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Chevrolet · NHTSA safety record

2026 Chevrolet Equinox

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Owners have filed 71 safety complaints about the 2026 Chevrolet Equinox with the US government. Of those, 5 describe a crash, 1 mentions a fire, 5 people were injured and no death is recorded. One recall campaign is open against it, covering equipment.

The most complained-about system is forward collision avoidance, named in 19 complaints, 27% of the total. The typical failure was reported at 1,550 miles, the median across the 12 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers July 2025 to September 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

71 complaints on file

71

Complaints

5

Describe a crash

1

Mention fire

5

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 19 · 27%
SERVICE BRAKES 17 · 24%
POWER TRAIN 16 · 23%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 12 · 17%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 12 · 17%
ENGINE 7 · 10%
LANE DEPARTURE 7 · 10%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 5 · 7%
VISIBILITY/WIPER 4 · 6%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 3 · 4%
SEAT BELTS 3 · 4%
STEERING 3 · 4%
0 8 15

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 71.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 62.

68 51 34 17
25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2025 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA crashes a car into a barrier and a pole and measures what happens to the dummies inside. This is what it awarded the 2026 Chevrolet EQUINOX, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test SUV N/A AWD SUV N/A FWD
Overall Not rated Not rated
Frontal crash Not rated Not rated
Frontal, driver Not rated Not rated
Frontal, passenger Not rated Not rated
Side crash
Side barrier
Side pole
Rollover
Chance of rollover 17.4% 18.5%
Stability control standard Forward collision warning standard Lane departure warning standard

A rating belongs to a tested body style and drivetrain, not to the model as a whole, which is why more than one is listed. A dash means NHTSA did not rate that test for this vehicle.

Recall campaigns

1 on file

EQUIPMENT:OTHER:OWNERS/SERVICE/OTHER MANUAL

26V114000 · February 26, 2026

The defect
General Motors has decided that certain 2027 Chevrolet Bolt EV, 2025-2026 Cadillac OPTIQ, Chevrolet Colorado, Equinox EV, GMC Canyon, 2026 Buick Enclave, Envision, Cadillac CT5, Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade IQ, Escalade IQL, LYRIQ, VISTIQ, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Corvette Convertible, Corvette Coupe, Corvette Convertible E-Ray, Equinox, Silverado 1500, 2500, 3500, Silverado EV, Suburban 1500, Tahoe, Traverse, GMC Acadia, Hummer EV Pickup, Hummer EV SUV, Sierra 1500, 2500, 3500, Sierra EV, Terrain, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles. The radio may not have been set to the correct status to download the electronic owner's manual during production. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 208, “Occupant Protection.”
The risk
Without an owner's manual to consult, owners may not know how to safely use and operate the vehicle, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will reset the vehicle radio, which will facilitate automatic download of the electronic owner’s manual, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 16, 2026. Owners may contact GM customer service at 1-866-467-9700, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 or Cadillac customer service at 1-800-333-4223. The manufacturer's number for this recall is N252540430. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on February 26, 2026.

General Motors, LLC · up to 5,861 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING

1 injured · crash · towed

At approximately 5pm EST, my wife stopped the EV vehicle after backing out of the garage and put the vehicle in park. After exiting the driver's seat, she was outside the open driver's door, had both feet on the ground and cleared the door enough that she was preparing to close it, when the vehicle began moving with no one in the driver's seat. The vehicle traveled down our inclined driveway, across the street and striking my neighbor's house. A [XXX] neighboring child was in the vehicle's path. My wife believed the vehicle would strike the child and screamed for her to move. The child moved clear before the vehicle reached her, and no contact occurred. The vehicle stopped when it hit the

NHTSA complaint 11762083, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash

The contact rented a 2026 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 35 MPH, a deer ran in front of the vehicle, and the vehicle crashed into the deer. During the crash, the vehicle sustained severe damage to the passenger-side front end, but no air bags deployed. During the incident, the contact sustained a lower abdomen injury, but no medical treatment was sought at this time. The dear sustained fatal injuries. A police report was taken at the scene. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer was not contacted regarding the incident. The vehicle was later returned to the rental company. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA complaint 11720651. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN

