On my car, the leather around the passenger side door grab was seperating right where you grab to pull the door closed.
This is the second time to take it in, and the door panel is still on back order. My service advisor informed me this appears to be a nation wide problem.
Go check your door panels and see if the material is still nice and tight around the place you grab to pull it shut.

Me too i just got a new door panel from the dealer today they said i'm the second one they think the leather srank from the heat but anyone with this problem is intitled to a new door panel

How long did you have to wait for the door panel to come in?
I have been waiting two weeks :(

i haven't noticed that, but then again i haven't had too many passengers in my car.. one thing i have noticed though, is my driver side inside door handle, is making a clicking sound whenever you open it now, it still opens but doesn't sound right.. hopefully nothing comes of that...

i haven't noticed that, but then again i haven't had too many passengers in my car..
Thats the funny thing.. I haven't had any passengers in my car except for my wife rode with me "once" to Wally World :rolleyes:
I spend an hour driving to work, park way out away from anyone else.
Spend an hour driving home, straight in the garage, secured for the night..

I've noticed in all of the interior pics of the leather equipped SS's that the seats material is rather loose in the "butt" area. Is that a issue they are going to address as well or is it supposed to be like that. Most sports cars that have leather sport buckets don't have loose leather, its usually very nice and tight. Just wondering because I've seen it quite a bit and was always curious.

i got the same issue with my passenger side panel, i haven't taken it in yet... my main issue is like Oj said... my seat was made with cheap leather, or too much... one of the two, maybe both lol

yeah same here with the seats.. seems to get looser as more time is spent sitting on them... hopefully they don't get any looser.. :rolleyes:

My passenger door power window/lock panel is seperating from the leather. Hmm, what's up with the passenger side leather problems? Why not the driver's side?

thats weird...i got all three problems. my passenger door panel, the leather is pealing. i ordered the panel about a week ago and i got the call today saying it was in. my drivers side door handle clicks....madd annoying....and the seat looks like the leather stretches....

LOL uh oh!! I hope our cars don't become another failed domestic quality vehicle.

Hopefully not! Its still the first year, hopefully they'll take care of that now!

hey i just found out i have all 3 now too....after actually looking closely at the passenger handle.. i can see that that whole piece is not as stable as the driver side one and the leather peaks out on the sides.. well back to the dealer.. :rolleyes:

Must be some kind of error when they cut the leather for the passenger door pattern.
So far my seats(actually my seat) is doing good, the passenger seat hasn't been used that much..

Lonewholf, did you just take your car to the dealership service area and tell them about the problem? Or did they give you a hard time about it?

if you guys look closely the DS has more plastic bezel and the PS has a very thin bezel....thus it pulls out :)

I have the same problem with the passenger side door only. It seems to be a defect from the manufacturer. Someone must of been drinking when they set up the machine to cut and size the leather. I showed the problem to my dealer and I am going to wait a week or so until I get anything replaced. I want to see if the other door is going to do the same thing. One thing they should have done during product testing was to heat test the leather interior to see how it would hold up.

Its still the first year, hopefully they'll take care of that now!


Exactly.

What you guys need to do is all pull together and go and let the dealerships know and aware of these issues. Same with the seats. The more of you complain or notify the dealerhsip, the more and more GM will hear you and hopefully make the right call and fix all of the little nit pick things that annoy you and are common amongst a good bit of owners. Spread the word! This is how recalls get made that aren't found out from the manufacture or the engineers. They are found out by the owners and their dealerships. Once they see it is a common problem among the masses, thats when things will be called in for a mandatory fixing or replacement with a better part. This is alos the way GM finds out what flaws the car has and build the 04 model fixed with all the little nit pick things. You guys need to make it known and take your stuff in to be fixed. The seats are very apparent to me. Honestly that would drive me up the wall so my SS (if I had one) would of already been up there being fixed. The dealership would probably hate me afterwards after all the little stuff but you know what, thats their problem, not mine. You guys paid for the car and the warrant. Use it to its fullest before you start modding (when mods come out). Because after that you can kiss your warranty good bye. Trust me. Ask any of us modded cars albeit it WRX, EVO, SRT4, etc.

the door panel came in the next day and my seats leather is real loose

Yeah, the part with the leather seats being "baggy" is a huuuge annoyance to me. I definitely want to contact GM about it and find out what can be done to fix this...cuz....I know my butt ain't big enough to make it stretch like it has after two weeks.

