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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
21,008 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2018 Chevrolet Equinox engine problems

engine problem

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2018 Chevrolet Equinox Owner Comments (Page 2 of 3)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #33

May 052021

Equinox

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When my cats gets turned on my radio doesn-??t turn on so I have to reset it until it turns on meaning I have to press and hold for 20sec to get the volume knob lite but my radio doesn-??t work and on top of it the auto stop is tripping when I do auto stop the car turns off and restarts on its own and shows light on dash saying traction control on or off and then it will say brake release and than brake check my steering wheel controls don-??t work meaning my auto control isn-??t working to set and one day out of nowhere it will all work like nothing happen radio will turn on but I can-??t turn volume on or change station and it-??s a frozen screen and sometimes it goes all blank black but I can hear music with no screen

- Hammond, IN, USA

problem #32

Apr 202022

Equinox

  • miles
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.

- Upper Marlboro , MD, USA

problem #31

Apr 162022

Equinox

  • miles
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.

- Upper Marlboro , MD, USA

problem #30

Jan 022022

Equinox

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

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

- Chisholm, MN, USA

problem #29

Aug 122020

Equinox

  • miles
engine problems

- West New York, NJ, USA

problem #28

Nov 182021

Equinox

  • miles
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 HELP!

- Uniontown, OH, USA

problem #27

Jul 092021

Equinox 4-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

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

- Carlsbad, CA, USA

problem #26

Jan 182021

Equinox

  • 41,000 miles
Check enginge light keeps coming on. Code says dealer specific, went to go to dealer, light went off. Two weeks later, light comes back on for a few days, goes back off. Had the diesel system cleaned by dealer, light still comes on and off. Car has 42K miles, expertly maintained. Dealer wants $135 to diagnose the problem that their own documents say there is no solution for. On star diagnoses found nothing wrong with the vehicle and didn't even show the 'check engine light' as being on. Similar reports from others online involving the 1.6L diesel. No performance issues with the light on, but Chevrolet should be able to fix the issue - even if the car is out of warranty. A two year old car shouldn't be having random check engine light issues.

- Mechanicsville, MD, USA

problem #25

Sep 162020

Equinox

  • 38,299 miles
The oil plug is weak and damaged

- Washington, DC, USA

problem #24

Sep 042020

Equinox

  • 64,000 miles
While driving on a county highway, the service brake assist light appeared. Upon braking, brakes were extremely hard (like pushing on a brick) to stop. After attempting to brake several times and finally getting stopped, I turned off the vehicle. Upon attempting to restart, car failed to start. Towed from holstein Iowa to milford, Iowa late on a Friday. Next morning, dealer in spirit lake Iowa was contacted. A 2nd tow to the dealer happened on Saturday. Dealer briefly looked at it and stated it was a camshaft actuator or sensor and they would get to it after the holiday weekend. The gave me a rental to get home (5 hrs South) however, I am still paying on a uhaul trailer rental as the rental van did not have towing capabilities. Tow 1 was $250 and tow 2 was $125. Rental is $50 per day. Parts/labor is expected to be a little over $2200 plus the van rental, plus the uhaul trailer extra days rental, plus the gas to go back and get the vehicle and bring it home with the uhaul trailer. Dealer was advised by me to look at the vacuum pump on tue a.M. tue P.M. dealer called back. Verified vacuum pump issue and stated it was defective and that it disintegrated. It was also sitting on the front dual overhead exhaust and that was attached to the camshaft exhaust. Both of those broke away as well. Need to replace those and the timing chain with an oil change to ensure no metal remains in the engine. GM/Chevy should be fixing this at no cost plus paying for the towing charges, extra rentals, and gas. Not having brakes is a major safety issue and putting my life, my family's life and the life of people on the road around us is not what I consider a good product. Photos from the dealer will be asked for, especially the vacuum pump. I will promptly forward bills as soon as they arrive.

- Manley, NE, USA

problem #23

Sep 022020

Equinox

  • 64,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

10/2019 - while driving on highway, coming into a construction zone, I went to slow down. When I pushed my brakes to slow down, they were very hard and was unable to push them down. Ended up having to drive off the side of the road to avoid collision. Vaccum pump failed which caused a failure in my brake assist system. It was fixed under warranty. 9/2020 - driving on the highway and went to slow down when the same thing happened again and I was unable to slow down. Again had to drive off the side of the road to avoid collision. This time when the vacuum pump failed, it broke a gear causing metal pieces to be sucked in the engine and now my engine is needing replaced. This is a common problem with this car based on the research I have done but my VIN is not included in recall. I feel this is very dangerous to happen twice in less than a year while traveling high speeds and being unable to stop. I have 2 young children that I no longer feel safe putting in this vehicle

- Blanchard, OK, USA

problem #22

Aug 182020

Equinox

  • 65,000 miles
Driving down the road the car started to smoke under the hood area and all I could smell was burned plastic. Pulled over and got out. Not even a minute later the car burst into flames.

