I dropped the car off at the dealer this morning. It needs the shift assembly. The part won't be in until tomorrow, so the car gets to spend the day and night at the dealer. So if I need to go anywhere I'll use one of my toy cars.

 

Too bad the dealer didn't have the foresight to keep a new Shifter Assy. in stock knowing this was a problem. It would make for better customer relations, I would think, not too make them be without their car for a day or two. But, I guess they figure they can't foresee every problem with every Model they sell. Guess we just lucked out that they had it in stock!

 

I kept my HHR until part was in and both dealer and me could schedule time.

 

i've been having the same problem for some time. now that i got all the info that i need, i will be making calls in the morning.

 

Wife's 03 Malibu does that, play with the shifter til it seats itself and pull out the key. won't start if knocked out of position, as well.

 

Any HHR owner that has had this problem knows that the only fix is the new shifter assembly covered by the TSB.

 

I picked up my car from the dealer and everything seems to work. Part # 25864102. A different part number from what others have had put in.

The other part #s were 15926921 and 15828149. Interesting same fix with now at least three part #s. The only difference I see is the price of the part from gmpartsdirect.com: 8149 : $169.86, 6921 : $173.88, 4102 : $177.36. GM must change the part # when they up the price.

 

I bought a 2007 HHR LT 1.5 months ago. It was a demo with 5000 miles on it. I now have 9000 miles on it. I got to work today and the key will not come out of the ignition.

I see from the posts I am not the first to have this problem. This is my first American car in a decade. I hope I do not have more of this kind of stuff to look forward to.

 

I also had troube getting my key out of my '06 now with 17000 miles on it, first time it happened I was at the airport trying to leave catch a plane. Managed to get the key out by shifting in and out gear several times. With my luck i figured that I would need to demonstrate the problem to the dealer before they would take action.

Over a 1 month period it finally got to the point where every time I attempted to remove the key it was locked in. Saw the posting here that the key release is located in the steering column above a 1" x 1" cover plate that was easily removed with a flat head screw driver.

Finally took it to the dealer and they reported that that the break shift interlock solenoid (GM# 15926921) was sticking and was replaced and that it looked like somethign had spilled in the shifter.... I do drink a lot of coffee on the way to work so it is possible.

So if your key sticks pop the cover plate so that you can get your keys out until you can take your HHR to the dealer for repair.

 

Has this problem been addressed in new 2008 models?