Back in August I rented an HHR and it had a few dents on it. One was on the front drivers fender above the wheel, a few on the hood where some manly man had shut the hood with force a few times. It also had one on the passenger rear fender above the wheel. I know it was a rental but it stuck in my head.

I have been watching HHR's while I crawl along in traffic to and from work and have been noticing dents on several of the ones I see. Two of them had almost the same dent on the front fender above the wheel. I also was behind one that had many dents on the rear hatch on and around the chrome trim and latch. Has anyone else noticed any issues with dents? Could the sheet metal be that thin?

 

the front hood dents way too easily.

 

It sounds like the sheet metal is pretty thin. Some have tried to shave door handles and such and have mentioned that the metal is thin. I don't know if the HHR dents more than other vehicles but if someone opens a door into the side of an HHR it will dent.

I'll tell you one thing, the paint is not great. It scratches very easily. This is a bigger concern to me than dents and dings.

 

The sheet steel on most modern cars is thin to keep the weight down, A thicker gauge metal was used years ago and was a lot harder to dent... the HHR is no worse in this respect that anything else made today, The body shops do a lot more work than years past........

 

I had the beauty bar dent.

 

I just saw a woman driving a DSM HHR today with several dents on the rear hatch. Several.

 

I had two dents in the hood from an idiot at the dealership when he got a bit too agressive shutting the hood.
I also took a major door ding in the passenger rear door where the fender bows out.
Thank goodness for a great PDR professional I know. Can't tell either ever existed.

 

I have found several dents in the doors lately It makes me sick !

 

Have had mine for 13 months and have not had any dents. (Knocking on my desk as I say this!!)

 

I don't think they dent any easier than any other car. I've worked on the hoods of a few, I have about other car too. They come from someone not knowing how to shut a hood. The deck lids are prone to the chrome bar dent from not knowing how to shut the tailgate properly. The metal used today is thinner but with a higher tensile strength than in years past. Some of the worst cars for dents are the last models of cavaliers and sunfires.