2009 Chevrolet HHR
This year drew an ordinary 508 complaints for a Chevrolet HHR — the model's median is 615. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.2% of them mention bag, against 4.6% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 508 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 615 |
| Involving a crash | 20 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- bag — 13.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.6% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: bag, air bag, bag light, bag warning.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE PASSENGER SIDE AIR BAG WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE CONNECTOR MODULE NEEDED TO BE REWIRED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS…
THE CONTACT OWNS 2009 CHEVROLET HHR. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE AIR BAG WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED INTERMITTENTLY. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER ON THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS. THE FRONT PASSENGER'S SEAT INFLATER HARNESS CONNECTORS WERE CLEANE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V171000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
- 14V153000 STEERING
- 14V047000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14E021000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 09V073000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet HHR was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2009 Chevrolet HHR? What happened to yours?
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