Lonewholf, did you just take your car to the dealership service area and tell them about the problem? Or did they give you a hard time about it?

I just took it into the dealership and showed them it was seperating..
I haven't received a hard time about it, I just want to know why it takes so long to get a part in. This will be the third time I will have to take it back, but I guess if it is a nation wide problem, they could be on back order :(

Yeah, the part with the leather seats being "baggy" is a huuuge annoyance to me. I definitely want to contact GM about it and find out what can be done to fix this...cuz....I know my butt ain't big enough to make it stretch like it has after two weeks.


Do you guys have the RECARO seats or just the stock leather seats?
I've got my 06 SS SC on order and I wonder if GM did the seats or if GM just had RECARO actually slap SS on em when RECARO made them. Is there a tag on the REACROs if any of you have them? Hmmmmm.........Thats scary about the door leather too. I'm in Europe so if it happens to me I'll prolly be waiting for a LONG time for them to fix it.

Where you actually sit in the recaro seats isn't leather, its cloth (well I assume so since that is the way the redline is)

Do you guys have the RECARO seats or just the stock leather seats?
I've got my 06 SS SC on order and I wonder if GM did the seats or if GM just had RECARO actually slap SS on em when RECARO made them. Is there a tag on the REACROs if any of you have them? Hmmmmm.........Thats scary about the door leather too. I'm in Europe so if it happens to me I'll prolly be waiting for a LONG time for them to fix it.

nah, I don't have the G85 package...hell I didn't even know it existed when I bought my Cobalt. :(

hey don't feel bad...i didnt know about that package either.. but i got everyting else besides onstar

On my car, the leather around the passenger side door grab was seperating right where you grab to pull the door closed.
This is the second time to take it in, and the door panel is still on back order. My service advisor informed me this appears to be a nation wide problem.
Go check your door panels and see if the material is still nice and tight around the place you grab to pull it shut.

This is a known issue across all models of cobalt. My dealership had yet to see it on the LS but after I brought mine in I believe they're making GM aware of the issue just to be sure. They've had to repair the defect on a number of base models already so I guess my car will be the guinea pig :eek:!

I've agreed for the first try to have them re-do the vinyl on the door in hopes this fixes the problem. I hope this fixes the problem AND still looks factory and holds, otherwise I told them if we have to go for a round two I want a whole new panel. I'm up for trying anything once :).

As for the seats, I upgrade my LS to the leather seats and I've noticed that I have one hell of a butt groove goin on both on the driver and passenger sides. I'm really not too worried about it unless it starts to get worse *knocks on wood*. If it gets to the point where I could make a mold of my ass outta it then I might start to get worried :D.

Permafried-

This is a known issue across all models of cobalt. My dealership had yet to see it on the LS but after I brought mine in I believe they're making GM aware of the issue just to be sure. They've had to repair the defect on a number of base models already so I guess my car will be the guinea pig :eek:!

I've agreed for the first try to have them re-do the vinyl on the door in hopes this fixes the problem. I hope this fixes the problem AND still looks factory and holds, otherwise I told them if we have to go for a round two I want a whole new panel. I'm up for trying anything once :).

As for the seats, I upgrade my LS to the leather seats and I've noticed that I have one hell of a butt groove goin on both on the driver and passenger sides. I'm really not too worried about it unless it starts to get worse *knocks on wood*. If it gets to the point where I could make a mold of my ass outta it then I might start to get worried :D.

Permafried-

Well I told mine, new panel please they laughed and said no problem, they are even ordering me a new DS also and getting the ones with red inserts instead of the ebony...are'nt they nice peeps!

