Problems with 2006 Chevrolet HHR STEERING

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. while driving the power steering warning light illuminated on the instrument control panel, and then there was a loss of power steering. the vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealership. the current and failure mileages were 18000.

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. while driving 30 mph the power steering failed. the contact had to drive onto the emergency lane, turn the vehicle on and off so that the power steering would reset. the dealer was called and they advised him that a diagnostic test could be performed and the repair would cost $500 although there was a 75,000 mile warranty on the vehicle. the contact did not call the chevrolet manufacturer. the vin was unknown. the failure mileage was 50,000.

I own a 2006 chevy hhr lt2, it has approx. 52k miles, and a rattle, vibration in the steering column has been occurring at speeds below 45mph. also, the driver side floor is continuing to flood with water, and the heater/ac blower has failed or shorted out. lastly, i have had the brake rotors worked on 4 times by chevy, and they are now once again in need of repair. i recently took my vehicle back to the dealer for the rattle in the steering and the water leak. i found numerous tsb articles for the issues, but the dealer and gm are claiming the tsbs do not exist. the repairs will total more than $1100. i was told the bushings, and tension rods are the problem with my steering, and they would need to be replaced. at 52k miles i find it hard to believe these items would fail.. my major concern is my safety related to the steering as well as any possible electrical issue stemming from the water leak.. i do not understand why gm has not issued a recall for the steering issue as well as for the brake rotors. if you go to any vehicle complaint web site for the hhr you will see 100's of postings related to bad brakes. there are also similar complaints pertaining to the steering. the dealership refused to honor or compromise with regards to performing the repairs for free or for a reduced fee. i contacted gm corporate and filed a complaint. i was told the gm district manager would contact me. i am still waiting. *tr

I was driving along and my power steering failed, as i was rounding a curve on a major highway. i was traveling between 55 and 60 miles per hour. as i was rounding a curve, my power steering failed, causing me to nearly lose control of the vehicle. gm is very aware that they built hhr's with defective power steering motors. if you start a google search for it "hhr p", it will fill in the suggestions with "hhr power steering motor/issues/failure/etc". there are forums full of people who have had to pay to replace their ps motors, but should not have. we should not have to pay to replace a major safety component on our vehicles that general motors knows in fact is bad. the reason i know that gm is aware that there is a problem, is because they've recalled nearly every other car equipped with the same electric power steering set up. my mother received a recall notification on her malibu. as did another lady i know that has a malibu, someone i know with a g6 got the letter, and 2 cobalt/g5 owners i know, also received recall letters. so gm is very very very aware that they have built potentially unsafe vehicles that could cause injury, but they do not care!!! after contacting them, their cs rep from india or philippines told me that gm is not aware of the problem, and i would have to pay to have it diagnosed, pay for the repairs, and that gm 'might' help me with the cost. sorry, but i don't have 400 dollars to pay someone to "diagnose" a known issue and replace the part that they know is bad!!! i found the part on gmpartsdirect.com, ordered and replaced it myself. sitting at nearly 140k (about double the miles i had when i replaced it) and still turning fine. noticed that the new ps motor's gm part number was different. also indicating, they knew there was a problem, redesigned the part, thus it having a new part number. stop letting gm get away with this crime!!! *tr

The key will not come out of the ignition at times. i take the vehicle out of drive and put it in park several times and do the same with the brakes before the key will come out. my mechanic has said that it is a brake issue and not the transmission. *tr

Purchased the car july 13 of this year. a clunking sound comes from the drivers side when hitting holes or on slightly rough road. tends to occur more when the car or the weather is cold. took it to chevrolet and they diagnosed it as a sway bar link issue. i replaced the rotors, sway bar links (pair), drivers side strut mount and balanced & rotated tires. problem still exists. appears that the steering column (intermediary?) has been a problem for other hhr owners according to online forums and research also points to the same issue in older oldsmobiles. *tr

