I have an HHR 2010 and my esc says off and traction lites come on and stays on @ times and every so often I'll here feel a grinding but only when those lites are on

 

Traction light on indicates a soft code or "pending" code. Next time they come on, go to the nearest parts store before turning the car of so they can pull the codes. Sometimes pending codes clear right after a restart. I have a 2006 without ESC, but my guess is that the ESC would disable when a code is stored. On my 2006 the T/C light illuminates when there is a pending code and, once the code is stored as a fault, the MIL illuminates.

 

You might try putting the title of this thread into the search box at the top of any page. There are lots of reasons for that to happen.