I've noticed in all of the interior pics of the leather equipped SS's that the seats material is rather loose in the "butt" area. Is that a issue they are going to address as well or is it supposed to be like that. Most sports cars that have leather sport buckets don't have loose leather, its usually very nice and tight. Just wondering because I've seen it quite a bit and was always curious.


Chev leather has never been that great...in the 6 yrs that I have been Detailing cars at my dealer they all seem to wear excessively quick. IMO :(

Got the car yesturday and drove it home. Looked up and my bezel around the sunroof was lose so drove it back to the dealer and they said some part behind the bezel was not there and they had to order it.

Then I go to drive back home and I am just looking the interior of the car over since I never drove a Cobalt before I had already paid for mine and it was a done deal and whatda the know. The door panal leather is coming off around the handle. I was pissed to say least but now atleast I know my car is not the only one. Now I guess I need to go back and order a new door panel.

Oh well not the greatest start for my new toy.

I have the same problem. The leather on the door has shrunk back from the trim plate. I am glad I saw this thread on here b/c I probably would not have noticed it for awhile. My car only has a couple of hundred miles on it too. Looks like I am gonna go see my dealer.

After reading this thread I also have ordered a new panel....same problem, sigh. Its in the shop anyway so.......

Mine had the same problem ..took it in and had it fixed in an hour ...there was enough excess leather to fix mine but we shall see if it stays fixed

I geuss ill get my panels checked out too when i go tomorrow.

OK, not that my base coupe has leather, but everytime I lean my leg against the door the speaker rattles. My bass is pretty far down on the crappy cd player (again this is a base coupe, nothing fancy like you guys) and it does it all the time. Maybe I should have waited till 2006 to buy a cobalt. :rolleyes: Do you SS guys have the same problem? :confused:

OK, not that my base coupe has leather, but everytime I lean my leg against the door the speaker rattles. My bass is pretty far down on the crappy cd player (again this is a base coupe, nothing fancy like you guys) and it does it all the time. Maybe I should have waited till 2006 to buy a cobalt. :rolleyes: Do you SS guys have the same problem? :confused:

I haven't noticed anything of the such..

When my crankshaft sensor blew on my car and it was in the shop for 20 days and it would've been longer had it not been for my father (being a GM employee) finding the dealership a new part.The dealership couldnt find the part anywhere in the country and declared it a spat case, and i was told by the salesmanger that since they stopped making the 05 SS they couldn't pull one off a model coming down the line so my point is unless your dealership has the part in its back room or its a part that is a common part it could take awhile to get it depending on the resilence of your dealership not to mention if everyone in the country is having the problem. Ill let my father know about the problems with your guys cobalts. I'll throw some information up here when i found out as well as anything else i find out.

When my crankshaft sensor blew on my car and it was in the shop for 20 days and it would've been longer had it not been for my father (being a GM employee) finding the dealership a new part.The dealership couldnt find the part anywhere in the country and declared it a spat case, and i was told by the salesmanger that since they stopped making the 05 SS they couldn't pull one off a model coming down the line so my point is unless your dealership has the part in its back room or its a part that is a common part it could take awhile to get it depending on the resilence of your dealership not to mention if everyone in the country is having the problem. Ill let my father know about the problems with your guys cobalts. I'll throw some information up here when i found out as well as anything else i find out.


i didnt know a crankshaft sensor could blow

Well I don't think the door panel was such a big thing, but it did irritate me at first. But when you think of the overall scheme of things, and that there was a slight mis-calculation on the cut.... Well lets just say I am happy with the way GM handled it by replacing the whole door panel. My service advisor said that there would probably be a recall.
I also looked at the photos I took of the car the first night I parked it in my drive way, zoomed in, and sure as $hit :eek: it was there.

I ordered my door panel today!! Has any of you that have had them replaced had any problems with the new panels?? I was just wondering b/c of the fact that the replacement panels were probably made with the same machines that made the bad ones.

i didnt know a crankshaft sensor could blow

Well it didn't blow i just used that as a figure of speech.

