It seems to me that General Motors has NO PARTS available for when things go wrong with the Cobalt SS/SC.

Found this on another section of the site...

I'm in the middle of this very same problem, except that my delay is over three times that of this person.

At the end of July, my 2005 Cobalt SS/SC was involved in a small flood that happened here in Ohio. The water level reached about 3/4 of the way up on the wheels. Enough water got into the car to reach the bottoms of the seats but not that actual seat cushions. After the initial check of the car, it was determined that it would need a wiring harness, an air bag module and a new piece of carpeting. Well, over 60 days later, my car is still sitting in the back lot of this dealership. Why you say? Well, the air bag module and carpet is there but GM says they don't have any wiring harnesses available. Not a single one (although 2007 SS/SC's are being produced at the factory so I'm not exactly sure what the hell that is supposed to mean). I work for the company that owns the dealership where my car is and at first, I was over there pretty much every other day. They had no answers for why the part wasn't available. I've been dealing with Chevrolet customer assistance as well and again, they don't have an answer as to why GM builds cars, yet doesn't have parts available when something goes wrong.

To sum this thread up, my Cobalt has been sitting in a dealership back lot for over 2 months now and the word I'm getting from Chevrolet customer assistance and the dealer is that the wiring harness has an ETA date of "end of October" on it. Well, today is the 13th so that's only a little over 2 weeks from now so they better get there asses in gear. I want my car back NOW!

 

Can you not lemon law that?

I mean... a dealer does have a limited amount of days to repair a vehicle... right?

 

No because it is not a manufacturer defect that caused the loss of use it was a flood!

 

From the little bit I know about lemon laws, they only come into effect if it's a warrenty situation.

As for the dealer, they want the car fixed and out of there. Again, I work for the company that runs the dealership and our COO has been asking "Why is there a repair order open for 2 months?" Well, GM can't supply them with the wiring harness so there is nothing they can do except sit and wait for it to show up.

 

how would water destroy a wiring harness?

 

try submerging any electronic device... it probably completely corroded the connectors...

seems like there should be something you could do... since the manufacturer can't supply the parts to get the car running again, could it not be declared totaled?

Maybe seek legal council... I mean if they can't get the parts to fix your car... that should be a total loss... right? Why keep making payments for a car that you can't drive?

It'd be like wrecking a Ferrari or something... sure... they make the parts to fix the car... but they don't make them not attached to a car already.

 

how many wires are we talking about here?

Its it completely necessary to have a harness?

If it were me, I'd have a pair of wire cutters and a soldering iron, and I'd have the **** fixed in 4 hours

 

There are other ways to fix it... sure... I mean you could probably find a totaled Cobalt in a junk yard and pull the harness out of it.

On a slightly related topic... have you been driving a rental the whole time? That's gotta be a huge bill... seems to me that it would be cheaper for the insurance co. to total the car out at some point.

 

seriously man ask about having it made at the dealership

 

I asked that very same question, can the car be declared totaled? Progressive Insurance said absolutely not. They said that the damage has to EXCEED the worth of the car for them to write it off as a loss. In my case, the total bill is about $2,300 with parts costing a little over $1,000.

As far as making monthly payments on a car I can't drive, the chick that I've been talking to from Chevrolet customer service has said that once I do get my car back that she will go to her bosses and do what she can to get them to return my money since it's their fault that this car is not on the road. My family has been a GM family for life so she said that will help when she goes in to plead a case for me. Makes sense, the more money you give to a company, the more they would be willing to cut you some slack because they want to keep getting your money. Plus, it doesn't hurt to throw in threats like "If you don't return my payments, I'll just go buy a Honda or Toyota and I'll tell everyone I know to never buy a GM product."

 

It's absolutely NECESSARY to have a wiring harness. There are many, many, many wires in the harness, which is under the carpet on the floorboard of the car (That is how water would effect it). It's the "guts" of the car. Powers the headlights, taillights and everything in between. Without it, you're effed.

 

I know about wiring, I used to wire battlebots for national competitions

I was saying, is it necessary to have a connector? Why not hard wire the wires together with some simple solder and shrink wrap?

Sure its a shitload of wires, but it could be done easily

 

hack i agree with you! BTW hack how'd that ticket thing work out?

 

Yes, I have a rental. Actually, I have a 2005 Cobalt sedan. Progressive Insurance paid the bill for the first 30 days, which is standard among all insurance companies (As they say, 30 days is MORE than enough time to fix a car). GM is covering the bill where the insurance company left off and they will continue to rack up charges until my car is fixed and returned to me.

 

Here in Illinois flood cars are considered totals automatically. Maybe there is some sort of standard as to high the water was, or whatever. Maybe its different in Ohio.

Oh, and I agree with getting the factory harness. No way I would want a harness that's been soldered and "recreated" from scratch.