general problems of the 2011 Chevrolet Colorado

The vehicle has an electronic issue where it does not recognize the original key to the car. It does not let you start the vehicle. There is a bad sensor in the ignition lock housing unit located where the key is inserted into the vehicle. This issue will nit let the driver start the car and the problem happens at random. For me it is 1 out of 20 times I try to start my vehicle it does not start due to this issue. This is a dangerous situation for me, as I live in a cold weather state in the us. I have been left stranded dozens of times because the car doesn’t recognize the key. If you search “chevy Colorado passlock” hundreds of videos will come up, each video with thousands of views (from users like myself). Gm charges hundreds to fix the issue. It is a well known issue with this vehicle. I fixed the issue myself. I replaced the faulty sensor and the issue is gone.

The drivers-side airbag indicator light remains on. The light warns that the airbag is not working. This is the third time it has happened, first at 89,000 miles, then at 111,000 miles, and now at 133,000 miles. Previous repairs were for broken wires in the wire harness to the extended cab rear door. Wiring in the harness for the airbag is related to the seat belt tensioner. This is a defect that was reported to NHTSA by several others, some of whom were injured in accidents. The repair is costly; the dealer charged around $400.

Passive lock sensor fails and you have to sit and wait 10 minutes before trying to restart for the car to start.

The vehicle will intermittently not start. Sometimes there's power but won't crank. Sometimes there is no power to the vehicle at all. It has been to numerous mechanics, including the dealer, and no problems can be found. The vehicle is utterly unreliable.

Inline ignition fuse keeps blowing while driving. The first two times were when I was turning, two other times were when it was driving on a state highway, one time after it just started, and another as I left my driveway. At times the truck will start when a fuse is replaced, at times it takes multiple fuse changes to get on the road. This results in the engine to stop and power steering to fail. There is no pattern in when it happens. It has been to two dealerships and they have not been able to diagnose the problem, due to the truck working when a new fuse is inserted after the truck was towed in.

Broken wires inside drivers rear door affecting the air bag warning system and possible operation of the air bag.

Failure of brake light switch. This is the second failure. This switch was replaced on 05/02/2013. These failures could cause a rear end crash due to no brake lights.

On February 14, 2012 I was driving on a clean, dry, straight, and level road at 35mph. I was not accelerating, braking, or cornering. The alarm bell rang and the dash board display indicated "traction fault, reduced power, service stability system". The vehicle dramatically reduced it's engine power to the point it could not be safely operated in traffic. It was impossible to accelerate with traffic, merge, or make a left turn. I was about 3 miles from the dealer. I drove to the dealer to have it looked at right away. They told me I had no appointment so they would not look at it. I got the next available appointment two days later. The vehicle was not driven from the time of the alarm until the time of the appointment. On February 16th I took the vehicle to the dealer and it operated at full power. There were no lights or alarms. The dealer said the computer had a history of something but did not retain the details. They said general motors warranty policy would not allow them to repair the vehicle without a specific trouble code that would allow them to minimize the warranty expense. I informed them that they made me leave two days prior when it was operating under reduced power and showing alarm details in the dash display. They should have diagnosed and/or fixed it then. It is unacceptable that the vehicle creates a safety issue by reducing engine power when there is nothing wrong. It is equally unacceptable that an issue serious enough to cause reduced engine power is not retained by the computer so it can be diagnosed and repaired. This is likely to cause a vehicle accident where someone could be injured or worse. They did tell me that if I paid for the extra cost onstar system it could have given the details on the problem. If the vehicle requires onstar to safely operate, it needs to be a free service.