Pulled into my driveway, put the car into park... went to go remove the key and the ignition will not turn AT ALL.... key is entirely stuck in the ignition and it will not turn ANY direction what so ever.. tried everything possible, shook the hell out of the steering wheel and its not locked.. had a full tank of gas so I didnt want to just let it run till it died so I pulled the fuel pump relay under the hood and it killed it in like 15 seconds.. Then disconnected my battery otherwise the accessory power would stay on till the battery died sense the key is in the igntion...

Had it towed to my buddies shop tonight, won't be able to get to it till Monday obviously but does anyone have ideas as to things we can trouble shoot to get this thing fixed?! thanks.

Poor car getting winched onto the flatbed: - At least the tow truck matched my color scheme!

 

haha what year is yours i had it happen to my 09 ss/tc hopefully they fix it under warranty

 

happened to me. About a month ago. 09 ss/tc. Wasn't on the recall list but I called Chevy and bitched because I wasn't under warranty either but still something like this isn't users fault. They paid fully with labor it was about 800.00. Pissed me the **** off though

 

She's a 2009 2LT... I have no factory warranty and I had a warranty through CarMax but im sure its void with all the stuff ive done to the car..

I also just found this: Document ID: 2552146

Looks like I should have it re-towed to Chevy and they will pay for it..

"Dealers are to service all vehicles subject to this program at no charge to customers, regardless of mileage, age of vehicle, or ownership, through January 31, 2013. "

 

Just one of the many things to **** up on Cobalts

 

I hope they pay for it, I have no warranty.

 

Spoke with the service department at Chevy today and they told me that there is an actual recall now for the ignition cylinders on the 2009 Cobalt's... so they are replacing it all for free! I do not have a warranty or anything and it is still all free!

 

Yeah I had this happen to me except I couldn't turn the car on. Something broke in the cylinder and they had to replace it and it cost 600 dollars. I actually had it done at a Chevy dealer..if there is a recall don't we get our money back?

 

Hey man, check out this link.. and towards the top there is a section about contacting Chevy for reimbursment. Or you could just call your local chevy service department and explain the problem.

Document ID: 2552146

 

Lol I am quite happy now. Man was I ******* pissed about such a little thing breaking and them charging me 600 dollars.

 

It's a solenoid in the ignition system. Same
**** happend to me.

 

Same here 3 times.

 

SRS? What do you do, crush cement with your hands for a living?!

 

If it wouldn't shut off, then ehy didn't you just drive it to the service center, instead of payong to get towed?

 

Because he killed the fuel pump before he knew it was covered

 

Because i have AAA... they tow for free for up to 75 miles... unlimited number of times.

 

the other day i told the dealership mine was sticking and they did it for free. 09 ss.

 

Nice, they did mine for free too! Might as well get it done and taken care of before 2013 when they end the program where they pay for it.

 

my invoice says "ignition cylinder coded and installed" i'm assuming that means the wafers in the lock changed to fit my key. Still not sure if it's programed. To any who think they may have this issue.. tell the dealership it's been sticking and they will take care of it free of charge. Don't wait until your key gets stuck before you rectify this crappy design.

 

Free is good

 

happened to me too... was going on a date to olive garden.... ended up going to the drive thru in taco bell because i couldnt leave the key in the car...

 

I had the same problem with my 09 cobalt. I had to kill it and then disconnect the battery each time I wasn’t using it. When it first happened I didn’t have another key with me and I was forced to leave my car unlocked (with the key stuck in the ignition). All you had to do to start it was wiggle the key. It was really unsafe since a little child could have gotten in my car and injured or killed someone. The defect is even more unsafe in automatic cobalts; if someone crashed their car and gasoline was leaking, then the car could explode since there is no practical way to kill it. I informed GM about their manufacturing defect but they did not seem to care. They have a "service bulletin" at Document ID: 2552146, but they only honor certain 2009 cobalts with certain VIN #s (I'm guessing very few, since my car wasn’t one of them and it had the exact same defect as described on their service bulletin). Since GM wasn't very helpful for me, and I bet they will treat you similarly, I would suggest filing a recall complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ to inform them of the common problem people are having with the ignition lock cylinder and to tell them of your safety concerns and GMs failure to truly remedy the situation. If the defective part is put on the recall list then GM will be forced by the government to replace the item that they negligently put into our cars in the first place and the government will force them to make our car as safe as what it should be. Please contact NHTSA if you have had a similar incident, otherwise GM will once again get away with screwing over their customers and disregarding their customers' safety.