Has anyone heard of this?

Yesterday afternoon, left work, got on the highway, went about 2 miles, at about 60-65mph and out of no where the car turns off!! DEAD!

Pull over to the should and put it in park, thankfully it started back up, but this happened 2 more times aftet that.

We dropped it off at the dealer this morning, but they are so swamped they haven't looked at it yet....

I love my car and now this sux b/c I am so afraid this will become a major problem!

I've been getting a cold start recently. Whenever I turn the car on. It idle's for a bit. Do you think the heatwave we are having has anything to do with it? My car's temp read 105 degrees yesterday

Can you say Holy Crap Batman? That would suck. I hope you get to the bottom of that major problem.:(

If memory serves me right, someone else had this problem and I believe it ended up being an injector problem. I will look for the thread and post it here when I find it. :thumb:

Not sure if its the heatwave or someone made a valid point at work....maybe it was something w/ the remote start?

When I went to use the RS yesterday it didn't work, maybe that had something to do w/ it??

Did some searching and found several threads that might provide some answers. I used the word stall and it pulled up a few threads. From what I have seen, it could be related to the Remote Start. Look through THESE (http://chevyhhr.gmnewsline.com/forums/search.php?searchid=55541) search results for possible solutions. Some done apply, but I'd rather have more threads than not enough. :thumb: One big one could be loose fuses, as most of us experienced them not being seated properly from the factory.

Skip what I said about the injectors...I don't think that's right now. :red:

BTW...:welcome: to chevyhhr.net...the best resource online for anything HHR. :thumb:

my car sits in the sun all day while im at work... i use the autostart right before i get off n she starts right up n nice n cold waitin for me

I have no idea what the problem is but please let us know the results, it may help someone else down the road. Good luck.

i was driuving on the highway the other day sunday and i hit a bump and the car stalled at 80 mph had to pull over and restart dont want to bring to the dealer yet because i still dont have my dash back and the pass air bag is disconnected you know warrenty stuff

I had a similar problem with a '94 Taurus wagon I owned. Driving up the Maine Turnpike and just died! I was in the left lane doing 65. (Speed limit was 55 then) Was able to throw it into neutral and re-start while switching lanes. It died again while in the Exit 9 toll booth. I wasn't very popular as it was the Friday before the 4th of July and that is a busy exit. Several p***** off motorists gladly pushed the car out of the way. It started about an hour later and I never had the same problem again. We got home from vacation about a week later and lo and behold....there was a recall by Ford. Seems that weld spatter from attaching the fuel pump in the tank had broken loose and got pumped to the entire fuel system. They replaced the pump, fuel lines, injectors, etc. Funny thing was that I had reported it to the dealership from our vacation spot and he told me I probably vapor locked! Umm....isn't that a tough thing to do with these modern fuel systems?

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I hope your problem is easily solved and not something like I had.

I have had no problems with my HHR, but then again, I don't really go out much anyways. ;)

my car sits in the sun all day while im at work... i use the autostart right before i get off n she starts right up n nice n cold waitin for me

Same here and the temp is over 100 everyday

???cel???
(that's weird- can't type in CAPS??)

Just thought I would update....sorry it took so long.

Car went in twice and each time they could not find anything...basically told me since they could not replicate the problem and nothing came up when hooked up to the diagnostic computer that there was nothing that they could do...

Just thought I would update....sorry it took so long.

Car went in twice and each time they could not find anything...basically told me since they could not replicate the problem and nothing came up when hooked up to the diagnostic computer that there was nothing that they could do...
Now that really sucks.
Has it happened any more ?

No, but I don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing!! sigh.......:(

I was thinking that there was a TSB on fuel pump, sounds like what was going on with the HHR that shut off. can't seam to find it, can find the post that says will post tommorow thats it.

This same thing ahppened to me yesterday "driving at 65 and car went dead", lucky for me the car could not be started once it was in the service bay of my dealer :)

Has anyone heard of this?

Yesterday afternoon, left work, got on the highway, went about 2 miles, at about 60-65mph and out of no where the car turns off!! DEAD!

Pull over to the should and put it in park, thankfully it started back up, but this happened 2 more times aftet that.

We dropped it off at the dealer this morning, but they are so swamped they haven't looked at it yet....