- St. Johnsbury, VT, USA

problem #21

Feb 122019

Equinox 4-cyl

  • 16,000 miles
When I need to accelerate to pass a vehicle or speed up from a off or on ramp, engine light, ABS light, check ESC light, all come on and cruise control is not able to be used. Engine has to be shut down. Transmission is slipping as well.

- Trufant, MI, USA

problem #20

Mar 192020

Equinox

  • 31,000 miles
My car literally died out. All of a sudden the rpms went up high and it started to sputter. At one point had to push foot all the way down on gas peddle

- Pendleton, NY, USA

problem #19

Feb 282019

Equinox

  • 1,800 miles
Took car to dealer for routine oil change and service, I reported to them a very frequent problem with car hesitating to accelerate andjerks at speed between 40 and 50 mph also passsenger can feel this riding in the back seat. Took to dealer they said nothing showed on computer but GM has software issue. For the price of cars feel that this is not acceptable performance to have to drive an otherwise nice car I notices several other similar complaint on this website

- North Vernon, IN, USA

problem #18

Feb 242020

Equinox

  • 28,000 miles
The vehicle hesitates and at times does not accelerate when the accelerator is depressed, primarily noted in cold weather conditions. Hesitations have occurred on several occasions but there have been two occasions when attempting to merge into oncoming traffic, the vehicle did not respond to accelerator input, once occurring from a stationary position and one time occurring when driving approximately 30 miles per hour with both incidents occurring on city streets with a posted speed limit of 40 miles per hour. The vehicle has been taken to the dealership on several occasions and the defect apparently is with the charge air cooler.

- Grand Forks, ND, USA

problem #17

Feb 042020

Equinox

  • 23,000 miles
When coming to a stop engine constantly shuts off

- Fleetwood, PA, USA

problem #16

Dec 012019

Equinox

  • 20,000 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that on several occasions while stopped the fuel saving system activated and shut the engine off but when the driver lifted off the brake pedal the vehicle failed to resume operation as designed. After restarting the vehicle, the vehicle operated as intended. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer camino real Chevrolet (2401 S. atlantic blvd, monterey park ca.) who was unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 20,000. The VIN was not available.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #15

Jan 172020

Equinox

  • 77,000 miles
I was driving down the highway and I got an error saying engine power reduced, and my engine cut out, and then right after, I got an error saying brake assist on, and my brakes felt like a brick when I tried to push them. I made it to the emergency lane on the hwy, and pushed my brakes really hard and then put the parking brake on. After getting it towed to the closest dealership, the service advisor told me this is a known issue with Equinoxs with my engine type, where the vacuum pump goes out, and then the gear running it brakes, and then the metal from that gear got sucked up into my engine. That vacuum pump connects to both my brakes and my engine, which is why I lost both at the same time with no prior warnings or any indication anything could be wrong before it happened. My engine is now completely blown with no warning. It's a known issue with the factory part, and they assured me it had nothing to do with maintenance or anything, some of the vacuum pumps they used are just bad. There are no open recalls on my VIN. This could have been very bad. I lost my brakes and my engine going highway speeds on a bridge. I was just lucky enough to be able to make it to the emergency lane and stop without getting hit or hitting anyone else.

- Charleston, SC, USA

problem #14

Dec 192019

Equinox

  • 32,000 miles
Just finshed my second year into my 3 year 2018 Chevy Equinox lease and for the last month or so the service brake assist has appeared and dissapeared dozens of times when starting the vehicle and while driving as well as the check engine light has come on and off for the last few weeks. Orginally mad an appointment but the dealer ship canclled it and then my car suddenly had reduced power the died in the middle of the road as I was driving on the road. Not a highway. Got it towed to the dealer and the say a vacum pump seized? now are saying there is metal in the engine amd they dont know why. Trying to get me to pay for cost. Have taken car of vehchile and done the required matinence. This should not be happening on a 2 year old car with on 32000 miles. Very concerned there is something defected with the car. As numerous vehicles have been recalled for similar issues to mine by GM.

- Forest Lake, MN, USA

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