NHTSA Owner Complaint Log
This page lists owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and do not by themselves prove a defect or defect rate.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026
The braking system failed as the engine compartment filled with smoke and flames. At first the doors remained locked but eventually unlocked so that the occupants were able to exit the vehicle unharmed. The vehicle was consumed by the fire before the fire department could extinguish the fire(5-10 minutes).
I have a 2018 chevy equinox that I bought brand new back in December of 2018. The vacuum pump failed therefore breaking the camshaft which in turn caused failure to my brakes. I went to stop at a light and my brake pedal was hard and my car skidded to a stop through the light. No warning that anything was wrong nothing. My brakes worked fine up until I went to stop at the next light. Then out of the blue my brake pedal was hard and I had no brakes. I almost got into a severe accident due to the brake failure. Evidently there have been other people this has happened to. Extremely dangerous and unsafe. There have been lawsuits filed against GM for faulty vacuum pump part although they were for the year of 2020. GM needs to take a look at this issue and also install some kind of warning. I get warnings for a tire being a little low you would think they could put a warning in for the brake system!! The warranty is still good on my car do I do not have to pay for the repair. In addition when the camshaft broke it threw pieces of metal into the top part of the engine!!
While driving, my driver's side power seat will automatically go to the "exit position". Because of my short stature, this causes me to not be able to reach the gas and brake pedals until I move the seat back up. It first occurred when I was in 5 lanes if traffic during rush hour traffic. There was no warning or indication of a problem before it happened. Scary, as momentarily I couldn't brake. I took it to the dealership for repair. They we able to reproduce the issue and diagnosed it as the power seat memory switch in the door panel. They replaced the part but it did not fix the problem.
I have purchased a 2018 Chevy equinox. It was damaged on the back bumper (rebuilt title). The backup camera works fine but there is a side detection error that comes on everytime I start the vehicle. The shop replaced the entire harness however that did not fix the issue. I have read 1000's of complaints on this. My vehicle has 45000 miles. This is effecting my gas mileage as well as other safety features. I see this has been an issue in MANY GM models and it has been taken care ( special warranty) but not on a 2018 equinox as of yet. I want to report this problem and see if someone can look into all the other forums etc to see how widespread this really is. The light has came on a few times lately but only when I am parked and not going anywhere??? Thanks in advance.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH, the Service Brake Assist warning light illuminated, and the brake pedal became difficult to depress. The contact exited the first available exit and coasted to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed that the vacuum pump had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. Approximately 5 years later, the failure reoccurred while driving approximately 70 MPH. The contact was able to get off the nearest exit, then coasted to a stop. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed the same cause of failure. The vacuum pump was replaced again. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and opened a case. The failure mileage was 49,967.
When I applied brakes, the pedal was hard to push down and the service brake assist light came on.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal, the turbo charger failed to operate as designed, and the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The contact stated that excessive pressure was needed to depress the accelerator pedal. The message “Engine Power Reduced” was displayed due to a low coolant level. Additionally, the contact was adding 2-quarts of engine oil to the vehicle weekly. The contact stated there was oil on the ground underneath the vehicle. While checking the oil level, the contact saw smoke coming from the exhaust. The check engine light was illuminated. The contact was made aware of the Special Coverage Program, NHTSA ID Number: 10171426 (Engine and Engine Cooling, Air Bags, Service Brakes, Hydraulic); however, the year vehicle was not included. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who replaced the oil line connected to the turbo charger; however, the oil leak persisted. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
When buckled, the part of the seat belt buckle where the LAP belt slides through the actual buckle part becomes binding and has to be manual pushed through the buckle in order to move your hips when seated. This issue has absolutely nothing to do with the shoulder part of the belt or the belt not retracting. It is solely an issue with the plastic buckle and the belt not sliding through it when seated. This is a safety issue because the lap belt becomes binding while seated. If the driver needs to shift in the seat, he must pull the shoulder belt out to create give in the belt and then use both hands to manually feed the belt through the buckle. This is unsafe when driving for obvious reasons if the driver is unable to use any hands on the steering wheel. If the driver doesn't continuously adjust the belt in this way, it becomes so tight across the hips that it causes discomfort and redness on the skin and abrasions if the vehicle turns wide or breaks quickly. This intense discomfort makes me avoid wearing my seatbelt which causes obvious risk or poses a risk to myself and other drivers if I need to take both hands off the wheel to adjust it while driving. The front passenger seat belt has the same issue. I began to notice this issue about 6 months ago and have taken the vehicle to a dealer/service center 3 times without any recourse other than being offered the opportunity to replace the entire seat belt system for $700 each.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that the panoramic moon roof failed to operate as needed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who was unable to fix the vehicle. The contact was referred to the dealer for assistance. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.
