My 2008 HHR SS has developed a major problem with the power seat and I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this issue before I get into tearing apart the seat. My 2008 SS has 130,000 miles; both my wife and myself drive the car and we are large type people (we could lose a few lbs.) She likes the power seat position all the way back and up as high as it will go; I prefer the seat all the way back and as low as it will go. So, every time we change drivers the seat has to go up or down. Recently, after it was raised for her and she sat down the left side collapsed and practically threw her into the driver's door. It can be pulled back up into the correct position but if any weight is put on it, it collapses again. All the motors seem to be working, and it sounds the same since this happened. And since we have had the car, I have instructed my wife to raise the seat before she sat down so the seat would not have the strain of lifting up her body. She has been good about doing this since we have owned the car. Has anyone else had similar issues with their seat? I know the SS seats are a little different than the LS/LT seats but I'm assuming that if they are power seats they all have the same innards.

 

I haven't heard of it on the forum here at all before. Best you find out what the problem is and get it fixed asap - a drivers seat that is unsecured or broken like you describe is dangerous.

Have you had a look under the seat at all to see what is broken?

 

It could be the gears are stripped, or the gear drive cable broke, the LT seats might be a source for parts from a donor car from a wrecking yard

 

The motor for the rear height adjust is at the front of the seat frame, and turns a cross shaft at the back via a linkage that runs down the right side of the frame, but the two arms that raise the seat are welded to the ends of this shaft, so they're unlikely to have become separated, but there's a pivot pin where the arms attach to the bracket at at the seat rail that may have come out or snapped.

 

Hi Everyone

Thanks for all of the responses to my post. I was able to get under the seat a few days ago and low and behold, as 'pg318' pointed out, one of the two arms that are welded to the cross shaft at the rear of the seat has snapped! I wish it would of broken at the pivot pin on the seat rail, but instead it broke where the arm was welded to the cross shaft.

Today I visited my local Chevy dealer just to get an idea how outrageous it would be to purchase replacement parts, and much to my dismay the SS has a seat frame that encompasses the entire seat, as opposed to other models that have a separate frame for the bottom and the seat back. The cost of only the frame was $816.99!!! Geez!

My next step will be the visit a local welder (Mel's Welding South) that I have had good luck with in the past and see if it is something that can be repaired. If he cannot fix it, I will be looking for a used ebony SS driver's seat. I saw one somewhere in the $300 range on eBay; though I hope I won't have to spend that much to correct the problem.

Oh, as far as any safety concerns, the seat just doesn't raise up on the left or door side. Its not a problem for me since I drive it with the seat at its lowest position, but my 'better half' likes it with the seat all the way up and refuses to drive the car until it gets fixed. So now I am the family taxi for both her and my teenage daughter because she doesn't want to drive my manual transmission Saab. Grrrr!

I will update this thread after I am able to get the seat out and over to Mel's. Thanks again for your input!

 

I'll bet that the difference in the frame is only the shape of the pan at the front that drops the center of the pad down, and that all the adjustment components inside are the same. These are the power and manual frames for the non-SS, I knew I should have taken more pics.