I love my car and now this sux b/c I am so afraid this will become a major problem!


I've had this happen to me on the highway doing about the same speed, the only difference is I hit a pot hole :mad: and everything went completly dead.:wtf: I put the car in neutral and started it back up. It only happen once and scared the crap out of me,:barf: I said something to the dealer about it while the car was in for service and they were not able to find anythng wrong.

I've had this happen to me on the highway doing about the same speed, the only difference is I hit a pot hole :mad: and everything went completly dead.:wtf: I put the car in neutral and started it back up. It only happen once and scared the crap out of me,:barf: I said something to the dealer about it while the car was in for service and they were not able to find anythng wrong.
If the pothole was big enough it might have tripped the fuel shutoff (it's happened to me before). But that wouldn't explain why it would start immediately after :confused: (usually a manual override).

No, but I don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing!! sigh.......:(
:D If you call your Ride The Cruck, We`ve got BIG trouble...:lol:

My wife has had our HHR stall on her twice. Both times she hit a big pot hole. Both times she was able to re-start the car by putting the car back in park, turning off the ignition and then turning back on.

Has anyone seen any TSBs on this?

do any of the posters in this thread have any updates on their situation in regards to this? we have been experiencing this too and my wife is getting a little freaked about driving on the highway because of it.

the car stalled twice hitting a fast food driveway and once today when she hit a dip in the road.

do any of the posters in this thread have any updates on their situation in regards to this? we have been experiencing this too and my wife is getting a little freaked about driving on the highway because of it.

the car stalled twice hitting a fast food driveway and once today when she hit a dip in the road.

There have been many issues with loose fuses in HHRs since the fusebox is located directly over the front suspension, and takes a lot of "hits" from the bumps. If you already had some loose fuses or relays, it is possible that one "of great importance" might be knocked out of place from a bump, causing the engine to shut down.

Just a theory, but from the great number of HHR's we see with loose fuses - it would be the first place I checked. Pull the fusebox cover off and re-seat all the fuses and relays - while you're there, take notice of any that are extremely loose.

Here's a how-to from our website:

Underhood Fuses (http://www.socalhhr.citymax.com/HHRfuses.html)

Hope it helps, :thumb:

My Camaro died doing 88 down Interstate 95 once. That was a real fun expirence, had to spin it into the median to avoid the semi behind me. I replaced the entire engine after that.

is it only sticks that are having this problem

My Camaro died doing 88 down Interstate 95 once. That was a real fun expirence, had to spin it into the median to avoid the semi behind me. I replaced the entire engine after that.

:eek: YIPE!! Did you have to replace your shorts too after that thrill ride?:lol:

CHeck the headlights and make sure ther not shorting out. I had a cobalt and this is a known error on them. hit a bump and the car cuts off.

I have a 2006 HHR and the other day on the expressway we hit a bump and the car died at 70mph!! I freaked but my husband was driving and coasted onto the off ramp, put it in neutral, turned the key off then on and it restarted. He says the HUGE bump we hit (it was bad) shut the fuel pump off? He designs cars for a living so I do believe him but I called dealer anyways. I have to take it in this week b/c dealer said sounds like it could be electrical? Car drives fine and only happened that once I hit that pot hole but I will feel better having it looked at? Scary

I went to the owners manual, but couldn`t find any ref. to a fuel shut-off or reset button on the HHR.
My experience with other cars that had electric fuel pumps, was there was a reset.
Is there one on the HHR, or does turning off the ignition do that?

I guess BB is as confused about this fuel pump shut off, as I am.

Srogers....I believe your husband may have been speaking of a new safety factor, I heard of, that is built into most vehicles with electric fuel pumps. In the event of a severe collison, particularly from the rear, the fuel pump shuts off to prevent a potential fire. I'm doubtful if your severe BUMP would have been that severe to turn the fuel pump off.

Your problem sounds more electrical, to me.

BB...know of no way to reset the fuel pump, manually. I do know that the "hot feed' wire to the pump is an excellent way to utilize a hidden theft prevention switch.

thanks snoopy. The dealership said the same thing. I told him about this forum and that others have had the same issue. He said he would look into it but as of today he had not heard of this? I will let you know if they find anything. It goes in next wk on tues.

