2009 CHEVROLET COBALT — Complaint #1994976
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS:BULBS filed May 28, 2024
NHTSA complaint #1994976 (ODI reference 11591166) concerns a 2009 CHEVROLET COBALT and was filed on May 28, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on May 28, 2024. The report was geocoded to Mississippi based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:headlights:bulbs, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same CHEVROLET COBALT cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:headlights:bulbs failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2009 CHEVROLET COBALT shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
OEM headlights had become dim and one could no longer be aimed, so I ordered these replacements through Amazon. I paid $92 to have them installed, and the mechanic let me know that the high beams could not be activated, except by holding the turn signal, making it dangerous to steer. In addition, when the headlights are on they create so much RF, the radio no longer gets most AM or FM stations. The mechanic confirmed, they are wired incorrectly, but did not wish to attempt to rewire them.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1994976 |
| ODI Number | 11591166 |
| Date Filed | May 28, 2024 |
| Failure Date | May 28, 2024 |
| VIN | 1G1AP58XX97 |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.