2010 Chevrolet HHR: jerking or lurching

8 of the 516 complaints about the 2010 Chevrolet HHR describe jerking or lurching.

owner complaints: 8
of this car's complaints: 2%
typical mileage: 54,000
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 59 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Jerking or lurching by model year

2011
7
2010
8
2009
6
2008
8
2007
6
2006
14

What owners say

Filed May 26, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · WI

Our chevy hhr 2010 has been dying and stalling out on us while we are driving it, the only time it had power going to it was when it was being jumped. Even then soon as the cables were unhooked it would jerk then die right away. It seemed as if most of the lights inside and outsided of the truck only would flash while jumping it, then nothing. It was also very difficult to turn the steering wheel, and everything basically seems like it's malfunctioning. This has been on and off for a few weeks now but I don't know how to fix it, nor can I even start it at this point,but I definitely don't feel safe driving it the way it is right now being that it powers completely off whenever it wants to. It was in motion a few times on city streets, and in motion turning when it died for this last time. Its now parked on a street unable to drive it.

Filed Mar 25, 2016 · 98,000 miles · UT

Door handles break easily and have been replaced once each and drivers has been replaced twice. Also opening rear doors from outside of the car, the passenger rear door does not lock any longer and you can not get out the door without fighting with the lock on rear passenger side. The rear drivers side you have to jerk the door forward and sometimes it will open from the outside. You cannot open it from inside.

Filed Aug 6, 2014 · Driver assistance, Transmission · 89,000 miles · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet hhr. While driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle began to jerk and would not accelerate. The service traction warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 89,000.

Filed Nov 7, 2013 · Steering · 98,477 miles · FL · crash

While driving the electronic power steering shut off causing the vehicle to jerk to the right causing us to hit a row of mail boxes. This has been a reoccurring problem ever since.

Filed May 18, 2013 · Steering · 52,750 miles · TX

Driving down interstate at 65mph when the electronic power steering failed without warning. Could barely get maneuver car off road onto exit. Shut car down to check out, restarted car, everything worked fine and power steering was functioning. Turned back around to go home and park car, power steering went out again - this time as I was turning off main road, into my subdivision. Almost had car in the ditch as wheel jerked back and power steering went out again. Got car to driveway and shut down. Restarted car and everything came back online again. Drove car down subdivision street to test the problem. Could not go more than 5-10 seconds before power steering shut off. Very dangerous. I am a 6'2", 225 lb guy and I struggled to get car off the road. When steering, the car is not like an older car without power steering, it turns like you have to fight the wheel. If someone is not aware of the problem and it goes out for the first time in mid-turn, this could definitely cause an accident or kill someone.

Filed Mar 14, 2013 · Steering · 10,200 miles · PA

2010 hhr 2lt (manual trans / flex fuel) bought new. Problem began summer 2012 @ 10,200 mi. Clicking & thud metal noises heard & felt (jerky & resonance of metal striking) coming from low down in both front sections. Initially occurred erratically during driving, then consistently. Occurred: reversing; and accelerating from 1st gear into 2nd, 3rd, 4th; downshifting from 4th to lower; and during slow stops shifting from 3rd, 2nd, or 1st into neutral. On 9/14/12 at 11,242 mi., dealer found "too much clearance between hub & cv shaft" and an existing service bulletin #09-04--95-001. Replaced both wheel drive shaft washers. (note: noise & feeling has erratically returned. However, dealer did not hear it during 3/4/13 test drive at 13,313 miles. But I heard it on the way home a couple of times. And last year, it was erratic before becoming consistent....).

Filed Aug 30, 2012 · Driver assistance, Steering · 54,000 miles · MN

I was driving my car to the dollar store and was stopped at the red "left turn" arrow, and all of a sudden, the "power steering" sign flashed on my dashboard and my car made a "ding ding" noise. When the light turned green, I turned left and it was extremely hard for me to turn the wheel. It has been happening since. I will turn the car off, and when I turn the car back on, it drives fine for the first few minutes, and then the "power steering" sign came back on. The "power steering" sign has also appeared when I was making a right turn which caused the wheel to lock up in the middle of a turn. The car jerked and I almost crashed into a black sedan. I have a small child who sits in the back seat. I don't have much money, so I can not afford to pay the dealership to get this issue fixed. I took it to a cheap repair shop, and they could not find the issue. I have been looking online to find what ways I can fix this without it costing me a lot of money. Have not been able to find a solution, so I am currently driving with no "power steering" which can be very dangerous. In addition to my power steering going out, a couple months ago, I went out to my car to get in my car, and put my key in the ignition and turned the car on. Made it to the store, and when I was getting ready to get out of the car, the key would not come out of the ignition. I could not turn it, or anything. The car would not turn off. I had to have aaa disconnect my battery so that my car didn't have to stay running until the dealership opened in the morning. My key had to sit in the ignition over night, someone could have stolen my car. I took it to the dealership the next morning and they had to replace the whole ignition cylinder.

Filed Feb 10, 2012 · Brakes · 2,553 miles · OR · crash

I was turning left at a duel left turn lanes, I was on the out side, as I turned and accelerated to 35 the big red truck on the inside lane came into my lane of travel. As I saw this big red truck going across my hood I tried to stop and down shift when the left front tire skidded and the car jerked to the left and the car and truck met.