tucsondivots

I stopped to gas up my 2010 HHR 1LT this afternoon and when I put it in Park the key was stuck in the on position. It is 6 months old, 5,900 miles.

I drove to my nearest dealership at 3:30pm and the service rep got my HHR to a service tech immediately.

45 minutes later I was on my way home with a new ignition lock cylinder. I noticed the "cure" message said they installed an updated design ignition cylinder.

Is this a recurring problem for our HHRs? My wife has a 2006 (48K miles) and has never had this issue.

Anyway, props to the dealership personnel who got me in and fixed with no notice. I had never been to this dealership before. I still wonder how I would have been able to turn off the engine if I was not able to drive in for repair.

843de

A big thumbs up to the dealer, that is customer service, sadly something that isn't always easy to find. You might search the forum about stuck keys, it seems to me that it does happen but that it isn't a widespread thing.

Mrs. DLVRNIT

Oh it's a wide spread thing ! It's happens often enough that inside every owners manual there is a section that tells you how to remove stuck keys

through an access under the column ! They also state that this is a temporary remidy and your HHR should be taken to the dealer to have the situation attended to, ? It just seems they should do more to fix the mechanically enginered part and not have a how to section in everyones manuals for removing stuck keys ! BTW, this happend to us at 3,000 miles !

Best-O-Luck ,

pitbull76

Although this problem happened to me on my 2006, I don't think the problem the OP had is very widespread. The lock cylinder (not the more common shifter) bound up causing the key to be stuck in ON (not ACC like the more common problem). I have read about a few cases of lock cylinder failure on here but not many. Much more common is the issue where people are unable to remove the key but can turn the car off. The note in the manual on how to un-stick the key would not have worked if your case was anything like mine. The cylinder just got bound up and wouldn't move.

When the ignition cylinder failed on my 2006, it happened on a Saturday when I was out of town at dinner with my mother and my family. I called roadside assistance and all they could do was tell me to remove a fuse to shut off the car. I was so pissed at the time I was tempted to leave it running and just go in for dinner hoping someone would take it

Mrs. DLVRNIT

Well then we'll agree with you that it might not be "widespread"! But if it's enough of an issue to have it's own section in your owners manual then there's a design flaw that should be addressed and remidied before the next model year! For the amount of time we have been on this site it seems to be a mix (50 / 50) of shifter relays or bad cylinder locks! Seem's to us that GM acknowledges there's a problem and instead of the cylinder locks being redesigned to have a lower failure rate let's just incorporate a release lever in the system and just replace any failed parts, lock cylinder or shifter, (relay or whole assembly) !

Anyways were glad the OP is happily back on the road ,

pitbull76

Yeah, I understand your frustration. My 06 had both problems, but then again that car had almost every little problem people have complained about on the forum! One point though is that the release lever works only if the shifter is your problem. If the cylinder is bound up, that release lever is useless. They never were able to get the key out of my failed cylinder, even after removing it from the car! The dealer had to cut me a new key.

tucsondivots

I love this forum. Thanks for all the details. The service guy said there were two common problems and they had parts on hand for both. I guess the ignition cylinder is the simplest fix. I did not know there was a section about this in the manual. I would have to agree with the comments that if this is so common why was it not fixed between 2006 and now? The warranty paperwork says they put in a new design ignition cylinder. I hope this is better than the original!

Gas Man

WOW that is crazy.

Agreed with the others. Craptastic design flaw with stupid remedy. However, that was probably decided over a proper recall. What's next, stuck throttles? STUPID!

redhot

What causes the key to get stuck in the cylinder? Locked tumblers?

mongo

The problem is that while a stuck key is annoying, it's not a safety issue where you might lose control of the car. These things are taken into consideration when decisions are made on recalls.

Not saying it's right, it's one of those 'after sale' customer relation things GM needs to improve upon if they are to change the public's perception of their quality.