How can you jumpstart an HHR?
 

Lately, its been so foggy where I live that I've been manually turning on my low-beam headlights often because that's the law here in WI. The only problem is that I always forget to turn them off, and then the battery goes dead on me. Lately, I've been jump starting it by connecting the jumper cables to the battery in the back. But it takes a lot to get to the battery in the back. You have to take out the floor/storage rack, and the cover underneath it above the spare tire. Does anybody know if there's any way to jump start the HHR from under the hood? I hardly know anything about cars, so forgive me if this sounds ridiculous: I was wondering if you could jump start it by connecting the jumper cables to that one thing under the hood with all the fuses that kinda looks similar to the battery, I noticed it had two bolts/ends like a battery. Does anyone know?

The owner's manual covers this. Mine's an '08, so the '08 manual has it on Pp 5-39. Their reference to the negative ground terminal is actually one of the bolts on the shock absorber tower. You will see a gnd symbol near the stud. The positive is pretty straight forward and is located in the place that you mentioned. Below is an excerpt out of the manual:

The remote positive
terminal is located under
a red tethered cap on
the engine compartment
fuse block. Remove
the cap to access the
terminal.

Do not remove fuse block cover to jump start
the vehicle.
The remote negative (

driver’s side of the vehicle.

Depending upon model year, make sure you connect the cables per the 2007 or later jumping procedure with images (I'll search Techlink and find the article). Improper attachment of the jumper cables can result in a damaged TCM on automatics as the TCM case looks like a good ground point on early built HHR's (believe built before 2007).

Remember to face the east and have your tongue on the left side of your mouth before you connect the cables.

Just curious.....

Doesn't your car sound a "chime" when you turn the key off AND the lights are on??

Jumping from under the hood is pretty straight forward, as mentioned by others. Just DO NOT CONFUSE THE 2 TERMINALS ON THE FUSE BOX. The one MOST FORWARD IS THE ONLY ONE TO USE FOR THE POSITIVE CONNECTION. The negative is connnected, as stated, to the marked nut housing on the drivers side strut.

No, it doesn't ding at all, which kind of surprised me. On my last car (a 2002 Buick Regal), the car would ding so obnoxiously that it was impossible to forget about the headlights. Normally, I just drive with the lights in the "auto" position so the daytime running lights are on, but the problem with that is the tail lights don't go on then. Its been foggy here for the past week. About 10 minutes from where I live there was a 38-car pileup because of the fog, and I'd rather not participate in an accident like that. Lately, its been so bad to the point where you can only see 6 feet ahead of you, just terrible. I wouldn't want a car to sneak up on me from behind and not even see me.

Is there an aftermarket radio installed in your HHR?

Nope

My LT1 came with automatic setting for lights. They come on and off according to what the sensor says. My cousin drove the car and turne the lights to manual and it took me a while to figure out why the weren't working.

Do you have any chimes what-so-ever??

Turn signal, etc.