We were driving home and the car was losing acceleration power. My husband would press on the pedal and there was no acceleration. the all of a sudden the car would seem to get a connection and lurch forward. Thankfully we were were close to home and there wasn't a lot of traffic as it was scary. It ended up being the O2 sensor and I did see recalls on this part for earlier model years of the same car but not for 2018. It appears the issue has not been resolved in the newer models.
Since I bought this car I have had to replace sensors like they’re going out of style. However I would like to report on 3 sensors that went out simultaneously on my vehicle in heavy traffic. I had the vacuum boost sensor for my master cylinder, my cam shaft sensor and my crank shaft sensor go out simultaneously. As a result my vehicle engine cut off completely (battery components still working) and I had zero control over my breaks. I had to use my full body weight on my break pedal to get the vehicle to stop. I was fortune to have been able to pull off into a parking lot. I have had to replace several o2 sensors on this vehicle. I didn’t think anything of having any electrical issues until this happened. My check engine light has stayed on for over a year despite clearing codes and replacing o2 sensors. We check periodically and the only code is usually for the o2 sensor. We can save the sensors we have replaced for inspection if necessary. I had a low engine power signal flash across the infotainment system just before this happened. I was in heavy traffic and I’m just fortunate I was able to get out of the way quickly enough before I hurt myself or someone else. The break issue and loss of power was actually terrifying
When backing into my drive way moving the gear from d to r the car will jump. This has made it to where I fear to park where I have to reverse. As well as when I started driving down the road the auto stop start kicked on while doing 30 when the car powered back on in the busy intersection the car was clunking I pulled over asap and took a look under the car to make sure nothing was leaking when started back up it went away. It’s very unsafe to have a car that you can’t disable the auto stop feature from coming on as if the intersection was not a safe place for this to happen
Vacuum pump, check valve failure led to loss of function while exiting interstate. Less than two weeks later, “service brake assist” notification followed by degraded brake performance in busy city traffic.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as needed. The contact was able to steer the vehicle safely to the side of the road. The parking brake warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 66,000.
The car brakes were working fine went to Clarksburg wv and back to pennsboro Wv The brakes acted little hard to push but when I was turning off at pennsboro I didn't think I was going to get slowed down enough to make the turn off . I did get it to the house and the brakes are hard as a rock there is no pedal at all
2018 CHEVROLET EQUINOX. THE CONSUMER STATED THE UPPER "A" ARM FAILED ON MULTIPLE VEHICLES.
The check engine light comes on for a few days and when on the brakes are stiff and hard to push. When this is also going on the brake assist light will come on while driving and not pushing on brakes. It came on while on highway going 65mph
While driving to Tennessee my brakes went out on the car. The vacuum pump broke into pieces and made braking nearly impossible. Had it repaired and less than a week later the same thing happened coming off the interstate no brakes again on the off ramp. We had to glide to a stop for the brakes to kick in a little past the hard brake pedal. Checked the vacuum pump and again no suction so it’s bad again, not only that it appears that the rear main could be leaking but could be something else all together.
rear liftgate will only open most of the time it will not close when using the buttons on vehicle or on key fob, ongoing issue since
at stop signs, when autostop/start re engages the vehicle jerks and shows several warnings on the dash saying service brake assist, parking break released, forward collision reduced. the steering wheel locks up for under 3 seconds before it releases and can be steered again
The “Check Engine” light is still on regardless of the maintenance done on the vehicle. The oil pump is possibly damaged after pieces from broken vacuum pump may have entered into engine.
