Stephen Mcguire, the HHR Marketing director, Talks to much in this Chicago Tribune article. At the end of this article he says the running boards "not only look good, but also keep road debris from chipping body panels"! He also states "Without running boards, the front of the rear fenders have a small "chip protector" to ward off debris." The way this sounds to me is Chevy knew about the problem before production and didn't want to pay for the fix. Website address is listed below.

http://www.cars.com/go/crp/research....=&aff=national

 

The way it sounds to me is that GM recognized the issue, during product developement, and decided on what would provide an "ACCEPTABLE" amount of protection .....the rest is collateral damage.

Old issue...been discussed extensively and the subject is now at "who cares". You either have the running boards and accept a minimal amout of damage, have the running boards AND mud laps and have much less damage or nothing and accept the "collateral damage" that occurs with driving the vehicle.

As I mentioned before, I have a new Vette. So, I'm going to complain, stamp my feet and demand GM do something about the stone chips I get on the front end. And they knew, during the developement, that the "nose" gets stone chips......give me a break !!

 

As has been discussed before, only the rock guards take most of the damage and that's what they're designed for. Chevy probably could've made the running boards standard and just increased the base price by $1,000.

 

When I was initially looking at a HHR, I though the running boards were just an option that was for looks. But I did something most don't do it seems, research. I discovered what happens if you don't have them. So that made the option mandatory in my books. Then I still got a rock that bounced up and hit the door and the rear fender. So that made the splash guards mandatory. Since then, not one single mark.

When in SC, seemed most had the boards. Since I moved to GA, most don't.

 

Why is this an "issue" or a "problem?" Tire throwing stuff up from the road? OMG, call 911. Cars with protruding fenders have been doing this since the dawn of time. It's simple geometry.

 

If you look at most cars with protruding fenders they will have running boards or something similar. Look at the PT Cruiser and the classic VW Bug. They knew that it was a design flaw and took the cheap way out.

 

Yeah, that's why I'm glad I have running boards..you can see they take the brunt of the debris. I'm really considering getting the splash guards. I like the looks, and from the looks of it, they appear to be very practical.

 

A coffee cup that leaks coffee on your pants is a design flaw. Omission of a non essential part is a design choice. Running boards rapidly disappeared from cars much faster than protruding fenders did in the postwar era. They were considered an anachronism, like external headlights or spats. Chrome shields appeared on the rear fenders to ward off road debris on the nicer models, and remained until fenders integrated into the overall body lines in the mid 50's.

 

You provided your own rebuttal for your original statement

If "most cars with protruding fenders have running boards or something similar", well, duh!! Why didn't you order the running boards on your car since you can look at vehicles with similar protruding fenders and become aware of problems with incurred with the earlier vehicles

This is beating a dead horse.....I'm done. But you can keep "crying" if you wish or move on and get a new program. Most of us have moved on and recognized REAL issues with the HHR.

 

There are standard in Canada since 2007 the difference in base price of a 06 and a 07 was only $225.00 which is just normal model year price increase.So they included them for free in Canada starting in 07 and should have done the same in the U.S.

They are too stupid to relize stuff like that cost them money and customers in the long run.