Update. Chatted online at other forums and fb group and overall consensus was dirty or bad throttle body. Just got done changing with a new one and issue still there. I noticed though if I use my scanner to clear codes, even though there are zero codes and zero pending, the issue goes away but after like 5-10 minutes, it'll come back.

 

so my buddy and i found out if MAF sensor is unplugged, idle returns to normal and gas pedal works again, but AFR still pegged at 18. if we plugged the MAF back in and unplugged the AFR/O2 sensor, idle returns to normal and gas pedal works again, but AFR reading on the RPD is unavailable due to the sensor unplugged. with both sensors plugged in and while it was struggling to idle, my budyy sprayed starter fluid in the intake and the AFR richened from 18 to about 13 BUT no response from gas pedal though. my buddy and i suspect the PCM may be faulty and here's why:
back in january my car battery died due to extreme cold. i tried to jumpstart it but failed a few times where when i try to crank all i hear is "tututut" or nothing. my buddy says doing that frequently shocks the pcm and causes damages to the rapid fluctuation going from 3v to 12v. another is that i had several instances during a partial flash where it'll fail and time out and i would have to redo it all over again.

 

Facebook advice on HHR groups is at least 80% nonsense or advice rendered with insufficient information, therefor any consensus is useless. The best you can do is glean valid tidbits from the chaff.

Double checking the MAF plug has been mentioned SOOOO many times in these forums that maybe the gurus here just got tires of repeating it. You could do the battery lobotomy and give the car a chance to straighten itself out with the benefit of a MAF sensors.