Has had 2 codes come up for bad fuel injectors maybe more before it hit 50,000 miles dealer can't recreate cases a bad miss fire really surprised it runs
The vacuum pump in my 2018 Chevrolet Equinox no longer works. I have a “hard brake” and when I attempt to stop At low speeds there is a grinding sound with my vehicle.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while attempting to stop the vehicle, the brake pedal became very firm and difficult to depress and the braking distances was extended. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the brake vacuum pump was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 75,000.
While driving brakes suddenly became very hard to press. We could not stop our car. We luckily were in a toll plaza and not moving at high speed. This problem was scary , no warning and my family could have been harmed. We had a mechanic come and fix the problem, but this needs to be fixed.
I see that this isn't a recall but is affecting many models of chevy from year models 2016-2019 with the gear selector assembly. The issue is the harness, solenoid, or sensor in the gear selector assembly is faulty and when trying to put the vehicle in park, the vehicle thinks it is NOT in park when it IS. Then, when you leave the vehicle, the interior beeps at you and electricals stay on as well as headlights/tail lights and will drain the battery unless you disconnect the battery. I don't see why this hasn't been recalled? I see SOOOO many people with the same issue and I've read that some dealerships are reluctant to fix because they can't "duplicate the problem" The problem is, you can't just buy the gear selector harness assembly wiring harness since it only comes with the whole assembly itself. So this should indeed be a recall because the average person isn't going to be able to figure this out and they shouldn't have to pay since it is happening in what looks like thousands if not tens of thousands or more vehicles.
After auto stop/ start system engages messages on dash appear “ service brake assist”, “service steering assist”, “service parking brake”, “service stibilitrac”, Failure at 55,400 miles Dealership found a loss communication error to the muddles due to low battery voltage. Fix: replaced battery at 55,436 miles Battery has been replaced 3 times in 4 years starting at 18, 500 miles, then at 32,562 miles, now at 55,436 miles due to the same issue with the auto stop start operation. Car is out of warranty as of 58,300 miles or October 2022
emergency forward breaking alert will randomly go off
Service Brake Assist warning. Same issue as NHTSA campaign number 20V603 and GM recall N202300860 but no active recalls on this VIN.
The issue was the leak from the fuel filter. There was no any errors/messages on the dashboard. I am not sure when this leak has started. I assume it started in the end of January. I had a long trip to Canada. The car was parked at snow covered driveway near my house. And I have discovered strange stains on the snow under the car. I have made the pictures of the stains. This stained snow smelled as a fuel. The fuel leak was pretty bad. When I looked under the car it was dripping about 1-2 drops per second. Also the leak was very close to the exhaust pipe (maybe 1-2 inches) that could be very hot and theoretically could ignite a fire. As soon as I discovered the leak, the car was taken to the nearest CHEVY dealer Highland GM in Aurora, ON, Canada. They diagnosed the issue and fixed it on February 1st. In order to fix the leak the fuel filter was replaced.
Winter 2020/2021 I had to replace my exhaust manifold and now winter 2021/2022 I am having issues with my turbo/super charger but same code of P0299 for both incidents. Wondering what is going on with my vehicle. I bought it at 42,000 miles and now has 88,000 on it
While attempting to apply the brakes to slow down a message appeared on the instrument panel that said Service Brake Assist.. My safety was put at risk by not having proper breaking. The problen was addressed at a gm dealer and I was told there are no recalls for this type of problem for my vehicle.
I own a 2018 Chevy Equinox. The brakes have now failed 3 times. Dealership confirmed each time it was an issue with the brake vacuum pump. The Equinox has not been included in a recall, yet there are clearly safety issues. GM had numerous cars recalled for this exact same reason. There is a serious safety issue here. I am now without a car again because of a third brake vacuum pump failure. I have not been able to get any assistance from GM or my local Chevy dealership. I now am faced with a bill for repair for almost $2000. It is ridiculous to think that such a serious safety issue would exist and the industry will not acknowledge that it goes far beyond the vehicles they have already recalled. I wonder how many more accidents will happen before this is corrected. To be honest, when I do get my vehicle back I’m not sure I will drive it. When you lose your breaks 3 times it’s very difficult to trust. I would like to see this corrected and the Equinox needs to be added. My car has 128,000 miles on it at the time of the third failure. The other two failures were at approximately 60,000 miles and 92,000 miles. Thank you.
