HHRNewbie

Hi Everyone,

The hubby & I were so upset and actually a little puzzled....during the holiday, we kept having issues with our HHR LS '06, our power steering light would come on while driving, sometimes it was just when backing out of a drive, etc., after it happened a second time (we were hoping it was a glitch of some kind with the freezing cold temps we were having here in Ohio at the time!!), we took it in to our mechanic, well, he said he never had to ever replace, the power steering components (or mechanism), in an HHR, and sounded very uncomfortable with doing it, for us, so we sadly had to take it to our dealer where we purchased it used, back in August of '08~ they did confirm that the components of some kind (sorry, with it being the holidays I can't completely remember, but will look for our paperwork if it helps lol!), for the power steering, needed to be replaced, and it would cost $440 to replace/put in ~ needless to say, I nearly lost it ~ LOL!
We had another "garage" (car repair) place, we often go to, give us an estimate on the same item/labor costs, etc., and they were only about $25 cheaper, which with it being, literally four days before Christmas (great timing to say the least!!), and considering it was already at the dealership, we decided to just have the dealership, repair it at that time....sad I know...but with how high the repair cost already was, we just let it go

What has us upset (besides the high cost of repair), is our HHR LS '06 has just about 63,000 miles, on it ~ is it actually TYPICAL (!!) for the power steering to GO BAD, with that amount of miles?? I could see perhaps if it was at 80,000, or more, but truly I can't believe it. Our dealer actually had the nerve to say (when I questioned this), that 63,000 miles was indeed high enough mileage for such a repair....I'm stunned Does anyone know if there has been any recall to do with the HHR LS (year '06) and it's power steering? Also, not sure if it was something that we could have possibly, found, on eBay ~ but again, with it literally being SO close to Christmas, day, just couldn't try for an auction ~ and we're not at *all* handy (LOL!) with replacing parts in our cars sadly

Thanks in advance for any help!!

HHRNewbie

I'm also wondering, if I should contact Chevy regarding this? Has anyone else tried doing that, and had a successful outcome? Thanks again!! :)

HS2020

Well I know about 2-3 weeks ago they had to replace the sway bars on the front of My wife's and I 2008 HHR with 23000 miles on it. They had come loose and so was the bushings in that same area. They replaced them and we are still having the same issue. So it could be an issue they do not know about. Our HHR is back in the shop again being fixed for the driver side door lock issue not locking or unlocking and the same noises coming from up front. They did not like me bringing in the TSB to show them how to fixt the door lock. It is under warranty and I refuse to pay for it to be fixed.

pitbull76

Newbie,

It does stink to have a power steering problem with only 63K miles and it has happened to some HHRs but it is not typical. As far as repair costs go these days $440 is not all that high. I paid more than that for a brake repair on an 03 Accord I used to have with only 45K miles on it. Things break from time to time with cars. The car is out of warranty, so Gm has no obligation to fix it for you. If you can't afford a $440 repair, you should have bought a less expensive car.

Old Lar

If you figure $100/hr just for labor at the dealers plus parts $440, although painful, isn't too bad.

I had a buddy with an '05 Dodge Magnum hemi. at 105K miles the computer died. 5K out of warrenty. He discovered that the shop could only locate six new computers in the country. so for $1200 he got it fixed.

Todays cars are all drive by wire so all too much stuff is now computer controlled, so when something goes is it a part or computer or both all quite pricey.

HHRNewbie

Thanks everyone for your thoughts/help! It wasn't so much the cost (though, that is a big chunk of change a few days before Christmas, LOL!), as the notion that the power steering motor went bad with medium mileage, my husband was appalled and to be honest, I was a little taken aback myself! Guess it just goes to show you, every car, make/model is different- we also have an Oldsmobile Alero, another GM product, knock on wood, it's done fairly well for how many miles it has :) We might look into buying an extended warranty for the HHR, does anyone recommend them?

pitbull76

I wouldn't get an extended warranty... It would take many $500 repairs to pay for one... Just set a little money aside in a savings account in case something goes wrong.

HHRNewbie

Well, looks like our '06 HHR LS will possibly be in the shop yet again, just one month later~ I realize of course, all cars can have issues (though our Alero Olds has, knock on wood, done fairly well for us considering it has over 80K miles, rarely in the shop) but, after doing some online research the past few days, I see there are a LOT of common, issues, ongoing with the '06 HHR's in particular, ugh! I really LOVED our car when I first test drove it over 15 months ago, thought it was fun to drive, etc., but now regretfully realize, perhaps I should have done more research before buying ~ something EVERY informed consumer should do, regardless. Now we have another $500 in repairs that need to be done (a right front strut replaced, leaking, and front stabilizer links replaced!!), along with needing new tires (which, from all the research I've done at actual stores, and from what our dealer has told us, that alone will be another $500+ for certain!), which yes, tire replacement can be expected after 15 months, but it just adds to the total, talk about bad timing.... AND just two days ago, we started noticing that the car "runs noisy" (for lack of a better term!!) while driving in the city, or highway~
which has me very concerned so will need to check on that, as well
I really really wanted to LOVE this car, but in today's hard times, truly it's hard to justify a car that has rapidly turned into a money pit, which has me sad and frustrated When all is said and done, we could effectively, spend over $1,000 in just repairs (without adding what might be the issue, with the "noisy" factor we just started noticing, have yet to diagnose), within one month, when you also add in the power steering repair/replacement ~ that's a lot for anyone to swallow Is anyone else in this boat with their '06 HHR LS?
I have limited time to spend for doing research but have been looking for any info I can find before we decide on possibly just trading it in, at this point ~ though I've also read, the trade in value for HHR's is pretty bad
Thanks so much y'all for any helpful information!!

Tom Bettger

I have an 08 hhr panel with 22000 miles this will be the third stearing and lower shaft that has to be installed there is a rattle the left hand side dash and it comes from the stearing colum there is a law suit aginst GMs provider of these stearing
look into warranty the warranty is transferable Good Luck

ewg53

I have a 2006 2LT and it has had the steering system replaced because of defect, as a side note somewhere on this site there is an article that GM is suing the manufacturer of the steering unit.
But I have 45000 miles on it and we have not had many problems, but it is a first year car, and many problems were addressed in later models.
just my 2 cents