to inspect the vehicle for the failure and concluded that the crash was not due to any type of defect. The dealer was not notified. The failure mileage was 116,000. Updated 05/04/11.

Tl-the contact owns a 1993 chevy Cavalier. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 mph the pin that holds the steering wheel comes out and the vehicle stops when driving over 30 mph. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Rwk.

My key came out of the ignition while the car was still running and in the on position, and also another time the car key turned off by itself and I lost power to the vehicle and my brakes locked and almost caused me to get into a crash.

See all problems of the 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

I was driving down the street and was hearing this whining noise. The next day I pulled into the parking lot at work and it was difficult to turn the wheel. I called the shop I take my car to, and set up an appointment to have them check it out the next day. I took it to them and they said a metal piece underneath the car had rubbed against the tube that carries the power steering fluid. I asked them what had caused it and they said it was the way the car was designed.

This car shuts off while driving like the gm cars being mentioned in the news today. Started in 2005 and was evaluated by multiple mechanics including a Chevrolet dealership that kept it over a month. It doesn't show a code when it happens. It randomly shuts off while you are driving (varied speeds). It also randomly won't start. Totally unpredictable when it will quit on you or not start. Resetting did not help. Car was purchased for daughter (new driver) to drive, but was too unsafe.

See all problems of the 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier 🔎.

The contact stated while pulling out of a parking spot the steering wheel spun around freely without the vehicle moving. The vehicle was towed to an independent repair shop. They diagnosed that the coupling where the intermediate shaft meets the steering wheel slid out, leaving the bolt in the steering completely intact. The vehicle has been repaired, but is still at the shop. The manufacturer was contacted, but refused to assist due to the number of miles on the vehicle.

2006 Chevrolet cobalt & 2003 Cavalier. Consumer writes in regards to both vehicles power steering and cutting off problems. The consumer stated the Cavalier, cut off, just like the cobalt. However, the cobalt was recalled. The Cavalier cut off weekly since it was purchased. The power steering was replaced during a recall. It was replaced at 35,000 miles and again at 68,000. Updated 08/07/14.

Bought vehicle at 48,048miles. . . 2 weeks after buying vehicle, steering knuckle on drivers side was in need of repair, causing vehicle to make clicking and high pitched noise under coasting and slowing of vehicle. Dealer is replacing steering knuckle on vehicle under warrenty.

While steering the vehicle, a loud popping noise started coming from the front of the vehicle. The driver noticed that the vehicle vibrated uncontrollably. The consumer drove the vehicle to the dealer. The mechanic could not duplicate the problem. The consumer informed the mechanic that this problem occurred more than once and has not been resolved. The rear drivers side would display a loud rumble at times and would lessen after driving. The rear of the vehicle would shimmy when the brakes were applied.

When turning steering wheel could hear grinding noise. Dealer greased the problem which went away for awhile. When the noise came back the dealer said the steering gear needed to be replaced. This car has 58000 miles . The steering has become extremely dangerous and saftey hazard.