I have not been able to search the answer to this question because I am out of town with a crappy Internet connection. Anyway, I have occasionally received the power steering warning on the DIC when I turn the car on and then there is no power steering. Restarting the car seems to reset the steering and it will work fine. I have taken it to the dealer on a couple of occasions. I believe that the first time either a motor or switch was replaced. The second time, the complete steering column was replaced. That was about three or four months ago and yesterday I got the steering warning on the DIC again. There was a TSb on this I believe the same issue has shown up on the cobalt. I'm going to take it in again. The million dollar question is: does this problem mean that the power steering could go out while I'm on the highway? Thanks in advance. The service folks seem stumped.

 

Yes it can go out on the highway. Most likely it will. If it happens while driving, you can put the car in neutral and shut off the car and restart it while rolling. I had to do this. (Mine is an automatic) My dealer covered my replacement, don't know if yours will, but I brought in the following paper work.
http://www.yourcobalt.com/forums/rec...operative.html
Hopefully your dealer will do it for you, to keep you as a customer.
Good luck, keep safe and keep us posted.

 

When I had my cobalt they where recalled to replace the electric power assist motor for the steering, I do.t know if HHR was recalled

 

No recall in the U.S. Only Canada.

 

Yo will still be able to steer, it will just be manual steering. Harder to turn.

Not sure I would be shutting the engine off at speeds & trying to re-start.. But that's me.

 

It's my wife's car. Any surprises like the power steering going out would be too much for her to handle.

 

Does anyone know what the technical problem is that is causing the power steering warning meesage to appear?

 

I believe it is from overheating.

 

I know that in some cases overheating the mechanism by turning hard max turns one way and then the other can cause the warning. That was not my case however. It showed up after starting cold.

 

Mine initially did it after changing my headlights through the fender well. I cranked it all the way each way to get access to the bulbs. Next day, warning showed and then became random. Keep us posted.