My daughter bought a 2009 HHR that had keyless entry but no remotes were included. I purchased a Dorman 13737 Keyless Entry Remote, which comes with a programmer, and it worked great. Turn car on, plug programmer into OBD port, wait for beep, press lock and unlock on fob, wait for beep, turn off key and remove programmer, Voila, you have a working remote. Manufacture says this is good for all 2006 through 2010 without remote start and you can program up to 4 remotes (which is max for the vehicle). They also have one with remote start.


BTW, until we did this, the alarm never sounded. So threads saying the alarm cannot be disabled are just wrong. I suspect that what does it is clearing the programming of all remotes, because once one was programmed, the alarm is enabled.

 

That's just because the alarm doesn't arm except by the fob. I think this started in '09. Only the '06 and '08 owner manuals, say you can also arm with the power lock button on the door. Mine has ever only armed with the fob. But the battery cage is broken, so it's been temperamental.

I'm in the process of returning my 13737, as it's defective. It keeps transmitting that the fob battery is low. Tried 4 new batteries after the one that came with it, same result. Dorman says "that is being set due to a low frequency output, I would recommend getting a replacement remote under warranty". So we'll see what happens.

But yes, it did work, so I was pleased, but then the DIC message, awwww, man!!

Glad it's working for you!!

 

Sounds like you need a Owner Manual. You can get a digital copy via the link in my sig. The workings of the alarm are detailed therein.

Next you will be wondering why the alarm keeps going off every time you open the door with the key.

 

In my 06 on family outings with the kids and whatnot I open my door, press the lock button on the door (works on fob too) the ALARM light will flash a few times, and the car automatically locks itself and arms the alarm when all four doors (and hatch) are sensed as being shut. Its a noted feature in the manual, and pretty cool to me LOL.

 

My 2008 2LT does the same thing, when I get home from work late at night I walk by the HHR and make sure it is locked. If the wife forgets to lock it then I do the same thing.

 

I get the low battery warning, too. I was just figuring the reverse engineering was a bit off. I just shot a message to Dorman on that and the fact that the remote won't put the computer into calibration mode to dial in the TPMS. I hope to hear from them soon.

Works great for triggering the locks, though. That was awesome since the one OEM remote that came with the car died a while back.

 

Got my NEW new fob, and programmed it.

I have 2 operating fobs now! And no "low battery" message!

 

Nice, it works!!

 

Nope, now this one's doing it too. Back it goes. Will update.

 

No luck , yet!