We were driving at night I had turned on the overhead cabin light and when I turned on the overhead cabin light so my wife could hand food to our are sun and behind us the At the same time that I push the button the sunshade started to go and so I let it go but then it got jammed and it started to crank so I pushed the button in it started to go and reverse and then it like Jim in it aint like you know the motor growing sound and like there's a big shatter we thought that it was the glass from the moon roof shuttering turned out it was just like the plastic piece it was like holding the shade in place and so And so then to get that repaired they had to take the roof off take the rails out to get to the little plastic piece to call that plastic piece an external trim fastener so if it was an internal fastener it would be covered if it was because it was a fascinary if it was because it was a fascinator if it was because it's trim I don't know what trim you have to pull a roof off and pull rails out to it to find but that is why they didn't call it cover it
The power booster brake assist vacuum pump, without any warning, failed while exiting the freeway. My wife couldn't stop the vehicle. Replaced unit for $750.00. Now Fine SCARED the crap out of her. Approximately 84,000 miles. This is a sealed unit. I am a highly skilled machinist and I have made braking components for auto and aircraft and disassembled and reassembled for evaluation to determine cause and to remedy problem. What happened? DEFECTIVE PARTS OR POOR DESIGN. I request all replaced damaged parts so I have the part here. I did my research and have seen this is an ongoing problem with GMC and yet NO recall. HELP!
I have a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox LT AWD that has trouble shifting gears when going uphill and the car sounds like it's struggling. Lately I've had a similar issue going downhill where the RPM meter shoots up and (I'm guessing) won't shift gear. Makes a horrible sound and feels like I'm breaking the car!! Any advice? Could it be a transmission fluid issue? Also, my driver's seat moves about, side to side, over bumps, etc. Any input on how to proceed to get this fixed? I have also had the following service lights pop up on my center display screen from time to time recently: service side detection system and service park assist system.
1. The brake component that failed was the vacuum pump. It has been repaired and is not available for inspection. 2. I lost braking ability(the ability to brake normally) on a major interstate in Georgia while driving 74 mph. By stomping on the brakes with full body weight, I was able to drop back in traffic, eventually find an exit to pull off the road. 3. The service report from the dealership that fixed it stated, "Customer states the vehicle has very limited brakes. You have to apply brake pedal extremely hard to stop.....Customer concern verified. No brake vacuum present." 4. Do not know. 5. Right before the incident occurred a light signaling something about the brakes came on. That was wile the car was moving at 74 mph.
For about a month the Traction Control Light comes on, the Service Brakes Assist Light comes on, the Alternator Symbol comes on. Yesterday, Monday, November 22, 2021, the vehicle stopped while driving on the street and it required a jump to get it started again. It has been very slow when starting back when at the red/green light. Very sluggish to slow motion to get speed. The system was showing low oil percentage at 53% but oil was changed three months ago and is not due for change until January, 2022 at 47281 miles. Current mileage is 45740/50. Took car back to Art Moran last Friday to have system reset since it had not been done at the time of oil change. Please respond ASAP. My father is 80+ and he was very frightened when the car stopped on him.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that after parking in the driveway and switching the shifter to the park position the driver exited and moments later the vehicle erroneously rolled backward down the driveway. The driver attempted to get back into the moving vehicle and fell causing the vehicle to roll over the driver's body and crash into a tree. During the incident, the contact experienced an injured hip which required medical treatment. The vehicle was towed to a local body shop for repair. The manufacturer was notified of the incident and a manufacturer's engineer examined the vehicle but no problem was found. The cause of the failure was not determined. The contact was informed that the vehicle was not included in the NHTSA Campaign Number: 17v516000(Power train). The contact indicated that the vehicle had experienced the same failure listed in the recalls. The failure mileage was 42,000.
On approximately 11/18/21 3:30 pm I drove my car and the engine just died. Busy street. It took me 30 minutes to restart and pull safely into the first parking lot I could get to. every time I went to start vehicle it would take 3-4 minutes each time, I had to turn car completely to stop the car from trying to start. When it finally started it would only go 10 feet before the engine stopped running. I had to have my car towed to the dealership. On 12/8/21 the dealership called me and said the the pump which is inside the engine failed and that the engine would have to be replaced for $8,500.00 HELP!
