Chevrolet Equinox
Problems & Worst Years

Few models in this dataset show a clearer arc than the Chevrolet Equinox: an oil-consumption era, a brake-assist era, and a fuel-delivery era, each with its own buying checklist. The worst single year is 2015, with 451 complaint occurrences and three safety-severity problems — led, surprisingly, by windshield wiper failure (105 reports at safety severity, plus another 49 filed against the wiper transmission), alongside timing chain failure (53), high oil consumption (51), and airbag malfunction (47).

The engine-wear theme actually starts earlier and runs later. The 2010 file (348 occurrences) opens with engine oil consumption (61), power loss (48), transmission failure to shift (43), and stalls tied to the fuel system (43); it is covered by recall 16V502. For 2016 (256 occurrences, recall 16V449), wiper motor failure again tops the chart at 100 reports, with severe oil consumption (54), stalls from low oil pressure (28), and engine failure from a rear main seal leak (14) behind it. The 2017 year spreads 207 occurrences across 29 problems, nearly all engine-related: rear main seal stalls (32), misfires (16), timing chain failure (15), and more oil consumption.

Then the complaints change character. On 2018 (169 occurrences), brake booster vacuum pump failure dominates at 92 reports — recall 18V576 applies to 2018 and 2019 — and the 2019 file repeats the brake vacuum theme at lower volume (107 total; recalls 18V576, 19V667, 20V668). For 2020 (177; recalls 19V667, 19V704) the leading issue becomes fuel pump failure (36), and 2022 (73 occurrences; recall 23V013) continues it with fuel pump driver control module failures (29). The 2025 file is small (95) but carries five safety-severity problems, mostly electronic: telematics module failures, battery drain causing power loss, and forward collision avoidance faults.

So: check oil consumption history hard on 2010–2017, brake assist behavior on 2018–2020, and fuel-system recall status on 2020–2022. These totals reflect what owners filed with NHTSA, not true failure rates — newer years have had less time to accumulate reports — and a pre-purchase inspection plus service records will always outrank the model year.