I tried searching this numerous times with no luck. Last night I was leaving Walmart, and I put on the brakes to slow down for the stop sign. Immediately the traction control lit up on my message center, and the brakes pulsed, and this part is crazy, it felt like it was grabbing my back right tire, I know that HHR's are front wheel drive. I proceeded slowly because I had to stop at the light, I was maybe going 20mph, same thing, traction control light on and that funny noise. I got through the light and pulled over, totally scared by now. The business I pulled into has a huge driveway and I drove in it and tried to see if it would happen again, nothing, looked in the book that came with my car, no help. Finally I shut the car off, and restarted it. Never happened again on the way home. It's maybe 5 miles from my home to Walmart. I'm going to get my neighbor to put it on his analyzer to see if it threw any codes, when he gets home from work. In the meantime, it's 60 degrees in December here in upstate NY, not a flake anywhere, and I'm afraid to drive my car. Anybody else ever have this problem? Any input you could add would be appreciated. My HHR is a 2011 with a 2.4 LT.

 

I've not had it on my HHR because it doesn't have T/C , but I've seen it in friends HHRs, on two it was a loose connection at the hub , a clean and reconnect fixed those, another it was a faulty hub that one had 135,000 miles so she opted to replace all four hubs, problem solved!
Now depending on the code it could also be your VVT solenoids, a loose wire , dirty or low oil level, can cause a problem.
Conversely a battery with a loose connection or a plane ticket to head south into retirement could also be the problem!
Our Trucklets don't play well with an old battery!

 

Cols2009HHR - if the analyzer your friend has is a basic one, it likely will not show any fault codes for the ABS, Stability Control or Traction control systems, as they typically require quite an advanced scanner. If your friends scanner does not detect anything you might be best to hit a chevy dealer and bite the bullet on a diagnosis.

If your friends scanner does pick up some codes, write the codes down and post them here for additional help and advice. Note: the actual code - not a verbal description.

Shutting the vehicle off for a bit (sometimes a little less than a minute) will often reset the systems, at least temporarily. The condition may come back without much of a warning, so one does have to be aware and extra careful while driving.

 

My HHR, only has 51,000 miles on it. Nothing like that has ever happened before last night. Thank you for your reply. Will let you know if I find anything out later. My neighbors analyzer is an advanced one. He works on cars in his garage, he even has a lift. I'm hoping his analyzer will show something. Thanks again all, have a great Friday!

 

Please let us know your findings!

 

x2 what Oldblue says. This is an interesting one for the forum - thanks for bringing it here.

 

I have had this happen. Most likely culprit is a bad wheel speed sensor. You won't get a code unless the ABS light is on, and you need a fairly sophisticated ($) code reader.

 

Had the exact same thing happen to me last night. Only difference is I had Active ESC appear on my DIC and traction light lit up
Was driving straight on a dry road and suddenly it felt like I had a flat tire. Pulled over checked then the car drove fine. A few miles down the road on an off ramp it started lurching and ESC Active again. As It was acting up even with the warning message the brake pedal felt as if the brakes just weren't going to work. The brakes made a loud grinding sound as it occurred.
Today the dealer looked it over and couldn't replicate the issue.
Please let me know if anyone finds a solution.

 

Thanks donbrew, my neighbor will be checking my car out tomorrow, someone elses car quit on them tonight so he couldn't check it out. I read up on what you said and it makes sense. I read this article too, I sure hope it was just a glitch, because it sounds expensive to repair.Scoping out ABS wheel speed sensors: What could go wrong? - Automotive Service Professional Thanks again all, I'll let you know.

 

New hub/bearings are $40-$180 and easy to replace.