AutoUtility currently tracks 395 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Chevrolet Equinox. Engine & Cooling issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 191 complaints (48.4% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 14 filings cite a crash, 3 cite a fire, 14 report one or more injuries.
- • Total NHTSA Complaints: 395 reports
- • #1 Reported Problem Area: Engine & Cooling (191 reports • 48.4% of submitted complaints)
- • Secondary Problem Areas: Visibility, Wipers & Glass (119), Powertrain & Transmission (26)
- • Crash-Citing Complaints: 14 filings
- • Fire-Citing Complaints: 3 filings
- • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 14 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Most Reported Problems for 2016 Chevrolet Equinox
Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records
Engine & Cooling
Visibility, Wipers & Glass
Powertrain & Transmission
Electrical System
Fuel & Propulsion System
Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 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 Coolant Intrusion / Oil Leak
Loss of Motive Power While Driving
Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Chevrolet Equinox
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"In February of 2025, while driving my 2016 Chevy Equinox home from work, I heard a loud pop and loss of engine power a block from home. The weather conditions at the time were below freezing and light snow. After getting my vehicle home, my neighbor, who works for GM looked under my Equinox and..."
"Wipers stopped working while driving in the rain"
"Wipers stopped working in the pouring down rain. Couldn’t see anything"
": "I live in my car. The 2016 Equinox 2.4L burned all its oil in 2 weeks with no leaks, failed to give a dashboard warning, and the engine is now knocking, threatening to leave me unsheltered." This ties my vehicle's specific failure to the federal database for future legal payouts."
"right front wheel assembly is bad."
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 | 679 | 24 | 2 | View 2015 Problems → |
| 2016 Chevrolet Equinox Current Page | 395 | 14 | 1 | Current |
| 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 → |
Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2016 Chevrolet Equinox
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 56 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications
| Vehicle Component / System | Total Complaints | Crash Reports | Fire Reports | Reported Injury Entries | Reported Fatality Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE | 137 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER | 104 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | 11 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS | 9 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| ENGINE,VISIBILITY/WIPER | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Steering NHTSA category: STEERING | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AIR BAGS,ENGINE | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SEATS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ENGINE,LANE DEPARTURE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,STRUCTURE,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STRUCTURE,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STRUCTURE,VISIBILITY/WIPER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SUSPENSION,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SUSPENSION,STRUCTURE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tires NHTSA category: TIRES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WHEELS,ENGINE,VISIBILITY/WIPER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WHEELS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (2)
Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)
Front Wiper Transmission Inoperative
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...
Windshield Wiper Transmission Failure
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...
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.