They must have mixed and matched old and new armrests with the 07's because I test drove a HHR with a July 06 build date and that armrest was sloped down in a bad way....I didn't notice it near as much as a Feb 07 build but the July one really screamed out at me as "Hey, I'm tilting here!"


Goose

 

Were the seatbacks at the exact same angle? The angle of the seats has everything to do with the angle of the armrest. My '06 has no problems with the armrests. If people think they go down too much they should tilt their seat back a little and voila....the armrest are at a higher angle.

 

The point is that the arm rests should be level irrespective of the position of the seat back. So while you are right, not everyone likes the seat back in the same position. The armrests should have been designed to stay in postion no matter where the seat back is in terms of tilt.

It is my understanding that the arm rest design was changed part way through 07 but I could be mistaken.

 

I've never seen a vehicle with armrests built into the seats that can do that. To my knowledge all vehicles with armrests built into the seat function the same way and the angle of the armrest is relevant to the angle of the seatback. They would have to design an independently adjustable and locking armrest in order to keep it at the same angle regardless of the back position. Then you would have to adjust it yourself of course. I have yet to personally see that on a vehicle but it might exist. If armrests do exist like that I'm sure they would be on luxury SUVs not an economy car.

 

Didn't anyone ever hear the "Seatbacks in the upright position" speech on an airplane? Point is that you shouldn't have to lean the seat back that far to use the arm rest.

 

Yeah, I can't do the "Lean Back" move while driving....I need to be sitting more upright.. I think you are right NFboy...like I said, the diff between a 07/06 build and a 02/07 build was very noticable to me.....both 2007's



Goose

 

You may be right. Although, while it has been quite awhile since I had a car with arm rests (most in recent memory had consoles of some sort between seats) I am pretty sure one of the Chrysler products I owned had a different armrest set up that allowed the rest to stay in the same position regardless of seatback position. Now that said, I can not honestly recall if the seatback even adjusted in it so maybe that was why.

 

My armrests on my '07 made on 6/27/06 are fine.

 

The arm rests designed with an adjuster knob on the bottom would of been a great option for the arm rests. A lot of big trucks are adjustable.

 

What in the world do you expect in a $20,000.00 car.
You didn`t buy a Mercedes, or Rolls, you have a mid-level (at best) economy car that`s neat and fun to drive.
There are cars built with memory seats, arm rests, gas pedal position, radio settings, temp., and even driver preference type mode.(sport, economy)
But the HHR is not that car.
Taking your car back to the dealer because your arm rest isn`t pointing exactly where you want it, seems like you may have chosen the wrong car.
I`ll bet for another $20,000.00 you`ll find the one you deserve.