Left Omaha NE on our way to Lake Okaboji for a craft show/flea market in Milford, IA. 2/3 of the way there, the Service Brake Assist light came on. Braking was like pushing on a brick. Finally got it stopped and turned off the car to possibly reset computer. To no avail.

Towed to Milford ($250 plus tax) on Fri., 9/4 and arrived there after 6PM. Set up campsite and bedded down for the night. Acquired the number for GM dealer in Spirit Lake. Had it towed to their location (another $125). Late Sat (9/5) the dealer called with info thinking it had something to do with the camshaft or sensor and would be able to get to it on Tues (9/8) so they rented me a van to get back to Omaha. I researched and called some dealers about the problem. Each one stated it was the vacuum pump. Called the dealer in Spirit Lake and advised of such. He called back 8 hrs later. He had never seen this issue in 14 yrs and his mechanic had never seen it in 30 yrs. Vacuum pump runs the brakes and engine and attaches to the front overhead dual exhaust which attaches to the camshaft. Vacuum pump was defective and split away from the exhaust which split from the camshaft manifold. Need to replace vacuum pump, camshaft exhaust and timing chains as possible metal in the engine.

After rental car, gas to and from, parts, labor, taxes and additional, unexpected uhaul trailer rental days, this will be about $3100.00 to fix. Everyone I have spoken to about this states this is a defective part and nothing that I could have done differently. It is out of warranty as the 3 yr / 30,000 mile warranty is crap (I blew through that in the first 10 months). Hoping GM/Chevy will see the many problems people have with this issue and have a recall on these as well as take care of my charges.

Buyer Beware!!!

While driving home from work, coasting on a downhill grade (thankfully no one else was in the car...) my 2018 Equinox began running rough while displaying "reduced engine power". I looked for a driveway to pull into to investigate the issue. When attempting to slow the vehicle I found out that my brake pedal had become a brick and required great force to depress the pedal. After almost rolling/coasting into and through a red light and 6 lane intersection I shifted to neutral and applied the emergency brake to slow and stop the vehicle (a lesser driver may not been able to think during this stressful split second decision).

Now it has been taken to a shop to be repaired and we have found out that the vacuum pump had failed, causing the brakes to fail. That's not all... while the pump failed the gears were sheered off and sucking into the motor. The mechanic was able to find all but two of the missing teeth. The reduced engine power came from a cam sensor when the metal bits were sucked into the motor. So now short of replacing the entire motor/complete tear down ($$$$) I'm sitting on a 3yr old equinox with less that 62000 miles.

While I'm thankful to have escape this situation with no injuries this could have been much worse. This is not an uncommon problem with this car. GM/Chevrolet is well aware of this issue. Yet no recall or fix has been released. The replacement parts fail just as frequently and this car to me now with small children is a death trap. Hopefully this does not take fatalities before GM does the right thing. Faith in GM has officially been lost. Buy from a more transparent manufacturer.

I was traveling 70+mph on a freeway. Went to slow down for upcoming speed limit for road construction and I couldn't push down on the brakes!! Thankfully there wasn't anyone in front of me at the time and I had to stomp on the brake with very minimal response. I was able to put on my hazard lights and coast to an off ramp to slow enough to stop it and throw it in park and e-brake it. Only after I was stopped my "service brake assist" light came on?? This could have ended very badly. I understand there is an open investigation for the vaccum pump, but no official recall as of yet. Is Chevrolet waiting for fatalities?!?