The car has several safety issues. the main concern is that both of the front doors had the handles break off. you cannot open the doors from the inside. you must roll down the window and open from the outside. if the vehicle were involved in an accident or caught on fire and there was no power to the vehicle you are literally trapped inside. i have brought this to the attention of chevrolet but they have failed to do anything.i feel like the vehicle is a rolling death trap. the other concern is that the power steering went out on the vehicle. chevrolet does not make it a recall yet you can be driving along and all of a sudden your power steering goes out. the part is the same as the chevrolet cobalt and chevrolet did a recall on that vehicle for the very same power steering part.

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet her. the contact stated that while driving at any speed, the steering wheel would exhibit a clunking noise. the dealer was contacted and a diagnosis was performed, but the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. the manufacturer was also made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 53,000 and the current mileage was 82,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. while driving approximately 35 mph, the contact depressed the brake pedal and the steering wheel began to shake violently. the vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostics. the technician advised that the steering column would have to be replaced. after the repair, the failure recurred. the technician replaced the steering column for the second time but the failure continued. the technician then advised the contact that the rotors and stabilizer bar would have to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 43,700.

Had to jump battery and lost power steering after the jump. car was 2.5 years old. i replaced fuse under the hood and in the center console. nothing helps. *tr

There appears to be a large amount of cobalt and hhr owners with complaints about suspension clunking noises. research shows there is an issue with the stabilizer bar parts and also the intermediate steering shaft. these problems occur at many intervals of mileage ranging from 10,000 miles and up. gm has since sued the manufacturer of the intermediate steering shaft for those replaced under warranty equaling $30mil. i am unlucky as my vehicle was out of warranty (3yr/36000 miles) and could not get any of my suspension and steering problems fixed by a known issue from gm. they have stated that the intermediate steering shaft is not a safety concern. now, if a part that is vital in connecting the steering column to the rack and pinion system is not a safety concern, then i believe gm executives are more concerned with cost of doing the right thing than safety of their customers. these are parts that keep a vehicle from flipping over during sharp turns at highway speeds and that keep the car traveling in the direction the operator determines using the steering wheel. after replacing the parts to correct my issues, the problem has re-occurred. the parts were not changed so even after "fixing" it, it would eventually return. *tr

Driving on interstate at approx 60 mph. the powersteering message flashed then the gauges went to 0 then lock on left side on instrument panel came on and lost power to car. pulled over and car died. would not re start for a short period of time. when re started all happened again, then turned off ignition and restarted then all was ok for a time. *tr

2006 chevy hhr continues to have power steering go out during operation. this could be very dangerous under certain conditions. after reading several blogs, it appears that the cause is a defect in the eps (electrical power steering). it employs the body control module (bcm), power steering control module (pscm), torque module and various other systems. the system becomes corrupted and causes intermittent power steering failure. as stated above, if the system fails during certain driving conditions, (i.e. driving in curving, mountainous terrain) and system fails, this could cause very difficult steering and a traffic crash. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. while driving approximately 75 mph on normal road conditions, the traction control switch activated. suddenly, the traction control disengaged without assistance. there was no response when the accelerator pedal was depressed. the vehicle began to idle excessively and surged unexpectedly. immediately, the vehicle was driven to an authorized dealer for inspection, but they could not duplicate the failure. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on three separate occasions for identical failures. the repairs consisted of installing a data recorder and replacing the bcm. in addition, the steering column and gear shifter were replaced. the vehicle was not being driven due to the safety risk involved. the failure mileage was 13,456 and current mileage was 15,500.

Faulty steering column, air bag would not deploy in event of a crash. replaced under warranty by dealer. very serious !!! *tr

Electric power steering failed on a chevy hhr . nearly avoided an accident when it went out at 60mph . took to dealer and paid around 1000. to have it replaced. vehicle had less than 30 thousand miles on it. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. he stated that there was violent shaking in the steering wheel while driving speeds over 40 mph. every 6700 miles and 5 months the violent shaking would occur intermittently. the vehicle was taken to the dealer where the rotors and brakes were replaced a total of five times to no avail. the failure and current mileages were under 50,000.

