no idea havent had time to get it to the dealer

 

Our 2008 HHR LT started this problem at about 2000 miles, stranding my wife and 81 year old mother. My wife parked car on a level flat surface in the alley to apt. When she came back to start the car the keys would go in but not turn or start the car. She messed with it for about an hour. I got there and worked on it, cranking the wheel to get the wheel to finally lock. Began wiggling steering wheel while trying to turn key. Tried everything, made sure shifter all the way up, pushed button in colomn after opening up the small flap on bottom of column. Started car with remote starter, nothing worked. Finally after about 40 more minutes of wrestling with the steering column and key it released as tow truck was arriving and dealership closed for weekend.
Then at 6000 miles did it again, while wife was trying to start the car to pick up company at airport. After 40 minutes wiggling steering wheel it released.
Took it to dealer at start of week. They couldnt get it to stick or not start the car, didnt have any codes. Suggested next time it strands us, just leave it so it won"t start and have it towed. But they couldn't start throwing parts at it to fix it. They did nothing and never heard of any similar problems with a HHR.

 

Your problem is different than the common HHR problem that this thread talks about. The common prob is that it won't release the key. I would be bugging the dealer/service mgr a bit more abot this issue and see if you can get it escalated. If not, definitely just get it towed in next time so they can witness it.

 

My 2006 HHR just started doing this ignition locking thing on Sunday Dec 7. I didn't realize there was a problem so I just got out of the car after coming home from the store, left my keys in it in the garage and went in the house. Of course Monday morning it was dead as a doornail from not having the key in the off position all night. So, my husband jumped the car so I could come to work, and I called the dealership and took it in. I was afraid to shut it off so left it running in the parking lot for over an hour while I did a few things needing done here in the office! The shifter button is not working, and the entire shifter needs replaced as so many on this thread have indicated. As a GM certified used car, it has the 100K powertrain warranty, so at 63,000 miles I would certainly expect this sort of thing to be covered. Apparently GM thinks this should not be considered a warranty repair. My call to their customer service department has them reviewing the case and they intend to escalate it to a "District Specialist" after I have spent at least an hour on the phone with their customer service rep.

My points are these: If this happens to so many of these cars, shouldn't it be a recall issue? Clearly, this is a problem with the design of the shifter mechanism. Obviously it has been a problem since the first HHR rolled off the line, and GM has issued a service bulletin about it so why not a recall? As a consumer, you can't use the powertrain without shifting the car, so how could it not be considered part of the warrantied powertrain equipment? On top of all that, how SAFE is it if your car doesn't know its in park and the shifter button doesnt work right? Couldn't it pop out of gear while you're driving it?

I'm waiting to hear from the district specialist tomorrow for a decision on whether they will cover this under the powertrain warranty. I have been a loyal GM customer for 28 years. Both my parents retired from GM. My husband drives a GMC, we own a Chevy Suburban, the HHR and every car in my past except one has been a GM vehicle, same with my husband. All of my grown children own GM vehicles as do their spouses. You'd think that sort of customer loyalty would be worth something to GM.

 

Dixie, although I can see where your thought process comes from on the shifter assembly, it's not part of the powertrain coverage. As with any warranty there has to be a line drawn somewhere and the shifter is on the wrong side of it.

Did you buy an extended warranty also? If so they would cover it.

Hopefully they can offer you some assistance on the repair and bring down the out of pocket expense to you. I wish you luck.

 

itS chevy/GM NOT A CAMRY / tOYOTA. Toyota would have had a recall and fixed every car. Chevy waits until people are angry and then some dealers won;t even see them. Theres you reason GM is where it is and Yoyota and Honda re where they are.

People would rather have SERVICE and reliability Function over form. Recalls that are NOT mandated for safety reason but for convenience reasons.

Toyota sends out recalls for mechanical issues that have nothing to do with safety.

 

Yeah whatever. I do believe that Toyota and Honda build better cars to start with, but disagree with pretty much the rest of your comment.

What about Toyota engine sludge and Honda's late 90's/early 2000's transmissions? Neither company was willing to own up to their serious problems until people were really screaming. Oh and they weren't recalled, but many people got goodwill repairs eventually. NONE of the auto companies will just recall a car for mechanical reasons unless the consumers and/or media make a stink about it first.
Oh and I have received a warranty extension before from GM for a non-safety mechanical problem. On my 96 Sonoma, the 4-cyl motors were known to blow head gaskets. GM extended the warranty for that repair to 100K miles. Mine was repaired though 1 month before factory warranty expired

 

I agree with you but the difference is once enough people scream about an issue Toyota and Honda WILL fix all cars on a goodwill basis. I had head gaskets replaced on an old Tacome with 80K and friend had 120K on his a Toyota replaced them because they had a bad run. Toyota Dealers Sent notices to new and USED owners to bring their trucks in for head gasket replacement WHETHER THEY NEEDED IT OR NOT regardless of the mileage on certain models made between certain years with a certain 3.0 6 cyl engine. GM will deny there's a problem and may or may not correct the problem and certainly won't allow their dealers to arbitrarily send notices out to new and used owners to have a specific issue fixed regardless of mileage and or failure!

Theres the difference, Its the little things that have made all the difference to explain why Toyota is selling at $60+ a share vs GM's $4.

 

Just got my 2008 2LS back from the dealer with the exact same problem (and it had happened once before) except for the fact that no one, including me, my friend, two tow drivers and the service ppl could turn my key. They kept it 5 days and they

"found the ignition cylinder siezed in housing R/R upper housing and remove lock housing, cut cylinder to remove theft sensor, replace housing and cylinder."

The used the following parts: 25848845 cylinder 2.188; 25846761 housing k 2.188; and outsd pur diff.

Good luck.

JOHN

PS: Either the tower or dealer dented the front fender and now I have that to deal with in addition to one of the remotes that now sets off the alarm instead of opening the car....

 

Hoffman, Your problem is different than most. Most of the complaints in this thread are caused by a broken shifter preventing the car from sensing that it is in park. In that situation, you can shut off the car but not move the key past the accessory location. This problem happened to mine early in its life.

Now more recently I also had a problem similar to yours. My ignition cylinder seized up and wouldn't allow me to turn off the car. That issue seriously pissed me off especially since it happened at a very inconvenient time. The dealer ended up having to cut me a new key as well cause it was seized up so badly that the old one couldn't be removed.