Hi All,
I bought a 2006 HHR when they first came out. Love the car; hate the problems. Have had the rotors cut three times before the car had 20K miles on it due to braking vibration problems. Dealer told me the rotors were "too thick" and that's why they went out of round. I'm not that dumb. Waiting patiently for aftermarket rotors to come out so I can fix that problem once and for all.

Newest problem; abs and tc lights keep going on and staying on. Shutting off the motor and restarting re-sets them for a little bit. But then the sensor got so flukey that it decided I had "low traction" (stopped at a stop light) and it disabled my transmission so I could not drive at all. That sent the car to the dealership, where they told me the ABS sensor was bad and now they have to replace the entire hub assembly because the sensor is built in to it. Crazy design. So now I have to pay $500+ just because the abs sensor imagines a problem where there is not. Doesn't seem right to me. The car just went off warranty (36K) and unless I can fight with GM to do the right thing, I'm stuck with this huge bill for something that should not have gone bad in the first place on a car so young. Anyone else out there having this problem?

JT

 

Aftermarket rotors are available now.

Doesn't seem like there is much you can do about the ABS sensor, besides doing the labor yourself.

 

I would call the service manager and ask for assistance. How far past 36K are you and what was the delivery date?

 

I had the same problem with tc and the dealer had to fix it. I don't remember what the problem was but it was covered under warranty.

 

Thanks for your replies. The car has 38K on it. I bought it July 2006. I ended up having to pay the $500+ just to get the job done and the car back. We're working with the service manager at the dealership to try to recover at least the price of the part ($350). Still waiting for GM to weigh in. From what the service manager told us, this is a widespread problem in the HHR's and the Cobalts (which use the same chassis) and the dealerships are all complaining about the design and trying to get GM to go back to the previous version where the ABS sensor could be replaced without having to replace the entire hub assembly. Still in a holding pattern with GM but at least have my car back.

 

I found low cost, after market, performance rotors at the link below....

----> http://store.r1concepts.com/Store/Se...=1&key=av01313

Cajun

 

this is great info as i do have a 2006 hhr and i am getting same lights coming on... then i restart the car and they go off..... today it took forever for them to go off so i went and did a good washing in the area of the abs sensors and then they shut off.... we have recently had a big snowfall and now it is warm again so roads are very slushy!!!!! is it just that they are getting snow packed and dirty or do i have a problem

 

So much for a trouble free ride. We've also had a nice wet slushy snow, and I have the same issue now. Is the issue really as simple as a bad ABS sensor? It would appear so. It would also appear that there is no longer a need to change out the entire hub. Rock Auto has the ABS speed sensors for $16.30 each, AC Delco Part # 8686074.

So, can anyone confirm this? ChevyMgr, do you have any insight on this?

 

gmpartsdirect also shows this part. Assuming a good hub, it would sure be nice to replace just a $15-20 part rather than a $130 hub. I just had a hub replaced on the wife's '03 Impala for the aforementioned ABS/Traction Control lights. The Impala has 176,000 on it, so probably should have just replaced both hubs, lol.