AutoUtility currently tracks 679 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2015 Chevrolet Equinox. Visibility, Wipers & Glass issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 278 complaints (40.9% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 24 filings cite a crash, 6 cite a fire, 13 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 679 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Visibility, Wipers & Glass (278 reports • 40.9% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Engine & Cooling (209), Powertrain & Transmission (63)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 24 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 6 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 13 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
679
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
24
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
6
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
13
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2015 Chevrolet Equinox

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 40.9% of complaints

Visibility, Wipers & Glass

278 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 1 crash report 🔥 1 fire report
#2 Problem Area 30.8% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

209 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🔥 4 fire reports 🩹 1 injury report entry
#3 Problem Area 9.3% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

63 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 4 crash reports
#4 Problem Area 6.6% of complaints

Electrical System

45 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report
#5 Problem Area 5.6% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

38 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 17 crash reports 🩹 17 injury report entries
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2015 Chevrolet Equinox

Specific mechanical, electrical, and driver-assist defect symptoms identified via deterministic narrative analysis

AutoUtility uses deterministic phrase matching to identify recurring symptom descriptions within consumer-submitted NHTSA complaint narratives.

Engine & Cooling 4.9% of complaints

Engine Coolant Intrusion / Oil Leak

33 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Powertrain & Transmission 2.2% of complaints

Loss of Motive Power While Driving

15 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Symptom Identification Method: A complaint may describe more than one symptom, so percentages may sum to more than 100%. Symptom identification reflects text contained in consumer-submitted complaint records and does not establish a confirmed mechanical diagnosis.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2015 Chevrolet Equinox

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA ODI ID: #11754559
Filed: 08/03/2026

"1. High Pressure Fuel Pump, and yes. 2. Car will stall out unless I put it into neutral, shakes on shut down and sometimes starts scary fast. With the car caring my children in a busy town this is a HUGE safety hazard 3. No, but has been inspected by multiple mechanics. Got a tune up in May of 2026..."

Incident Date: 04/04/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11741594
Filed: 06/02/2026

"Front turn indicator lights have gone out. Unfortunately, due to Chevy's vehicle design, the bulbs can only be replaced by pulling the bumper off in total and replacing bulbs. Then, putting entire bumper system back. This information was given to me by Chevrolet of Issaquah AND confirmed by Bonita..."

Incident Date: 01/01/2019 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11738827
Filed: 05/19/2026

"Rear main seal has blown three times since I purchased my vehicle from Carvana. I’ve pulled the engine out myself as I cannot afford another $3,500 at the shop. I’m a single income household that makes too much for financial assistance. The Chevy Equinox was the only vehicle in our price range...."

Incident Date: 05/18/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11734409
Filed: 04/28/2026

"The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle started shaking abnormally before unintendedly decelerating. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with excessive oil consumption; however, the vehicle was not..."

Incident Date: 02/25/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11730208
Filed: 04/09/2026

"Burns Oil so bad I don't need to change oil. I put about a quart of oil in it a week. Car runs rough. Sometimes overheating and sounds loud when low on oil. This occurs on a consistent regular basis since aquiring in October 2024"

Incident Date: 11/01/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Chevrolet Equinox

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Chevrolet Equinox Current Page 679 24 2 Current
2016 Chevrolet Equinox 395 14 1 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Chevrolet Equinox 271 18 0 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Chevrolet Equinox 400 22 5 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Chevrolet Equinox 298 21 4 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Chevrolet Equinox 302 20 4 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Chevrolet Equinox 91 5 4 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Chevrolet Equinox 162 13 5 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Chevrolet Equinox 94 4 3 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Chevrolet Equinox 72 5 1 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Chevrolet Equinox 215 8 0 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Chevrolet Equinox 0 0 1 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2015 Chevrolet Equinox

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 86 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 235 1 1 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 153 0 3 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 37 1 0 1 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 28 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 27 11 0 10 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 24 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 16 0 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 15 2 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 10 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 7 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 6 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 5 1 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 5 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 5 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER 4 0 0 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 4 0 1 0 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 4 1 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VISIBILITY/WIPER 3 0 0 0 0
Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS 3 0 0 1 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 3 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 3 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,STRUCTURE 2 2 0 5 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Fuel System NHTSA category: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 2 0 0 0 0
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN 2 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 1 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 1 1 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,STRUCTURE,ENGINE 1 1 0 1 0
AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 1 0 0 0
Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,WHEELS,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 1 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
SEATS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,AIR BAGS 1 1 0 0 0
STEERING,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,WHEELS,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 1 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,EQUIPMENT 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
VISIBILITY,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
WHEELS,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (679). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (2)

2 CLOSED

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
CLOSED Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA19005
Opened: 2019-12-13 • Closed: 2022-11-28

Front Wiper Transmission Inoperative

Affected Component: VISIBILITY

On December 13, 2019, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) upgraded RQ18-002 to an Engineering Analysis (EA19-005) to further assess the MY2010-2016 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain windshield wiper failures. Due to a prior recall, 16V-582, addressing this issue in the MY2013 subject vehicles, MY2013 was not included in the analysis. To date, ODI had received 998 complaints with allegations of the front windshield wiper failing in adverse w...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 22V165000 Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Recall Query (RQ) ODI Action #RQ18002
Opened: 2018-11-02 • Closed: 2019-12-19

Windshield Wiper Transmission Failure

Affected Component: VISIBILITY

On November 2, 2018, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Recall Query (RQ18-002) to assess the scope of Recall 16V-582.General Motors (GM) initiated Safety Recall 16V-582 on August 3, 2016 to address windshield wiper failure in the Model Year (MY) 2013 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain. Failures were attributed to water and debris intrusion into the windshield wiper assembly ball joints, leading to excessive wear and eventual detac...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.