I took my HHR in for the factory recall the other day, and asked them to look at a couple other things while they were at it. The check engine light has been coming on, and intermittantly the dash computer displays "Power Steering" and "Airbag". The dealer service department told me that the check engine light was simply a faulty thermostat. So I had them replace that. $185??? I haven't looked under the hood to see if it's in an awkward spot, but surely it can't be that hard to change. What happened to the good ole days where you could swap the thermostat on a chevy small block in around 13 minutes? I guess that's not a good comparison unless I drop a chevy small block in my HHR.

Now to the REALLY scary news. Once the thermostat was replaced, the service department couldn't get the dash computer to flash the other errors again. Keep in mind that aside from lights/messages in my dash, I haven't had any problems. No exploding airbags and no failed power steering, yet. The service guy told me that he'd recommend driving it until those messages flashed more regularly. If they come back, it's going to be $1200 for a new steering column and around $600 for a passenger airbag.

So now I'm thinking maybe I should purchase an extended warranty, which would be about the same price as replacing both of those. That way I'll at least be covered for another 40K miles if anything else goes wrong.

Has anyone else ran into these things? Is the service department just treating me like an idiot? I'm appealing to the collective wisdom of the forum on this one.

Thanks

 

How many miles are on it?

 

Steering column is a relatively common problem. If you are reasonable about it, you might get GM to foot at least part of the bill for that repair. I had a similar issue abourt 5K out of warranty on a Grand Prix. The intake manifold failed, and the dealer told me it was going to be $800. I stated my case politely that it was a well known design problem and I was barely out of warranty, so I expected that GM should cover it. About half an hour later I got a call back that it would be covered.


As for the extended warranty, I don't know if you could get an extended warranty to cover the issues since it is on record that they existed before you bought it... but I am far from an expert on that one.

 

Had to have the steering column replaced on my 06 LT. Still under warranty but saw their cost was $960. I have about 900 miles of warranty left so if any other problems happen I hope they pop up soon.

 

I have about 52K miles. Starting a new job on Monday that will require me to commute about 140 miles round trip every day though. The dealer told me that they haven't seen the problem on many HHR's, but the Malibu Maxx actually had an official recall when they first came out with pretty much the same steering design. Good tip on claiming that it was a design defect though, I'll try that if it comes down to it.

 

I checked what a thermostat replacement would be at my shop and it was $197 so they didn't rip you on that. Pays 1.7 hours per ALLDATA.

I would call the service manager at the local chevy dealer and ask if he would assist on the column replacement and air bag fix. Not sure what they are replacing on your air bag. Hopefully it's the dealer that you purchased it from which always helps, but isn't a necessary criteria for a dealer to give Goodwill Assistance to a customer.

 

I dont know if this is the case or not. But sometimes warnings go off and could mean other things for example my no traction control light comes on and turns off the t/c but the reason it is caused by the MAP sensor or the gas cap not on right or tight and check engine light comes on.