I ordered my door panel today!! Has any of you that have had them replaced had any problems with the new panels?? I was just wondering b/c of the fact that the replacement panels were probably made with the same machines that made the bad ones.
Nope, I have had mine on for a week now, and it still looks good.

Well it didn't blow i just used that as a figure of speech.

i know what you meant im just messin

I ordered my door panel today!! Has any of you that have had them replaced had any problems with the new panels?? I was just wondering b/c of the fact that the replacement panels were probably made with the same machines that made the bad ones.

it took my dealership like 2 weeks to get the panel. i go down there to get it put on and the new one was f*cked up too. the leather was fine on this one but on the side of the door from the factory it looks like they glue the door together. well on this door it was not glued and there was a nice gap there. so the dealership sent it back and im waiting for another.

After reading this thread I decided to check mine as well....and the same problem around the pass handle....

Have any SS owners also noticed that the leather SS seat rub against the center console...I spoke with the dealer anty they said nothing we can do about it, comes that way....
This just doesn't seem right to me

I just called the dealer and made an appointment for next Tuesday to get this fixed. I'm going to try just having the vinyl replaced and hope it's the same stuff and that it holds and looks factory. If not I'll be going back and requesting a whole new door panel but I can't imagine it's all that difficult to do, just hoping they have the required material on hand, especially since it's a softer material than the vinyl typically used on doors. Also noticed a small dent ahead of my passenger side door, have NO idea where that came from but I'm assuming they can just pop it out with no problems...no damage to the clearcoat or paint so I would assume it shouldn't a big deal. I'll let everyone know how the re-upholstering goes in case your service department offers a similar service which only takes a few hours as opposed to days to get the whole door panel in.

Permafried-

my car has that problem and i have the cloth panel. if you look the drivers side trim panel is thicker than the passenger side.

I just called the dealer and made an appointment for next Tuesday to get this fixed. I'm going to try just having the vinyl replaced and hope it's the same stuff and that it holds and looks factory. If not I'll be going back and requesting a whole new door panel but I can't imagine it's all that difficult to do, just hoping they have the required material on hand, especially since it's a softer material than the vinyl typically used on doors. Also noticed a small dent ahead of my passenger side door, have NO idea where that came from but I'm assuming they can just pop it out with no problems...no damage to the clearcoat or paint so I would assume it shouldn't a big deal. I'll let everyone know how the re-upholstering goes in case your service department offers a similar service which only takes a few hours as opposed to days to get the whole door panel in.

Permafried-


I am on my second door panel now and it's bad too!!! :mad: I think I am gonna have them replace it in a month or so and just hope they have everything worked out by then. If that doesn't work I am gonna do the exact same thing you are doing. I am lucky enough to have a friend who owns an upholstery<--SP?? shop. Let us know how this works out for you!!!

I am on my second door panel now and it's bad too!!! :mad: I think I am gonna have them replace it in a month or so and just hope they have everything worked out by then. If that doesn't work I am gonna do the exact same thing you are doing. I am lucky enough to have a friend who owns an upholstery<--SP?? shop. Let us know how this works out for you!!!

Will do...I'm hoping the upholstery specialist is a GM licensed one since he is only in the service department every Tuesday from 8 - 1 or so. I'm afraid of running into the same thing as yourself with ordering a second panel...I'd prefer to have my car in the shop for a day at most rather than having to continually return it again and again :).

Here's hoping, so far all the work I've had done at this dealer over two cars has been nothing short of perfect. Never once had to take it back after something was fixed to get it done again. As long as they match the material and it looks factory (and of course fixes the problem lol) I will be more than happy.

I'll provide an update Tuesday evening once I get out of work and pick the car up :).