Dealership could not find a problem with the car. There's obviously an issue with the car, scary. He also said my car's fuel pump would not have shut itself off as it doesn't have that option. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.

This is very strange, I always thought the on-board computer stored errors/problems, so they could be diagnosed.
Maybe just another story no one can verify, like the so-called satellite technology, so powerful you can read a newspaper from 200mi. up, but they can`t find a 6ft. tall guy dragging an oxygen tank...

oh black beauty, how I laughed at your post. You couldn't have said it better!!

It happened again. We went to Ky this past weekend and hit a bump doing 70 and sure enough the car shut off. It quickly restarted in neutral and my husband said he didn't care what the dealership said it has a shut off in the fuel injectors. He said this is exactly how its supposed to work and the fact it does restart with NO problem says otherwise. So why don't they know this??

I've never had this happen to mine. My HHR works as it should.

For this I would not piss around with the dealer if they can not diagnose the problem. I would write GM directly and whatever agency in your state is responsible for transportation safety. It does not seem to arise much so is likely isolated, but safety reports are what help spawn recalls. Who knows.

Last week wife was driving home from work...and bam engine shutoff. It happened in a really bad spot too...thankfully she is fine. It was just normal driving, no bumps, nothing out of the ordinary. In our case, we are done with this car. I've had the rotors turned three times in 22,000 miles. I've had the windows stick anytime it's cold out. Snow crams the wheels and vibrates the car like crazy. The hood dents if you lean on it...barely. Tires are bald already (not hhr's fault though). Gas milelage on highway is at best 24mpg. I'm really disappointed in this car...I've owned GM all my life and when this came out I was happy to purchase, love the styling, features, etc....but thankfully the dealer is buying it back (payoff value) and we're moving on. I'm not here to rip on the hhr, but just to relay my experience. This has been a great forum for help and a great community....take care.

You just never know when your going to get the "bad apple". I felt that way about my Chrysler Sebring Convertible. I love Chrysler cars but my bad experience took me to Chevy. My car has shut off twice but both times I hit a bump at a high rate of speed and both times my husband was driving and he was able to slip it into neutral and it restarted right away, AS I THANKED GOD. Dealership can't duplicate the problem so they don't seem to know what's going on? My husband says its a safety feature that it shuts off when it thinks there's an impact but Chevy claims the car doesn't have that? My husband says their dead wrong? Who knows. Pretty scary that your wife's shut off just with normal driving. I like my HHR despite the issues I had the first yr. Good luck on your next car.

OK, As I posted earlier, I have had this happen to me now. In my case, the bump moved the key from "run" to the "acc" position. AFter testing a bit by playing around with the keys, I found that it is VERY easy to pull down on your keychain and have the car shut off. That's why a big bump will shut the car off, at least in mine. I don't think that's what should happen. As a control test, I tried to get our Ford to shut off by pulling down on the keychain, and its key would NOT move. Either there is a design problem, or a problem with the particular lock cylinder or whatever you call it on my car. I wonder if others that have experienced the stalling after a bump have actually had the key switch to the accessory position when their car died.

pitbull, what you said makes perfect sense. When reading this forum, this topic in particular, I immediately thought "inertia switch in the fuel system"...but inertia switches have reset buttons, so a re-start wouldnt be possible without resetting the switch.

I then thought 'faulty ignition switch'....

your most recent post has me leaning towards that as a possible issue. Many older in-dash cars, and some P.A.T.S. equipped Lincolns use a key-in-dash set up, and have been known to have ignition switch wear just by the weight of an individuals key set. Our old Chrysler ended up with ignition lock wear just from key placement/key chain weight...I was drag racing it, and when I launched the car, the keys pulled right out of the ignition, and slid under the seat...if I had to shut the car off in a hurry, I would have been screwed. When I got back to the pits, I had to get out, and fish for the keys just to shut the engine off. After inspection, I realized...the ignition cylinder was worn to the point that I could take the keys out easily...and that 440 6-pack engine has no trouble launching the keys backwards when you punch it....at ANY speed.

I feel that perhaps SRogers should experiment with his ignition cylinder-
go start the car...then fondle the key chain, pulling it down and up, and see if the ignition cylinder rotates BACK and shuts the engine OFF.

if it does...there's your answer. if the dealer doesnt buy it, install your key on a release-style key chain, and let your key stand alone when operating your HHR.

that's what I would do.

unless proven otherwise, I feel Pitbull might have nailed the diagnosis.

