decided to do a battery&spare tire jack check based on an article on another forum that suggested you look to make sure all items were available when taking delivery of vehicle,as his mis fortune was to have a flat and there was no jack handle,which spoiled some what his trip. not wanting to be in the same situation ,i decided to do an inspection &gutted the back trunk trays and no where can i find a jack handle,did notice the jack was made in china though, maybe the car was too LOL.as my family are driving to chama ,n.m shortly i installed a 1/2 ratchet and approriate socket ,should the need arise. i bought this vehicle new 2 yrs ago and this is certainly a disappointment,my own fault for not checking.trust me i looked everywhere no jack handle, any suggestions where ir could be? certainly disappointed in the generals quality control. any one else find this in their car? lets here from you.
regards &later KEWATIN

 

Do you have the factory lug wrench? If so, then you have the jack handle.
(the wrench does double duty as the jack handle AND lug wrench)

 

no there is no lug wrench, having been a mechanic &now retired, i did an accountability check and no lug wrench,also this is the 2 nd hhr we have owned and the 2009 did have one but not the 2011. thats why i am asking if other forum members have had this problem, good thing i checked as would hate to be in a situation on side of road with no lug wrench &or jack handle.also found a nice little stap with a clip on it all wrapped up, i am assming it is the spare tie down / but maybe not. thanks for your reply it is appreciated &will see if any more resonses come in.
regards KEWATIN

 

Yep. The strap is the spare tire tiedown.

Funny thing. The day I bought mine, I did a checkover of all the cars stuff including the spare tire, jack etc. I remember saying the same thing:"Where the heck is the lugwrench?" It took me a minute to notice it was mounted in it's stored position on the hold down post. I had simply overlooked it. It didn't
"look" like a lugwrench, so I just didn't notice it.
Not saying you might have overlooked it, but.....................

And fwiw: I used to do mechanic work for a living. You would think I would know what a lugwrench looks like.

 

For anybody that might want to know, here is my HHR jack and the lugwrench/jack handle. Kind of easy to overlook that lugwrench.
The lugwrench holds down the jack when stored. If stored correctly, it will eliminate a lot of those thumps and bumps that owners often hear from the rear of their HHR.

Attachment 14902

 

Actually, the strap is to tie down your flat tire after you change it, according to the Owner Manual. Since the bolt down won't work with a full size tire, can't have tires flying around while driving at the max 45 MPH of the donut.

 

What year did they start using to fixflat and compressor?

 

You are correct donbrew. I just used the wrong term saying "spare tire" tiedown.
I would hate for all our HHR owners to run out to their cars to check and see if their spare is tied down with that strap.
Sorry for the bad term I used.

 

Not sure about that my 2011 LT has a donut. It may have been an "option".

 

So I looked and there it was, a lump and the handle. I'm a little slow, how do you get the handle off the jack? DUH! I finally figured out the little thumb screw releases the lug wrench off the side of the jack, push the little silver button, extend the handle, flip out the socket and you are in business.