2006 chevy hhr - when car is turned off, key gets stuck in ignition and cannot be removed. after moving the shifter in and out of gear, key will eventually come out. this happens intermittently, but has happened 4 times over the last week, so it appears to be a worsening condition. based on comments on owner websites, this is something that is not uncommon among hhrs (hhrclub.org, answerbag.com, fixya.com, chevyhhr.net). have printed off a part number from one of the sites and am taking to the dealer tomorrow. *tr

Unable to remove key from ignition switch. dealer replaced solenoid in shifter. very dangerous, please investigate. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. while driving approximately 35 mph in rainy conditions, the steering wheel vibrated when the brake pedal was depressed. the vehicle also pulled excessively towards the left. the abs was not operating normally and locked up. there were no warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel. the failure recurred on a separate occasion. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and they stated that the rotors overheated. the vehicle was repaired. the vin was unknown. the failure mileage was 8,900 and current mileage was 11,260.

Air bag light come on in the passage set when know one in the set.the steering made funny popping noise. an all the door handle broke where you could not get out of the auto. and the car show on car fax that it is a buy back auto. but gm say it not. and one of the handle is breaking on the driver side. and i can not sale it because it show as a buy back.tdmv say it was and then they change there mind. i fill like someone at gm pay them off . i know this has been a long time but i still have the car. and i am still looking for help.i will keep a copy for my record. *tr

Received safety recall notice in mail 04-05-08. tried to call dealer on saturday, but get through. talked to a rep in the service dept at londoff chevrolet. per rep they did not have the parts to fix the problem. he advised me to call back in a week. called 04-11-08 and got an appointment to have the roof-rail air bag installed in order to conform to motor vehicle safety standard 201 for my hhr. i was given an appointment for friday, 04-18-08 at 10:00am to find out that supposedly they just installed the last one and didn't have the parts available for my vehicle. i spoke to another csr in the service dept. he didn't know how this happened but stated that enterprise had brought some hhr 's in and they had fixed them. i am upset that they would install the air bag in enterprise cars and not at least keep the one for my scheduled appointment. how dangerous is this safety recall? *tr the consumer stated the vehicle broke down within the first six months of ownership. the consumer stated the vehicle has lost power steering on two occasions. the speedometer was erratic and the vehicle would suddenly lunge forward while driving.. when the consumer took the vehicle to the dealer, they stated it was a wiring problem. updated ivoq 08/12/10 updated ivoq 08/31/10*jb

2006 chevy hhr broken inside drivers door handle. consumer states that she must roll down the window and use the outside handle to exit the vehicle. *kb the consumer also stated the power steering failed and a fuse burned out. *jb

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. the contact stated that his vehicle has electronic steering, which sporadically becomes inoperative and disables the steering mechanism. he took the vehicle to the dealer and they repaired the wiring to the fuse box. several days later, while driving 10 mph, the steering column failed and the vehicle crashed into several street signs. a police report was filed. the contact has pictures of the vehicle. the vin was unknown. the failure and current mileages were 24,000.

I bought my hhr exactly one year ago. this is my first car so i have no general knowledge about vehicles. i bought the vehicle used with 31,000 miles on it. it currently has 58,000 miles on it so i am not covered for a warranty. at first i noticed a vibrating when exiting a highway or decelerating with my brakes. the steering shook violently. also when driving the steering wheel is hard to control and the car seems to veer severely to the right and with sheer force i have to use both hands to control it. recently that has increased dramatically, even at speeds of 30mph. i took the car to get the brakes inspected and they told me the brakes needed to be replaced and the rotors were warped and needed to be replaced, not resurfaced which others have said that is unusual since the vehicle is still fairly new. the mechanic also told me that my front struts are leaking and need to be replaced. i have also noticed that when i am driving the car tends to shake/vibrate and make strange noises. the key gets stuck in the ignition upon turning the engine off. there are times i have had to restart my car up to 8 times just to get the key out of the ignition. *tr