This is very interesting!!!!!!!!!! As soon as I read it I went to my car. I started it and while trying to get the key to move it would not but with just a gentle tug on my key ring it does shut off. I only have my car key, remote, 3 house keys! NOTHING more on my key ring so its not heavy. I then restarted my car and sure enough with NO pressure I can pull my keys and it shuts my car off. I will def pay attn next time that this happens on whether or not my key is still in the on position. I went my husbands truck (a ford) and I couldn't do the same thing to his and I pulled hard. This all goes back I bet to the faulty steering column. I had trouble getting my key out of the ignition and there was a rattle under the floor board. As you have read in other posts it required a new column but I bet the ignitions are faulty as well, all stemming from this problem. SO glad I read this. Iam calling my dealership and letting them know. I want this fixed. Its dangerous when your going that fast and your car dies!!!!! You should NOT be able to move your keys this easily. Iam anxious to know if anyone else can do this with their HHR? GOOD POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stephanie

I would show this to your dealer asap as this is a huge liability issue if they dont take care of this.

I would show this to your dealer asap as this is a huge liability issue if they dont take care of this.

That's what I think about the prob. Since the car shuts off, you have no brakes or power steering. It freaked me out so much the first time that I couldn't think of how to restart it until I stopped the car. Not at all a good feeling when that happens with your wife and 1-year-old in the car.

pitbull...

:thumb: :one: :bow:

I believe you solved this mystery. Very well done. We will have to wait and see if that is in fact the root cause...but based on what I have read in this thread, I feel confident that you have correctly diagnosed SRoger's ignition shut-off problem.

Now hopefully both our dealers will be able to FIX the problem. We'll have to wait and see on that.

I had my car go dead a couple of times-after driving through large potholes. I believed it to be from the fuel pump shutting off-a safety feature in case of an accident. Both times the car easily restarted and was fine afterwards.

When the key doesnt come out of the ignition, it could be from a loss of power. When my battery died, I had that problem.

I had my car go dead a couple of times-after driving through large potholes. I believed it to be from the fuel pump shutting off-a safety feature in case of an accident. Both times the car easily restarted and was fine afterwards.

When the key doesnt come out of the ignition, it could be from a loss of power. When my battery died, I had that problem.

Lee, next time it happens, look closely at your key's position. In my car, when it died, the DIC went blank, but the radio continued playing. It was at night, so the headlights stayed on for a few seconds, then went out (like they do if you turn off the car). The key definitely was moved from the running to the accessory position, and I bet yours was too when you hit the large potholes. I don't think any of the recent posters (myself included) complained about the key not coming out.

Also, as others have stated the fuel pump shutoff will not allow you to immediately restart! You will either have to wait a few minutes, or press a reset button. That is how that system is supposed to work, so it is highly unlikely that it caused the stall. Furthermore, even if it did cause a stall, that right there could be a safety concern since you loose power brakes and steering when it dies. Bottom line is your car shouldn't stall unless it's in an actual accident, or one hell of a severe bump (enought to cause the car other damage IMO).

Excellent points. I will definitly check the key position if it happens again.

found this on the NHTSA site. Will ask my dealer to look up the full TSB when I take it in for the key turning. I don't know if this has anything to do with my problem or not since I only have the summary below:

Make: CHEVROLET
Model: HHR
Year: 2006

Service Bulletin Number: 050235007
NHTSA Item Number: 10020951
Summary Description:
INFORMATION ON INADVERTENT TURNING OF KEY CYLINDER, LOSS OF ELECTRICAL SYSTEM AND NO DTC'S. *KB

I called and made an appt with the dealership. I also filed a complaint with NHTSA. Hopefully they contact me soon. In my complaint I told them about this website and that others are having this problem. I just hope they take a look and contact me soon. I will let you know what happens.

You know, I am planning on filing with NHTSA as well, if my dealer/GM won't do anything about it. Let us know how your dealer handles it; I'm curious what I will be in for when I take mine in.

