I have a 2007 HHR LT, I bought it in March of 2014 with about 85,000 miles on it. I haven't had too many issues with it (knock on wood) About a week ago I smelled gas but didn't see a leak, last night I went into the garage can smell gas a lot stronger. I looked under the car after reading few posts online and sure enough by the driver side back tire it was leaking in the fuel line's rusted!!!! So this weekend I'll be seeing how much I'm putting into this car to fix it!!!!

I REALLY CAN'T BELIEVE THIS ISN'T A RECALL!!!!

I have a 2007 Chevy HHR LS that I purchased new in December of 2006. My wife and I are the original owner's and it is what I drive to work daily. My HHR currently has approximately 125,000 miles on it. I normally get 29 to 30 mpg on average, but over the past month I have only averaged 26 to 27 mpg. After arriving home, on January 18th of 2017, I noticed a strong smell of gasoline. I looked under my car, where upon I

noticed gas dripping from the fuel line near the rear drivers side tire, just past the fuel line mount, and the line looks corroded. I have contacted GM Customer Assistance to file a complaint and I have it scheduled to go into the dealership that I purchased the car from. From everything that I have read thus far, I am confident that I have a rusted and leaking gas line. I will be filling a complaint with the NHSTA, because I believe GM knows about this issue, that it is a major safety issue, and they are just ignoring it hoping it goes away.

The HHR has lived up to its name: Horrible Horrendous Ride more than once. This complaint is about the fuel line. Due to my present research, the HHR has a per chant for rusting fuel lines. For the past immediate while, the vehicle has begun to smell like a lawn mower, that is, with gas fumes. At first I thought it was the fuel cap so I bought a new one. That seemed to help somewhat. The smell persisted so I decided to change the air filter (you haven't lived until you change an HHR air filter. Do NOT follow the instructions on U-tube. I finally figured it out but for a simple air filter replacement, the job is way out of line in difficulty....simply pull off the 'big tubes' and tap on the underside of the filter compartment toward the rear. There are two "tits" that snap in to a grommet. You have to knock the plastic filter casing out of these grommets, turn it upside down and unscrew the 7 very small star screws underneath. Removing and replacing the filter is easy at this point. The wires will still be attached to the casing so be careful not to fubar the air flow sensor wires.)

Back to the fuel lines. The smell of fuel got persistently worse from 'do I really smell fumes?' to 'Dang, this place smells like a gas station!!!!". After I replaced the air filter, I went for a short drive. My rational for the clogged fuel filter was that a clogged filter would maintain suction after the engine was off and pull fumes up out of the air intake. Fairly genius, huh? Well, even after a short ride of approx. 3/4 of a mile, the fumes were totally unacceptable. I had another genius idea to sniff around the car and see if I could find out where the fumes were the strongest. Started at the fuel cap, no fumes, around to the left, some at the rear tire and getting worse the closer I got to the driver's door, with zero fumes at the grill. Today, I have learned that many others have had the same type of problems. [Why would GM put fuel lines directly under the drivers side? Why not down the center to give people at least some type of chance to get out?]

I am faced now with a $700 job, or figure it out myself, or see if GM will spring for the repair if there is some type of technical bulletin that would cover this.

Technical bulletin: the power steering failed on our HHR a few months back. I looked all over the place for the power steering pump and couldn't find it. Frustrating. Called GM phone number. There IS NO power steering pump. The power steering is electric. GM has had problems with this and they replaced the electric steering for free. Not bad. Why not build it right in the first place.

So, another adventure with my HHR that I have taken out of service b/c of fear of explosion. I am looking forward to replacing a fuel line in my back yard like I am looking forward to getting the root canals that I need. I am going to purchase the tech manual that I noticed for sale somewhere here on line and see if that 29 dollar resource will save me $700 or tell me if such a job CAN be done by a DIY guy like me. It might be too dangerous. I don't know. If I have to drain the gas tank, the job is off. $700 it is, out the window!

The vapor line and fuel line rusted completely threw. Right now there is a temporary fix that cost over 200 dollars. We were told to fix properly will cost over 700. Hoping that is not true. Right now it is a fire hazard and the entire problem is a design flaw. The lines run very close to the exhaust, mechanic said they wrap the lines with some type of fire shield and that holds in moister and salt from the northern winters. Causing the lines to rust out very quickly. We can not go any where that is far away and have to avoid setting in traffic due to the plastic line the mechanic put in. We are truly scared of our car and we had just got it in Nov of 2015. I do not know why Chevy desided to put the lines so close to exhaust they could have ran them down the other side of the car away from it. This should be recalled and fixed by Chevy due to it being a fire hazard.

The first picture is a gas line from a 1967 MGB that has 92000 miles on it with the floor boards and rocker panels rotted (rusted) out. I would not be afraid to use this gas line again. The next pictures are from a 2007 HHR with 140000 miles on it. Now if they can make gas line to last 50 years 50 years ago What’s up with Chevy? I also had to replace the gas lines on a 2003 Chevy Venture with a 160000 miles on it. Same thing, the high and low pressure gas lines were rusted so badly I had to replace both of them like I will with the HHR. Can’t Chevy get it. Leaky gas line can cause fires and kill people. So if they can make good gas lines 50 years ago why can’t Chevy spend a few cents and do it now? It might save a life

I owned a 2007 Chevy HHR, LS model. I purchased the car brand new. I was the only owner/driver. My car didn't even have the 100,000 miles on it. I was having a problem starting the car. The car would hesitate when starting but it would catch. I noticed I kept smelling gasoline. On December 16, 2015. I took the car into the dealership I purchased the car from. I told the technical everything I was experiencing. I thought the issue was maybe the battery, alternator or starter.

The repair tech called me and informed me that I had a rusted an leaking gas line. They wanted to charge me 900.00 to repair the car. I called GM's corporate office. The GM rep told me that rusted and leaking fuel lines are not a known issue to Chevy. Based off the info I have seen on line GM told a bold face lie.

I want GM to fix the issue before lives are lost. I plan to never purchase another GM product. I would not recommend a GM product to any of my family or friends.