we have had several problems with our hhr since we bought it in august of 2007. the first problem occurred just after purchasing it, when we were driving it out on a highway for a first time outing with it, when i noticed the front wheels seemed to be floating back and forth. i slowed down and immediately took it home. we contacted our local dealer, and had the car brought in to be checked out. we were told the front bushings were bad & needed replacing. the dealer replaced the bushings. (under warranty) in september of 2007, we had to replace our cars remote control, even though it was only 1 years old. our dealer replaced it but we had to pay $81.82 out of our pocket. october 2007, i brought our car into our dealer because it had a rough ride and groaning sounds. the dealer looked at it and said the sound was coming from the steering column. they replaced our steering column under warranty. december of 2007 my wife, mother & i went to a christmas light parade in our town; when we got home i turned off the ignition & when i attempted to remove the key, it would not come out. that monday i called our local dealer & they had us bring in the car on 12/3/07. they reported that there was no power to the inter lock2 and a fuse had brown. they found that a wire harness was pinched under the column cover & repaired the harness (under warranty) january 29,2008 i brought our 2006 hhr into our dealer again complaining about squeaking and popping noise with clunking in left front. they said they heard noise from stabilizer links pivot joint at link tires miss-matched. they replaced both stabilizers links under warranty. continued on next report *js

Bolt fell out of the lower right steering arm, causing the entire wheel assembly to move backward upon braking and forward on acceleration. *tr

I bought the 2006 hhr in march 2007, in july i had the stabilizer links replaced, then in december i had to have the steering column replaced, in october 2008 i needed to have the struts replaced & now a week later i have to have the strut mounts replaced. not only that, i had a leak from the heater case that leaked into my passenger side, i had the radio replaced & also my front & back bumper is loose which the dealer told me on the phone that is probably clips that have broken off. i was told because i live in michigan, that the struts went bad sooner than anticipated. also, although i had a car fax report on this car, this car has been in an accident that no one knew about. i am not very pleased with this car & its a shame to make a car payment on a car that i don't even like anymore due to the problems. i was told they would give me $9000.0 as trade in, but i had 13000 on it, so how do you get out of a car that you think should be recalled? i have been checking into the lemon law & i understand as long as you purchase the used car with the factory warranty still active, it's covered under the lemon law. but since the dealer wont do anything about it, i doubt gm will. i was told to wait till after the election, for the economy to get better, that doesn't mean they will reasonably get me out from under this junk of a car! *tr

When the car get to 60-65mph the steering wheel start to vibrate very badly. *tr

We have several defects. after normal braking a couple of times the car and steering wheel begins to shake and shimmy. the more you use the brakes after this starts the more violent the shimmy becomes until we have to stop and let the brakes cool down. the dealership replaced the rotors once but could offer no explanation. we continue to be plagued by this problem but now my extended warranty does not cover brakes and no one knows or owns up to what the problem is. the other issue we have is the exhaust, specifically the header pipe attached to the catalytic converter which cracked at the flex joint. this started back when we first experienced the brake problems, we complained to the service writer that there was a funny smell after driving it for a while, he looked at it when it was up on the rack and said there wasn't anything wrong, as it turned out the smell continued getting worse with time until the exhaust noise became loud enough to identify and the fumes were making us nauseous and giving us headaches. the moon roof started to fall apart so now we are unable to use that, the radio makes a loud popping noise , loud enough to hurt your ears, this was also waved off by the dealership as nothing. to date nothing has been done about these issues. *tr

2006 , chevrolet, hhr steering started to fail, driver's front wheel was disconnected from housing, resulting in hitting into curb. *ak

