This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
2006 new vehicle purchase serviced 8 times for multiple failures related to either electrical/braking/ABS/ wheels/emissions/ traction control/computer/power steering and or computer issues/all repaired/and resolved at GM dealer/vehicle can not be driven safely when issue occurs the failed system in question overrides driver last incident failure occurred in heavy traffic resulting in removal from service which took 3 weeks to repair/had the conditions been different this may have resulted in a crash.
The exhaust cone inside the front flange of the converter assembly broke off causing the stainless steel bellows/vibration damper to crack and leak. The leak and crack continued to grow until I had cause for concern that the whole assembly would fail and fall down to the road below and cause considerable damage or loss of control. I replaced the unit myself at 82K miles after first noticing the problem at the 78K mile mark.
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.
The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet HHR. The contact smelled a strong odor of fuel in his vehicle. He took his vehicle to a local repair shop and the technician stated that the flex pipe, which connects to the catalytic converter, fractured. As a consequence, carbon monoxide entered the vehicle. The vehicle has not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 55,000. Updated 3/24/09 updated 03/27/09.
I purchased a new 2006 HHR and it has been a very dependable car until now. I have purchased many new cars and in two years and less than 50,000 miles I have never had any exhaust problems. Why have the metal spiral tubing exhaust pipe that come from the manifold to the exhaust system have cracked. The metal spiral tubing appears to be in mint condition, but for some ironic reason it has a break in one of the spirals causing it to have an exhaust leak. I took it to a muffler shop and the gentlemen explained to me that he has been doing exhaust systems for years and he had never seen anything like this. He explained to me that it has to be a defect in the metal. I would attach pictures, but you don't have an attachment option available. Can you help me with this situation.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Brant Rock, MA, USA