I discovered that my headlights on reminder does not work. If my lights are turned on, I turn the ignition off and take the key out, and open the door, it does not ding to remind me that my lights are on. I don't know for sure if this was the cause of a problem yesterday or not...

I drove to work and it was foggy, so I put my lights on low beams. I park facing the building, so I'm sure I would have seen if my lights were still on when I got out of my car, but I'm pretty sure they were turned off. When I came out of work 5 hours later, my remote didn't work, so opened the door and put my key in the ignition and turned it on, but there was absolutely NOTHING! No radio, no dashboard lights, no horn, nothing! Two guys from the office tried to jump me with a car but it wouldn't even turn over. So I called GE Motor Club (which I will not be continuing!) for roadside assistance. A tow truck came and was going to tow me to a garage, but said he needed to try jumping it first so he could get it into neutral to tow it. He jumped my car with his big truck and it started, so he left. When I started to back out of the parking spot, I knew something else was wrong. I had no power steering and could hardly maneuver the car around corners. So I drove safely and carefully to my garage a couple of miles away. He looked under the hood and said that when the tow truck driver jumped me, it looked like it fried the fuse for my power steering. He replaced the fuse and now my car starts and I have power steering. BUT my mechanic said he could not discern what had caused the problem in the first place that my car wouldn't start, and said there aren't any diagnostics he could run that would show the problem. He said I would have to wait until it happened again. That's comforting! Suppose it happens at night, in the rain, or when I have an emergency and need to get out (like this hurricane coming).

Has anyone else had a problem like the above? and is there a way of checking out what the problem is?

Is there something that is preventing the ding when my lights are left on?

Are the two connected in any way???

 

Truth be told, headlights are automatic. If its night, you don't have to turn the dial forward to get them on. During the day you CAN, not touch the knob, and be fine because we have daytime running lights. I hope this helps.

 

Unless I missed it, you didn't indicate if you are a NEW owner of this 2006 HHR. One can only assume, since you are mentioning this problem NOW, as a new owner.

But Officer, above, is mentioning a few things you should be aware of. The car has Daytime Running Lights, which illuminate the parking lights on this year, and are independent of the lighting switch. The second thing is the headlight switch has a few selections on the "stem". One is the "AUTO" mode, which turns on the headlights automatically if the lighting sensor, located in the top middle of the dash, indicates the need for them (note: this also works when you first turn the car on and the sensor realizes the need). It also turns the lights off when you turn off and leave the car. The lighting switch/stem also allows independent manual control of the lighting functions, much like other vehicles. Oh, and the ding, you mention, does NOT work in the Auto mode....for the obvious reason of the lights are on for several seconds when you exit.

I suggest you first determine if the Auto selection is working properly. Pull into a dark area, a garage for instance and select the Auto function then start the car. The headlights should illuminate. When you turn the car off, the headlights should turn off after several seconds.

But for your particular situation, I would think you may have turned the function switch to "parking" when you exited the vehicle. That may have depleted the battery.

Your GE tow service, was not familiar with the HHR battery "jump" procedure. He only assumed he knew by installing both boosting cables to an area near the fuse box. This is incorrect. The positive cable goes to the forward RED COVERED CONNECTOR and the negative goes to drivers side strut tower bolt that is marked as negative.

As a reminder, you SHOULD read the Owners Manual for this information. If you don't have one, the manual can be downloaded from this site.....for the year of your vehicle.

 

Short answer to both is yes.

If you turn the headlights to ON, they will stay ON. If you leave the headlights on AUTO, they will automatically turn off. GM does not think you need a warning, since they are "automatic". You are not alone, I drove my HHR at night the first day and turned the headlights ON; had to jumpstart within 24 hours of purchase.

The other is connected by "Read The Manual". That being said, you are not alone in that either, there must be 100 threads devoted to "after I jumped my battery, I got no Power Steering".

 

Maybe the '06 doesn't have a headlight on reminder, but the '07 certainly does. (This is with lights turned to ON, not auto)

 

a little off topic...

Why is this front page news?!

 

I am a new owner of a used 2006 Chevy HHR. I traded in a Chevy Equinox because the gas mileage was so bad and it was having some problems...

On my Equinox, if I turned the lights on, it dinged when I got out of the car. In PA, state law requires lights (NOT day running lights) to be turned on in fog, whenever wipers are used, and in construction areas. Unless it's different than the Equinox, with day running lights, your tail lights are not on, but if you turn the lights on, then your tail lights are on as well. That makes a difference.

Is there an option to make the ding go if you open the car door and the lights are still on???

Yes, I have a manual, but don't see anything about this issue, that's why I asked the question.

It's front page because I'm also new to this forum and could not find a link to start a new thread on other pages. I saw reply, but not new thread. Sorry!

 

I just checked my manual and on page 3-15, it says "If you open the driver's door with the ignition off and the lamps on, you will hear a warning chime."

I thought I remember testing it or hearing it before. That's why I'm wondering why it didn't go off this time. ...

and is this the whole reason my car wouldn't start???

 

The car not starting was more than likely the battery was run down by the headlights.... Why it didn't warn you I don't know. Do you have the other warning chimes? (like seat belt, etc.)

 

From experience, the 2006 does have the reminder, or at least is suppose to.

Even w/ just the parking lights on, you still get the reminder.

In the 06, only the parking lights are used for DRLs. So one would have to turn the headlights on for actual illumination for fog/rain.