I have a 2006 chevy hhr, i love it but, it has issues 1st i bought it used 15,000 miles. since then i have had 1. the rear logo replaced 4 times, then, 2.the key get stuck when i turn off the car so i used the plunger and 3. the gear shift moves when the car is off or on. now, 4. the key won't turn to start the car i have to jiggle it till it works. 5. my power steering goes out randomly, while driving it so i can't turn the 6.-,7.-, and 8.3 recalls, then, 9. the wheels shakes at 60 mph, i have 10. and 11. replaced both front door handles with in 2 weeks 12. i hear a loud crackling or static sound from my speakers and the radio is off. oh and 13. my check engine light won't go off plus 14. every time i have to change the battery i have to get my remote reprogrammed for the auto start... it came with the car. what is going on? there are 14 issues some safety and some cosmetic but, clearly an issue i am only making my voice heard because i just started researching my car. i am a single mother i can't afford to fix the major ignition or gear shift, transmission and electrical car shaking these have been reported in a lot of hhrs. please help. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr lt. the contact stated that the power steering assist failed and the vehicle stalled without warning. the contact had to shift into neutral to restart the vehicle. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered to assist with repair costs. the failure mileage was 15,000. the current mileage was 100,017.

Dt*: the contact stated while driving 35 mph on a city street, there was a clunking noise coming from the front followed by the vehicle pulling to the right side. the contact managed to pull the vehicle to the side of the street without incident. upon initial inspection, the right front tire was lying underneath the vehicle. after being towed to the dealer, it was determined the steering knuckle fractured into, and caused the right front tire to roll underneath the vehicle while attached to the remaining half of the steering knuckle. the manufacturer was alerted.

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. the contact stated while driving the steering wheel became difficult to turn which was a result of the power steering failure. the contact stated the steering wheel continued to fail without warning and the vehicle had to be turned off for fifteen to twenty minutes before the power steering reset itself. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that the electronic power assist had failed. the vin was unavailable. the failure mileage was unknown. the current mileage was 90,000.

Loss of power steering while drive. loose ability to steer at low speeds. *tr

Clunking noise in steering. 3 dealers tried to repair on 18/may06, 26jan09, 3mar10, noise still there. waiting on parts this date for another "fix". *tr

While driving, electric power steering cuts out intermittently.

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet hhr. while turning corners, the steering wheel would shake and make a noise. the travel speed was not a factor. the dealer replaced the steering column. the contact is no longer experiencing failures. the purchase date was unknown. the current mileage is 31,000 and failure mileage was 28,000.

Dt*: the contact stated the message board flashed power steering, when this occurred, the power steering failed. the dealership determined the power steering column assembly needs to be replaced. *nm updated 02/28/06

**vehicle has a vibration at speeds over 35 mph, has been into four different chevy dealers numerous times they can not find the problem(they have rotated tires many times,balanced tires many times,changed tires and replaced all four tires)..problem still not solved. ** brakes pulsate sometimes and smell like they are burning (they have cleaned and adjusted brakes at least 6 times,plus they have cut rotors twice (they said they are warped, they also cut the rear drums)..problem still not solved. ** vehicle has a klunking noise when you hit a bump (they have replaced steering column, the next time they replaced stablizer pins)..problem still not solved. ** other problems that most have been solved include :* : *: *: *clothes hanger replaced twice**rear wiper replaced never worked properly**leak in the fire wall puddles in car**weather stripping was defective puddles" inside" doors causing severe wet seatbelts**key stuck in ignition replaced ignition**transmision jumping, gear shift replaced**locks not working had to update computer codes** *tr

The power steering failure light came on as well as other lights and the radio stop working,dealer said power steering module was no good but could not find out why dash lights come on and why radio stops working when we seem to hit a bump.it cost me over 1700.00 dollars to repair and they said nothing was under warranty or a recall. i see the cobalt was recall for the same problem why not the hhr same unit. *tr