Smoke Wagon

so as many of you know, I did a complete upholstery and carpet swap in my 06 HHR.

I went from graphite to ebony.

I made a nice HOW TO article which is stickied.

anyway, one design flaw I found with the HHR seats is the front seat's back panel. It has two tabs that slide UP to lock in to the rear of the seat frame, and two little push-pins that press and lock in to two holes at the bottom....or so they are supposed to.

These little push-pins are soft plastic, very brittle, and are not easy to get lined up with the holes because they slide in to position in the plastic panel, and then you have to try to line them up blind. If you miss, they break. You have to sort of "pop" them in...they wont just press in.

They are $3.75 each(employee pricing) and special order...can you believe that?

Anyway...my gripe is the design of the rear panel. Instead of having the panel slide DOWN to lock the bottom tabs in, and then pressing the push pins in the top, where gravity helps hold the panel in place, the panel has to slide UP to lock the two tabs in, and the push-pins go in the bottom, which means if a push pin fails, the whole panel will slide down and fall off.

So...if for some reason anyone here wants to remove the back plastic panel from the back of the front seats, be very careful when doing so, or you might end up with two broken push pins.

I was about ready to just flip the panel upside-down and screw a couple big ugly screws in to hold them on, but one of the panels has a net to hold magazine(which by the way is an easy way to get the seat panel to come off due to the weight of anything you shove in the net.






Ok...rant OFF. Just a heads-up for all the interior DIYers out there.

new pins came in today...GF is giving them to me as a early Christmas present.

HHorange

There could be a very simple reason that they slide up and pin at the bottom...Are the pins exposed? if so they would be at the bottom just to hide them...

Smoke Wagon

No...they are slide-ins from behind. They slide in to an alignment slot which is *supposed* to hold them...totally invisible once the panel is installed.

Father Azmodius

The only reason I could see for the design the way it is could be to prevent the panel from moving if you have the seat folded flat and are loading whatever from the rear of the car, hence pushing the seat back panel up in essence.

Smoke Wagon

Farther....that's thinkin' with your DIPSTICK!

great answer, and now I completely have a change of thought.

That's thinkin' with your dip stick....Jimmy!

Thank you!

UPDATE: the new clips come with the white collar insert that pops in to the seat frame. What I call the 'receiver'.

I'll get this sorted...and now with Az's train of thought, I'll be feeling better about it.

MrCatPC

Pins? ...if ya say it like yous from the bronx, forgettabout it (no, I don't know where that came from, i'm in South Dakota!)... couldn't find my seat's pins, here's the story:

Anyso, was curious about the seatback panel several weeks ago (pretending i'm ready to install DVD headrests) removed the panel to investigate, then couldn't figure out how to reattach the panel after seeing the lower portion had slots for pins but no pins showing. Your description of the pin within the white plastic collar helped tremendously. I found it easier to remove the 2-piece plastic pin/collar from the metal bar of the seat, rather than separating the two plastic pieces (in my case, YMMV). And yes, pressing into place over the metal holes didn't really do it, so I lined it up a second time (about a centimeter's viewing space to see if the pins are on target between the plastic panel & leather upholstery), then smacked the plastic panel with a palmheel tap. Pop! Done.

Was getting away with hanging the panel in place resting one of the lower slots against what I now know is the collar with pin stuck inside, but of course one of my 5yr old's jobs is to generously kick the back of the passenger seat, so... This morning it dawned on me, go to HHR Forum and search! I used the terms "remove panel front seat plastic" to locate this thread after "reattach" got me nowhere quickly.

Thanks again!

vtfb68

You don't need to use the GM parts. Go to your local auto parts "help your self" section and match up the size you need, they are cheap and hold much better. you may also need to trim some seat foam for a tighter fit,
VT

MrCatPC

Next time I decide to investigate the upholstery I will pick-up some extra pins, thanks for the tip! Will have to see if local shops have small size that fastens the corner of the rubber seal & plastic wiper cowl for my ongoing leak (see other forum, known issue for 2006 model year), as i'll probably bust the OEM pins when I DIY that repair before autumn. This time at least, "Pop, done," means it worked properly...

George Carlin, "Man asks, 'Why are we here?' Earth says, 'PLAAAASTIIIIC!!'"

BlackScreaminMachine

Add me to the list of broken clips. The OP has it exactly right.

Jeff®

Mine was still under warranty when I had to get them replaced. Special order item too. Can't just use regular pins available at Autozone, no.