2026 Chevrolet Equinox Powertrain & Transmission Problems

On February 23, 2026, while driving my 2026 Chevrolet Equinox EV home from Folsom Chevrolet following a prior repair visit, the “Service Park Assist System” warning illuminated, first intermittently, then after a few miles, continuously for the remainder of the 11-mile drive home. During the same drive, while reversing with no objects present behind or around the vehicle, the automatic emergency braking system activated and applied the brakes with significant force without cause. The vehicle was returned to Folsom Chevrolet (Repair Order #559378, opened February 23, 2026). Diagnostic code U1126 was found — indicating the left rear short range radar sensor had lost communication on CAN Bus 8. The sensor module was on national backorder, keeping the vehicle out of service for approximately two weeks. The module was replaced and programmed on March 7, 2026. Safety concern: Unexpected activation of automatic emergency braking with no objects present creates a serious collision risk from following traffic. This failure occurred on public roads during normal driving. Additionally, the U1126 CAN bus communication fault is the same vehicle communication architecture implicated in the battery/electrical failure documented in Repair Orders #558923 and #559167, suggesting these failures share a common root cause in the vehicle’s electrical communication network rather than representing isolated component failures.

Incident Date: February 10, 2026 Mileage: 1,260 On the morning of February 10, 2026, my 2026 Chevrolet Equinox EV (1,260 miles) would not start. The instrument cluster simultaneously displayed three warning messages: 1)“Service Battery Fault — Vehicle Won’t Restart,” 2)“Charging is unavailable,” and 3)“Charge Vehicle Soon.” The vehicle could not be placed in neutral and required dolly tow from my garage, as the front wheels were locked and could not roll freely. AAA and I measured the 12V battery at 11.8 volts. AAA technician made attempt to jump 12 volt battery with no success. He made the observation that it was very rare for an EV not to start once the 12 volt battery was jumped. The vehicle was towed to Folsom Chevrolet (Repair Order #558923, opened February 10, 2026). The technician performed a global reset, BECM reprogramming, standalone radio programming, and a manual reset procedure. The repair order was closed with “confirmed no further concerns,” however the root cause — identified in the repair notes as a possible HV module communication fault — was never confirmed diagnosed or repaired. Seven days later (February 17, 2026, RO #559167), the vehicle returned to the dealer with overnight 12V voltage loss, starting at 12.12V and continuing to drop. A parasitic draw test found an 11mA draw. After a second overnight test the dealer closed the repair order as “no concerns found” without identifying or repairing a root cause. Safety concern: A vehicle that cannot be started, cannot be charged, and cannot be placed in neutral poses a serious safety risk — particularly if such a failure occurs on a roadway rather than in a driveway. The inability to shift to neutral prevents the driver from clearing the vehicle from traffic. The root cause of this dual electrical failure has never been confirmed repaired despite two repair attempts.

See attached document for complaint.

After I purchased my vehicle, 2026 chevy equinox rs, I noticed severe distortion on the front windshield. I had it replaced once, with the same problem. They were going to put another windshield in but we wanted to see it first, which was worse than the first two. I do not like the feeling of being car sick. Also, the transmission slipped once, while driving. It felt like it went into neutral and then back into gear. The dealer looked at it and could not find anything wrong. It was good for a few weeks and then it did it again.

GM has redesigned the gear shift of the 2026 Chevrolet Equinox to be placed on the steering wheel. That's fine except engineers put it in the exact spot of where the windshield wiper lever traditionally is AND made it look and act and move like a windshield wiper lever, which instinctively means you as a driver will hit that gear shift when it starts raining or when you want to trigger windshield wiper fluid. Doing so, as we experienced twice (once on a highway exit and another time on a major road) will cause the car to go into neutral since pulling the lever toward you (a movement that used to trigger fluid on the windshield) triggers the car to go into neutral. When you're driving on a major road, this is dangerous, slows the car, forces you to have to figure out how to get it back into drive and there's no obvious workaround for that. You can't come to a complete stop on a highway or a major busy road when in neutral and the car doesn't have easy/instinctive ways to send it back into drive. Numerous drivers have complained of this on Reddit and Facebook and presumably to GM. I sent a complaint to GM today. This is the first time in 40 years of car ownership that I've felt nervous driving a car because I'm worried I will cause a wreck because of poor design. There needs to be a workaround or alert to to this. Very dangerous.

I purchased this vehicle in June 2025 and the gear selection lever is constant problems. It will never go into or go out of gear on the first attempt. This has caused some near accidents on two occassions as I backed out of a parking space trying to get in gear and proceed timely to avoid on-coming traffic but the lever will constantly bounce to another gear or park which was not selected. The car also has a seat problem in which the seat will start a quiver motion which does startle me as the driver. As an 82 year old driver this becomes a safety issue since is very disruptive and unexpected which makes the driver panic. I notified Chevrolet of these problems but that communication was ignored. The vehicle now has 1400 miles, the selling dealer is 320 miles away. I was told by Chevrolet that to return the vehicle to the dealer would require that I pay $6 per mile charge. This is simply malicious treatment to a senior. There is one GM dealer in my county but they do not want to address another dealers problem. Yes this safety issue has put other drivers at risk because I pull into traffic and cannot get going with traffic flow with a defective gear selector. Anyone can come to my home to inspect this problem

The gear selection is on the steering column and to change from Park to Reverse or Drive takes usually over six attempts to get in the right gear. When your entering traffic and you get delayed trying to put the car into the proper gear this becomes a very dangerous safety issue. General Motors refuses to advise me how to deal with this problem unless I give them the name of an attorney who will represent me.