ok my sister was driving home from work today on the highway going 100km\h and her breaks stopped working fully just stoped working. Like nothing worked at all on it she put the E break up and it still did not stop thank god there were no cars in front of her or anything. like WTF i dont even know if i want to get the SS so many problems with this car so far. she could of Died!.... like how the hell do the breaks just stop working? really....

blows my mind how that could happen... shes at the dealer with the car now so i'll keep you guys posted on whats going on with it... just be careful for those who have posted about there E break light!

 

I know my E-brake works, forgot to take it off the other day when I started out. Wouldn't budge an inch, took me a second or two to realize why.

 

When did you buy the car?
How many miles?
Which cobalt model did this occur to?
Has it been serviced before this happened?

 

bogutht he car dec 28th
9500 km\h
LS
yea its bene in for a ton of stuff fromt he O2 senser to the cadalac converter (sp) but not fr the breaks failing till now its at the dealer right now so once i know whats going on i will let you ppl know what the problem is

 

Have them give you a service history report. They will have it on record. Then contact an attorney and basically try to get them to buy the car back. If the brakes went out on you, tell them they can either buy back the car, or pay your extended family millions in a lawsuit for wrongful death.

 

hmm that's not good at all. Sounds like a lemon. It is the first year this car has been in production, and it will take some time for GM to find and fix all the bugs. The brakes are a huge problem as you are well aware of. I hope things go better for you, you should read up on lemon laws and just be aware of what you can do about these types of problems.

 

That's weird. A hydraulic brake system doesn't just stop working - unless you lose all fluid out of the master cylinder. Did her brake pedal go all the way to the floor?

Even if the ABS system fails the brakes should still function.

The E-brake is just a cable that runs to the back and actuates some brake shoes in a drum that is part of the rear disc (or just the drum if there are no rear discs on the rear). The E brake will stop the car but it will take alot longer. There is also no reason the E-brake should stop working.

The warning light is just connected to a switch at the E-brake handle indicating that it is not fully in the down position.

Very interested to see what the problem was.

 

I agree with Vooduguru

But really you need a lawyer if you want to get the car bought back. If thats what you want to do. I would hear what the dealer has to say first.


I would think GM would by the car back to just rip it apart and figure out what went wrong.

 

Well getting a dealer to admit they sold a problem car is like asking Hussein to admit that he was a bad guy. Get a damn good attorney.

 

I just don't see how this can happen.
I really haven't seen much on any Cobalt brake problems so far.

 

Regardless of brand, there's going to be a handful of problems with ANY new car. The cobalt is no different. The entire platform is new. It happens to everyone.

 

well when she went to the dealer they told her they migth replace it with a new one and dig further into the problem with this one so they might repalce it with a new cobalt. but not to sure yet...

and the break fluid was all there, there was no leaks or anything witch is weird. and when she called road side assit. and got it towed to the dealer they took it out and the breaks were working so really dont know what the problme is waiting till tomorrow to see what was wrogn and what they are going to do with it. they gave us a rentel car as of now but i will for sure keep you guys up to date with this crazyness...

 

yea thats what i said you could buy a new ferari and have a problem with it, its a new car its going to have problems.

but still they better do somethign about it my dad went down with my sister and told the dealer he was not going to pick up that car from the dealer till they replace it with another one, witch he has the right after seeing his daughter ( my sister) go thorw hell trying to stop a car from 100 km\h in a highway.

just dont understand how something like that happpend :S

 

Agreed, but complete brake failure?? Based on how the system is designed it defies logic at this point. Anything is possible nowadays.

It's not like they were breaking new ground with the brake system by using electric brakes or something. It all standard equipment. Maybe there was debris in the system or something.

 

In the case where you lose your breakes you can always gear down to reduce speed gradually. I'm surprised the hand break did not function. This has me a little concerned about my ss. Then again it could be a complete fluke. Either way, she was lucky indeed. Glad to hear there were no injuries. Not sure what the laws are like in Canada but im sure there is some legal recourse in the event the dealership refuses to co-operate.

 

But how do you prove something like that - especially if the car comes back as 'NFF'.

 

I study a little law in college, In the US this would fall under what's called "Strict Product Liability", where the manufacturer in inherently liable no matter what. It is their "moral obligation", which is a legal way of saying it's their duty to adequately test their products and make sure they are safe. If an accident occurred under normal driving conditions GM would automatically be liable. Most likely a settlement would arise.

 

Edit: This only applies with a defect in the product, you can't sue GM if you hit a tree because you drove off the road

 

well the dealer we boguht it from said they are going to try to replace it with another cobalt Ls but they gave us no garantee on that so i guess we have to wait till tomororw and see what they say and what happens...
my mother called gm canada and she to is wiating for a call back from high athority by tomorrow

 

GM should make good with this situation, they will be thanking their lucky stars when they find out there was no accident caused. They have already taken a $1.1 billion dollar loss as reported and I don't think they want to deal with a lawsuit.

Of course this is just my opinion. Anyhow, good luck with this. I hope it works out for you. I certainly hope there is no wide spread break system defect. I remember that whole ordeal with firestone tires.

 

thats what i was saying to my parents im like they lost 1.1 billion last quarter and if this news gets out they will suffer more..i mean look at there stocks there downgraded to junk stocks now... witch would be a good time to buy them. But im sure they will repalce the car for us i mean thats the leats they can do and be gretaful there is no law suit going on

plus its whata 5 month old car and less then 10,000 km on it it should not have that problem at all!

 

It's the least they can do to give you a new one. Nobody in their right mind would take a car back after the breaks totally failed on a highway. Congrats that your sister was able to stop safely and nobody was injured. I imagine she freaked out after the incident and will be hesitant to get behind the wheel again let alone go on the highway. Your parents might mention "Canadian Press" ONLY if...... GM doesn't give you a new one and maybe some kind of comp. (CP supplies every newspaper with articles in Canada!!!!!!!!)

Statistics say that everyone will have at least one major accident in their lifetime. Hopefully this was it for your sister...close call.

Peace Bro..............

 

thanks man.. yea she a little scared thank god she did not hit anything and no one hit her ... just thank god shes ok...
and i know u mention bring it to the press and there give you what you want..but im sure they will replace the car the sales person we bought the car from is a family friend and his father is the manager so he said he will talk to his father and see what they can do cuz he even said he would not take the car back after what has happen either..

i just hope that this does not happen to anyone else because no one should go thorw this stress,

her cars bene in the shop 4 times for differnt problems this is the 5th time now for the breaks and we only had it since dec 28th so either we got a bad car or GM is doing something wrong with these cars, but it seems everyone else is not having half the problmes she is haveing with hers so we might just got a bad one... so hopefuly when and if they replace it this hell of a car will be off the roads.

 

Word...........................sounds like an isolated incident, just a total freak chance. That car needs to go back to GM so they can study it. A case for the textbooks.

 

yup...
i'll let you guys know what goes on in the next couple of days... see what they say, was teh main problem prob find that out 2morrow...