1 injured · crash

On XXX, at approximately 5pm EST, my wife stopped our 2026 Chevrolet Equinox EV after backing out of the garage and put the vehicle in park. After exiting the driver's seat, she was outside the open driver's door, had both feet on the ground and cleared the door enough that she was preparing to close it, when the vehicle began moving with no one in the driver's seat. The vehicle traveled down our inclined driveway, continued onto neighboring property, and continued through grass. A [XXX] neighboring child was in the vehicle's path. My wife believed the vehicle would strike the child and screamed for her to move. The child moved clear before the vehicle reached her, and no contact occurred.

NHTSA complaint 11761249, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

1 injured

Car info – 2026 Chevrolet Equinox Purchased 9/25/25 Stock# [XXX] VIN: [XXX] Type: LT 4dr All-Wheel Drive On 1/8/26, I took my 2026 Equinox to Northpointe Chevrolet because I had a warning light that came on every time I started my car. The warning light states, ‘Service Driver Assist System’. The alert had been coming on for about a month but I had to cancel my previous two appointments due to bad weather. I explained to the man in service that I would like the automatic braking feature deactivated on my car as well as the alert light corrected. I told him that I was coming up to a red light and I was slowing down when my car automatically slammed on the brakes and gave me whiplash. The man

NHTSA complaint 11709910, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
I have owned my Chevy since 6/30/25 when I bought it new. Since then, the blind spot warning system has activated many times when there hasn’t been anything there or remotely nearby. It’s like a ghost. It’s usually the driver’s side mirror that gets activated. I have cleaned the sensors too and it still occurs, making me think I’m going to get hit, or hit a person, pedestrian etc. i have read of other owners on social media experiencing same issue & thought I should report it.

NHTSA complaint 11765451. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES

1 injured

While pulling forward out of a parking lot at a low speed, the vehicle's Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system suddenly and aggressively engaged without warning. There were no vehicles, pedestrians, or obstacles whatsoever in the vehicle's path. The deceleration was extremely severe and violent, mimicking the sensation of hitting a brick wall. This unprompted, false-positive system activation subjected my body to intense, sudden forces, resulting in a painful back injury that requires medical attention. The system completely failed to accurately evaluate the path of travel, creating an immediate and unexpected hazard to my physical safety and that of anyone following behind me.

NHTSA complaint 11764675. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
Breaks failed almost crashed on a highway

NHTSA complaint 11762656. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER
When you accelerate from a stop, the car wobbles and shimmy’s until you reach about 15mph and then it stops and drives normally.

NHTSA complaint 11762353. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
I am driving a rental Chevrolet Equinox with the steering-column-mounted electronic gear selector. I believe this shifter design creates a serious safety hazard. The gear selector is a stalk on the steering column positioned and operated similarly to controls commonly used for windshield wipers in other vehicles. While driving, pulling back on this stalk can immediately shift the transmission into Neutral, even at highway speeds. My wife and I have unintentionally shifted this vehicle into Neutral approximately a dozen times because of this control arrangement. Once the vehicle is in Neutral while moving, we have been unable to shift it back into Drive until coming to a complete stop. This

NHTSA complaint 11762382, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Chevrolet Equinox

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2025 228 0 —
2024 79 1 —
2023 95 3 —
2022 177 5 —
2021 96 4 —
2020 309 4 1
2019 302 4 —
2018 408 5 1
2017 273 0 —
2016 396 1 —
2015 680 2 —
2014 548 1 —
2013 751 2 —
2012 685 3 —
2011 782 3 2
2010 784 3 —

Other 2026 Chevrolet models

Silverado 1500 103 Tahoe 26 Traverse 24 Suburban 1500 15 Colorado 14 Equinox EV 11 Trailblazer 9 Silverado 2500 8

Complaints on file, same model year.

Every Chevrolet on this site — 304 vehicles.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst