The 2010 I bought last weekend is in the process of a dozen-points(?) care before I commence putting miles on it.
My brother revealed, when asked, that he'd never changed (or even inspected) the cabin air filter in the eight years -HE- owned the car, and I wouldn't want to blindly yank the aged element for replacement unless giving even a modicum of due diligence to prevent -what ever- from sliding off it's top and dropping into the depths of the circulation ducting.
I'd like to get some reflection as to how difficult it's going to be to uncover the intake of that filter, and whether the effort will allow for vacuuming any build up (or worse) that could be lurking atop the cabin filter element. Again, I -know- that it suffers eight years of being ignored, and there is a possibility that every minute of 13(14?) years since the car was manufactured (AND 135,000 miles) that the original filter has been accumulating ??? .

 

There is a link in my sig to a free digital Owner Manual. The instruction with pictures are in it.
Open the glove box, empty the glove box (or be prepared to pick all of that stuff up from the floor), pull the side guides until they un lock the door, then look for the doorway to the filter, open it, pull the filter out.

 

If you want to vacuum the top of the filter, you can remove the cowl(between the engine compartment and the Windshield).

 

There’s a Sticky in the “How To “ section of this site. It’s even got pictures.

 

This one?

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-...-change-52300/

 

Yeah. that's what I'd like to do, but getting trapped into half an afternoon's involvements isn't what I'd need when everything else in life keeps knocking at my door.
I just wrapped up the rear brake shoes being ignored (caught -that- JUST in time!) and repairing the rear-most tail pipe hanger & heat guard above rear axle, along with feeding it the fresh Interstate battery (thank you Costco!).
I've got a really good wiper arm puller now (made in Taiwan(good!),bought on Amazon), and a better than average carbon-infused cabin filter, just a few pointers to reduce overall time on task would be appreciated. Like, if there are push-pin retainers that are going to disintegrate (locations -and- how many), ect. ect. .
Removing for replacement the rear license plate was certainly miserable because the -slightly- oversize screws were so stuck in the nylon anchors that the process proved much more involved than it ever should have been. Suck-factor HIGH(!) , and sourcing those proprietary GM (rectangle) nylon inserts wasn't what I expected either.

 

So, I wasted my time typing out details? If you get the filter out no need to deal with the cowling.
No need for a puller for the wipers, jus remove the plastic caps and the nut.

Evidently looking at a link in my sig is too much; here it is just click on it:
https://www.chevrolet.com/support/vehicle/manuals-guides
https://charm.li/

 

Seems you are making a simple process complicated. Cabin filter change should take you ten minutes tops.

Simply get under dash and get at the cabin air filter. The debris will come out with the element.
If you wanted to be extra cautious you could vacuum the top of the filter from the inside.
Can you see a ton of debris under wiper arm cowl cover?

 

??? No clue what this means.
Anyway. Changing a cabin filter is a 2 minute simple job.

 

​​​​​​​That includes picking all of your junk up off the floor.