My guess is that they are access points during the assembly production process.

 

Although it`s been determined they are drains, I`d love to hear your theory of access during production, nontheless.

 

Another SNL fan. Well.......the HHR does come from Mexico.

 

More like Cheech & Chong! "It's me, Dave, open up!"

 

The introduction of automation for the assembly of HHR structures will require individual components to conform closely to the CAD design specification with regard to shape geometry and dimensional tolerances. Often, due to a variety of previous manufacturing processes, the 3D shape of these large components lose the accuracy of their designed dimensional specifications. Under these circumstances part-to-part assembly becomes tedious and it would be impossible to rely on robots to achieve precise assembly in an automated system. For this reason, variations need to be accurately quantified in order to provide a reliable prediction model in aid of any future automated assembly. This describes the measurement method used to record the possible variations occurring during the assembly process. The measurements were made using a laser tracker where the results are expected to offer some explanations as to the causes of the variation. The suitability of a laser tracker in a large assembly jig environment is then assessed.
To secure part #824 to part # 9923, a hole must be made to gain access to this area to fasten these two parts together with special tooling. A plug is to be installed to cover the designers errors as this should have been thought out in the pre-production design plans. HHR owners will think it's a drain plug or a storage area!

 

Damn! Sindy broke it down all technical like.

 

After showing Mr. B, he thinks it's for accessing a bolt on the harmonic balancer to turn the crankshaft for proper timing belt alignment or crankshaft bolt removal.
Anyone have any other ideas?

 

I think it acts like a little doggy door for gremlins.

 

Well, on my HHR, after looking, Mr. B observed that my plugs are missing.
His surmise is that on my manual transmissioned HHR, that this plug is for wiring to go through. Apparently, this area is different on manual and automatic transmission HHR's.
Auto has a plug, manual has wiring coming through that hole.
Pic's in a minute.

 

After jacking up the car and follwing the wiring route, this line is going to the brakes. A sensor perhaps?