Permafried-

Well, picked the car up from the shop tonight after work and immediately ran to check the passenger door panel. I'm not sure if they totally replaced the vinyl or not, but the problem appears to be fixed :D. I tried to wiggle it gently which before generated almost a half inch of movement and the handle is basically rock solid now. It now feels identical to the driver's side door handle..thank god!

I'm going to keep a close eye on it for the next month or so, especially after cleaning the car, but it looks like the problem has been fixed and my car was only in the shop for 4 hours :D. If you've had enough of replacing your door panels maybe suggest this option to the service department and see what they think. Also make sure though that whoever ends up performing the work is either GM certified or has a reputable name.

Permafried-

Brought my car in today to check muffler noise and door panel........they supposedly fixed the muffler (ill be the judge of that)
But more on topic, they ordered a new door panel.....delivery tomorrow! so 1 day for a new door panel isnt bad, i have heard alot of people complaining that it took a long time do to backorders......lucky me i guess

Brought my car in today to check muffler noise and door panel........they supposedly fixed the muffler (ill be the judge of that)
But more on topic, they ordered a new door panel.....delivery tomorrow! so 1 day for a new door panel isnt bad, i have heard alot of people complaining that it took a long time do to backorders......lucky me i guess

Just make sure you go over that thing with a fine tooth comb once it's on your car and you go to pick it up. I'm sure many people here will tell you how frusturating it is getting a new panel installed and then having to get it re-done again. Hope it goes well the first time for you :).

Permafried-

happend to me .. 3 days after i got it i realized it ..

The leather on my passenger side panel was messed up also, just got if fixed today, took them almost a month to get the panel. Also my seats are suffering from the baggy leather to, mostly just the drivers side since the passenger side seat hasnt been used as much. Im gonna ask about the seats today when i pick up my car.

Anybody ever consider that its not the leather or the interior, but the car itself? I got a memo on this before, let me see if I can find it when I get back to work on Monday. But apparently the passenger side of all 2 door cobalts is 3/4 of an inch longer then the driver side, and this has caused the "pulling apart" problem.

Anybody ever consider that its not the leather or the interior, but the car itself? I got a memo on this before, let me see if I can find it when I get back to work on Monday. But apparently the passenger side of all 2 door cobalts is 3/4 of an inch longer then the driver side, and this has caused the "pulling apart" problem.

Nobody considered that cause it should not be possible. How can a car's tolerences be that far off?????? And from what I've understood it's not just the passenger side doing it, its both sides.

NEVERMIND. I just found it on the intranet. The memo was on the 4 door model not the 2 door. The first 3 months of production were affected. It doesn't go into detail on how it happened.

Most of you have been referring to the leather on the passenger door. Are you sure that is actually leather? It really looks/feels/smells like vinyl to me

Ok, I just checked my '06 SS, and sure enough, the vinyl has pulled out from the door handle. It most definately is vinyl.

Most of you have been referring to the leather on the passenger door. Are you sure that is actually leather? It really looks/feels/smells like vinyl to me

I've pointed out a number of times that it's not leather it's vinyl but I've just gotten to the point where I let it go :p. I'm positive it's not leather, even the service tech referred to it as vinyl when I got mine re-done but it's not really that big of a deal :). It's just a very soft vinyl as opposed to the typical material used in cars which feels like it's got a brick lining underneath.

Permafried-

Ok, here is a pisser... We were on our way into Fort Worth last night, and my wife noticed that the material was pulling away again!!! This time from the back side instead of the front. I guess I will be calling my rep tomorrow to see what he has to say. I keep ya'll updated..

Ok, I took my car in today for the 6K inspection, and oil change. I showed one of the service rep's the door panel, and he said GM is re-designing the door panel?? I asked him if there was a list or something to get on, but he told me to contact my assigned rep. Anyone else hear anything like this :confused:

all they have now is for non power window/locks. with those should be this month.they made the trim piece bigger

all they have now is for non power window/locks. with those should be this month.they made the trim piece bigger

Yes but for the ones with power windows/locks, there is nothing yet. I have a whole new door panel waiting for me.

Tried that three times, didnt work