As I closed the hatch on the HHR last night, I heard the sickening sound of the doors locking. For a moment I could not believe that I heard that sound but, checked the doors anyway. Ya, They were locked! I peered through the side window at the keys resting in that little slot right below the radio. That is where I always put them when the car is locked safely in the garage. Now the keys are locked safely away from me. (I purchased the HHR in April with only one set of keys.) It is now apparent why I should have made another set! I carefully wedged the top of the door out to facilitate slipping a wire through the gap to release the door from the inside. I hooked the handle, pulled the handle out all the way and nothing! (I am sure that some engineer at GM knew that someone would try that litttle trick.) Now I am faced with the reality that I will have to call the parts dept at my Chevy dealer and let them know that I was outsmarted by my HHR. Fortunately, it only cost $5.00 for a key that will only open the door. Had I lost the ignition key, it would have cost $60.00 to replace that. To make a short story long, Watch where you keep your keys, or your HHR will keep them safely from you.

 

Dear roadblock69,

Thank you for sharing your experience with locking your keys in your Chevrolet HHR. I can relate to this since I am the one within my family to do this at least once a year. LOL

I am glad that you were able to get things worked out with this and I hope that the next time that the security system doesn't allow anyone to use the lock button, it will be the main reason that it was put in the vehicle… to keep your vehicle safe.

Sincerely,
Michelle, Chevrolet Customer Service

 

With our new Infiniti, locking the keys inside is impossible, I think. There is some kind of signal sent from the key to let the truck know that the keys are still in the passenger cabin. Don't know how far back in the truck that the signal is still picked up by the CPU.

Gotta love technology, even if you have to pay a premium for it on vehicles.

 

For the life of me, I do not know why the doors chose that moment to lock. I did not do anything differently than normal. I removed the keys from the ignition and set them on the console as I always have done in the past. I got out, closed the door behind me and went to the hatch to remove items that I had brought home. When I closed the hatch, CLICK! Game over. WHY?

 

You must have hit the lock switch on the door when you got out. That set in motion the 5 second delay for the locks to activate, which is timed from the last door/hatch is closed. If any of the doors are open for longer than 30 seconds, the locks are engaged regardless of any door/hatch being opeen.

I loved that feature on the HHR, and wish my new Infiniti had it.

 

Thanks jx3, but; The rear hatch had to have been open for more than 10 min. I had 5 guns to put in the vault and I took them into the house one at a time. The doors were not locked until about 5 seconds after I closed the hatch. I do not believe that I would have touched the lock button accidentally because the location is forward of the door release. It would have required me to make a deliberate move to actuate that. Your response is very logical, I just am having a difficult time getting my head around circumstances. Thanks

 

I once was locked out of a Ford product, I had some years ago, and to make matters worse, not only were the keys in the car, but the car was running. Ever since then, when I get out of any car, I either have the keys in my hand, or pocket, or I open the drivers window. I trust no car, today!

 

There is a computer module in the door of my '09 Vette. Last year the window quit returning to home position after the door was opened. I took it to my dealer and he said that the module needed to be reflashed. They tried that and when that failed they ordered a new module for the car. It came in this huge box and it was then that I discovered that the module was part of the window regulator. The dealer replaced that entire regulator and still had to link to GM to reflash the new module. When the original module quit working, it became impossible to open the door from the inside. After a couple of days it also became impossible to open the door even from the outside. Ya gotta love technology! Or not!

 

I'm with Jay, the lock switch got hit by accident.

 

Or, somebody is holding out on you and the remote fob is in a kids pocket somewhere. Now LHAO at daddy. BTW, I found my remote in one of the rear boxes. I was told that the used car did not come with remote! H'mm, don't ALL panels come with remote door locks? How else to open the rear doors from the outside? And I wonder if panels don't have a different sort of security system than others. Don't know nothin', just drinkin' beer in front of a keyboard.