2005 Chevrolet Cavalier problems
Owners have filed 362 complaints with NHTSA about the 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 60% of complaints. Next are cruise control (5%) and brakes (5%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 362 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 60% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 4
- Typical mileage
- 65,000 miles 286 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 20 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 29 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 77 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 59 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 42 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 27 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 16 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 9 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Of the 286 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 65,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 70,000 miles (181 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 6 injuries reported; 4 deaths reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 84% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2005 ranks 8th most-complained-about out of 16 model years of the Chevrolet Cavalier with enough data (236 complaints in that window).
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Tl*the driver rented a 2005 chevrolet cavalier. The driver was hit head on by an out of control 2002 toyota highlander. Both vehicles were destroyed. There were four fatalities as a result of the crash. The highlander speed increased up to 85 miles per hour at the time of the incident. The contact does not know what the mileage was on the vehicle when the crash occurred. Updated 04/07/10. Updated 06/18/10
2005 chevy cavalier right front tire blewout. The consumer lost control of the vehicle and drove off the road. The consumer then struck a post and a guard rail.
Daughter was driving to go to another location when stopped for light. Light turned green had some one in front of her and since it is a stick shift she just let the car roll. She panicked I think and hit clutch instead of brake. She rolled into the back of the SUV ahead of her and the airbags exploded in the car. She was only going 4 miles an hour. No damage to the car in front of her no front damage to our car except the air bags and breakage of front window.
I have a 2005 chevy cavalier ls the instrument cluster has gone wacky all the gauges are to the right and you cannot tell what speed you are going, how much gas you have, what the temp is. Only have 19,000 miles on the thing and the list of complaints I see regarding this problem , I think GM should issue a recall.
Last december my 2005 cavalier experienced a speedometer malfunction while I was traveling on the highway. I was in an area where the speed zone changed from 50 MPH to 65 MPH. The speedometer registered my increase in speed fine. When I slowed down, the speedometer stayed in place. Over the past 7 months my dashboard gauges (fuel, temp, speed, RPM) all malfunction. Sometimes they reset themselves. Most of the time I'm never sure how fast I'm going or how much gas I have.