:thumb: Nice move SRogers

I finally got my car into the dealership. They looked at it and confirmed the ignition is way too loose and they are ordering me a new one. I asked how they could let other dealers know that the problem most likely lies with this loose ignition and he said its all in house and that GM looks at all the problems coming in. If they find that there are enough complaints with this one problem a service bulletin is issued and then all the dealerships are notified but as of right now there is NO bulletin on this issue. SO, its important for everyone to take their car in and get a new ignition and or at least confirm your ignition is ok. He said he'll call friday when the part arrives and it should only take about an hr. Hopefully my car will never die again when hitting a pot hole!!! Good job Pitbull76!! Be sure to file complaints with the NHTSA, its important.

I had my car go dead a couple of times-after driving through large potholes. I believed it to be from the fuel pump shutting off-a safety feature in case of an accident. Both times the car easily restarted and was fine afterwards............
The HHR does NOT have that fuel shut off feature.
The cars that do, require a manual reset after activation before they will restart.

Thanks Dave C....

Members have debated that issue a couple of times in various threads. Some just don't believe it.

I'm not sure which I believe....but I lean with your statement.

I hope this fixes it for you. My dealership is still waiting on one of the parts to fix other problems with my car, so I haven't taken it in yet. I will probably call them later today or tomorrow and tell them to schedule an appt to just do all of the items that they have received, since the part they have not received is giving me the least trouble.

Here are the only conditions that will shut the fuel off for the HHR.

Fuel Cutoff Mode
The control module cuts OFF fuel from the fuel injectors when the following conditions are met in order to protect the powertrain from damage and improve driveability:

• The ignition is OFF. This prevents engine run-on.

• The ignition is ON but there is no ignition reference signal. This prevents flooding or backfiring.

• The engine speed is too high, above red line.

• The vehicle speed is too high, above rated tire speed.

• During an extended, high speed, closed throttle coast down--This reduces emissions and increases engine braking.

• During extended deceleration, in order to prevent damage to the catalytic converters

Well, I'm taking mine in Monday for other problems and will show the dealer the "loose" ignition as well. I know that it's a good bit easier to turn the key back in my car than my mother-in-law's 08 HHR. I kinda figured as much because the last time my car did stall on me because of the key moving to Acc, she was following us at the same speed over the same bump, and had no problems. Oh, and she has as much or more crap on her keychain than I do. I hope they are willing to replace it like they did for Srogers.

Dealer has ordered me a new lock cylinder as well. Hopefully this will solve the problem.

Here are the only conditions that will shut the fuel off for the HHR.


• During an extended, high speed, closed throttle coast down--This reduces emissions and increases engine braking.

• During extended deceleration, in order to prevent damage to the catalytic converters


wow...so, better to endanger the occupants and other motorists, than to cause any unneccesary emissions, or do damage to an emission control device(catalytic converter)

thanks Chvymgr

amazing, aint it?

wow...so, better to endanger the occupants and other motorists, than to cause any unneccesary emissions, or do damage to an emission control device(catalytic converter)

thanks Chvymgr

amazing, aint it?

Except that if all is working properly, there is no danger. Even though the fuel is cut off, the engine is still turning and power brakes, steering, and all accessories work just fine. The computers will turn the fuel back on once the engine RPMs or vehicle's speed drop to a certain level. I think most cars have done this for years, and it works so well that no one notices or cares.

I got my new ignition on friday. Took 4 hrs b/c they got the ignition but it was the wrong one so they had to go get the right one. They spit shined it afterwards so I forgave them. LOL I started my car and grabbed my house key and pulled and could not shut my car off! I pulled hard and still couldn't do it. I bet it never shuts off again with a major pothole. I still haven't heard from the NHTSA about my complaint. Iam satisfied that my problem is solved! Thanks again Pitbull76!

Glad to hear that the new lock cylinder is better, and I'm sure it will fix mine too. I am still waiting for them to get mine in stock, and I too reported it to the NHTSA. I don't know if they will contact us unless they see a few more reports of this issue. Right now I have no other keys on the keychain to minimize any chance that it could be bumped into the off position.

Its a good idea to lighten the keychain with this problem. Good job filing a complaint. Everyone on this sight with this problem should do so asap. All we can do is wait and see when and if we are contacted.

Well, the lock cylinder is changed and it no longer flips back so easily. I don't think it will stall anymore when going over a large bump :)