The vehicle first started having a cigarette residual smoke smell in it during the summer of 2019. It was right after a good rainfall, but we didn't know what to attribute it to. We called the local Chevrolet dealership and they weren't sure what it might be either. The odor would come and go over the last couple of years, but we couldn't figure out what it was from as none of my family members smoke. Then my husband went to run errands in my vehicle during a heavy downpour and heard water running inside of the car. He found water coming out of the fuse panel on the driver's side in the rear hatch (video available). He started removing the wet stuff in the rear hatch & when he got down to the spare tire compartment, he found it was filled with water. He also smelled the cigarette smoke-like odor like 10 times stronger than before & realized that it was due to the felt-like pad in the spare tire compartment being soaked in water. We again called the local dealership & they weren't sure what the problem might have been. My husband & stepfather did research and found out a lot of Equinox owners were experiencing the same issue & it had been determined that it was due to the sunroof water drainage system being clogged. The provided solution was to run air through the water drainage pipes, which my husband did. However, the vehicle still had some water appearing behind the driver's side seat during the lighter rainfalls afterwards. As well, the odor that smelled like cigarette smoke had now been replaced with a strong mildew/mold smell. This poses two major safety issues - water going into fuse boxes (water & electrical don't mix), as well as the mold/mildew being inhaled - especially of concern since we have two toddlers sitting in the backseat of this family vehicle. One dealership was unable to duplicate water inside the vehicle, but found the water drain pipes partially clogged. Other dealership noted mold/mildew smell and did an ozone detailing.
While driving the traction and stability lights came on along with the ESC service light. Also my Lane assist stopped working. It stayed on for at Least 30 mins until I turned off the car and restarted. Stopped at the closest garage and they checked the battery and used a scan tool to identify that it had a fault code U0121 Lost Communication with Anti-lock Brake System Module.
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while driving the vehicle began to sputter with the traction control and check engine warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the high-pressure fuel pump was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact was informed that the vehicle was not included in the NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V358000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). The contact indicated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 41,400.
The ac went out on the 2018 equinox and the dealership replaced and ac line citing it was the wrong line and a bolt from the fan shroud rubbed a hole in the line. I have the pictures the dealership took prior to repairs. the hose and we line it up with the bolt on the fan shroud and we do not see how the bolt would rub the hose. It has to be a factory defect.
Aluminum hood corrosion on front hood lip on many Equinox models. I thought mine was a 1 off but after researching it, a ton of people are having this issue. Even other Chevys like the Colorado and the Traverse.
I was driving 55 mph heading to a friends for the weekend with another one of my friends and my dog. It started raining and it was scaring my dog to see the rain drops on the sunroof so I closed the shade. About 15 minutes later there was a loud constant sound almost like a warning so I looked at my dash, radio ect to see what was going on and about 3-5 minutes after the loud constant whining sound started there was a loud boom!! sounded like a bomb or gunshot. I pulled over and got out to look and found a hole in my sunroof. By looking at it you can totally see that the pressure or blast was from the inside as the glass on the sunroof was pushed outward. I took this to a GM dealer and the service manager was rude and kept saying it was from something in the roadway which it was NOT!! The road was clear and it was still light out. Besides what was that sound from then??? This is unsafe and the outcome could have turned out way worse.
Panoramic Sunroof buckled and shattered. (thank goodness we weren't driving it at the time). Police were notified as we weren't sure if it was vandalism but seeing the way the frame buckled and the glass concave it's a defect
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed however, the vehicle failed to respond. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The emission testing message was displayed. Additionally, the vehicle was shaking. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the fuel pump was leaking fuel into the oil causing the vehicle to stall. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact stated that the failure was like NHTSA campaign number: 20V668000 (Power Train). The failure mileage was 80,000.
62 k Miles car completely shut down and power steering became useless making it extremely hard to even move out of traffic. There were no warning lights Car has always been fully serviced at dealership. Vac pump failed causing camshaft to break , bending pistons New engine required. Car at dealership going into 3 weeks now
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that the driver’s and passenger’s side front seats were designed to be too low which caused a blind spot on the front passenger’s side when the contact was in the front driver’s seat. The contact drove over a flower bed at the park due to the front passenger’s side blind spot visibility issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000.