Owners filed 3,023 complaints about the 2015–2025 Chevrolet Equinox with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 32nd-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2015 model year drew the most (679), and the single most-reported problem area is engine, named in 32% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2015, with 679 complaints, led by wipers / visibility (250).
- Spike years: 2015 (2.5× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: automatic emergency braking / collision warning complaints came at a median of 10k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 35 complaints mention a fire and 160 mention a crash; owners reported 130 injuries and 2 deaths.
Chevrolet Equinox complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 679 | Wipers / visibility (250), Engine (227), Transmission / powertrain (63) | 75k mi | 24 | 6 |
| 2016 | 395 | Engine (201), Wipers / visibility (113), Transmission / powertrain (26) | 65k mi | 14 | 3 |
| 2017 | 272 | Engine (178), Transmission / powertrain (32), Fuel system (20) | 68k mi | 18 | 4 |
| 2018 | 407 | Brakes (118), Engine (86), Transmission / powertrain (65) | 22k mi | 23 | 4 |
| 2019 | 301 | Engine (100), Brakes (67), Electrical system (43) | 9k mi | 22 | 7 |
| 2020 | 306 | Brakes (97), Engine (87), Fuel system (50) | 13k mi | 20 | 7 |
| 2021 | 94 | Transmission / powertrain (17), Electrical system (17), Engine (16) | 60k mi | 6 | 0 |
| 2022 | 171 | Fuel system (72), Fuel System, Gasoline (31), Engine (25) | 15k mi | 14 | 3 |
| 2023 | 95 | Fuel system (44), Engine (17), Brakes (14) | 34k mi | 4 | 0 |
| 2024 | 78 | Fuel system (23), Electrical system (17), Engine (14) | 10k mi | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 225 | Electrical system (75), Transmission / powertrain (34), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (32) | 8k mi | 10 | 0 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Chevrolet Equinox problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | 973 | 32% | 70k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Wipers / visibility | 425 | 14% | 75k mi | Wiper replacement cost |
| Electrical system | 376 | 12% | 25k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Brakes | 368 | 12% | 32k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Fuel system | 361 | 12% | 30k mi | Fuel pump repair cost |
| Transmission / powertrain | 338 | 11% | 50k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Air bags | 114 | 4% | 37k mi | — |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 95 | 3% | 10k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Chevrolet models in the index
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (7,160)
- Chevrolet Malibu (3,192)
- Chevrolet Traverse (2,644)
- Chevrolet Tahoe (2,306)
- Chevrolet Colorado (2,241)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.