2009 CHEVROLET HHR — Complaint #1610495
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SEATS:MID/REAR ASSEMBLY filed October 9, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1610495 (ODI reference 11267224) concerns a 2009 CHEVROLET HHR and was filed on October 9, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 1, 2018. The vehicle had 120,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Alabama based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as seats:mid/rear assembly, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 4, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same CHEVROLET HHR cohort independently describe similar seats:mid/rear assembly failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2009 CHEVROLET HHR shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2009 CHEVROLET HHR. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 40 MPH, THE CONTACT'S VEHICLE CRASHED INTO ANOTHER VEHICLE THAT CUT HIM OFF ON THE ROADWAY. THE CONTACT'S CHILD, WHO WAS SECURED IN HIS CHILD SEAT, WAS INJURED WHEN THE REAR SEAT RELEASE LEVER FAILED. THE CHILD SEAT MOVED FORWARD AND THE CHILD STRUCK HIS HEAD. THE CHILD SUFFERED A CONTUSION, BUT NO OTHER INJURIES. THE DRIVER, THE CHILD IN THE CHILD SEAT, AND TWO OTHER PASSENGERS IN THE VEHICLE SUSTAINED MINOR INJURIES. MEDICAL ATTENTION WAS RECEIVED. A POLICE REPORT WAS FILED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED FROM THE SCENE AND TAKEN TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED. THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE WAS NOT DETERMINED. THE DEALER AND MANUFACTURER WERE NOT NOTIFIED. THE VIN WAS NOT AVAILABLE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 120,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1610495 |
| ODI Number | 11267224 |
| Date Filed | October 9, 2019 |
| Failure Date | October 1, 2018 |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.