2016 Chevrolet Equinox recalls and problems

The 2016 Chevrolet Equinox has 1 recall and 400 owner complaints on file with NHTSA; the most reported problem area is engine.

2016 Chevrolet Equinox
Photo: 2016 Chevrolet Equinox by Yahya S. from Livonia, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
How the 2016 compares
Fewest complaintsMost complaints

Average complaint count among 23 Equinox model years — 11th most.

1recalls
400complaints
14crashes
3fires
22injuries
65,000median miles

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA, not verified and not adjusted for sales. Ranking compares this model's own years only.

Does your car have an open recall?
Recalls apply to specific vehicles. Only a VIN lookup on NHTSA's official site shows whether yours is affected and still unrepaired.
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1 recall

Equipment

Jun 21, 2016 · NHTSA campaign 16V449000 · 17 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2016 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain vehicles manufactured October 16, 2015. The certification labels may have incorrect tire/rim size and cold tire pressure information. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."

Risk: If the information on the certification labels is incorrect, the operator may install incorrectly sized tires or rims or may improperly inflate the tires, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy & notes

GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the certification label, free of charge. The recall began on July 14, 2016. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1050, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 46600.

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Recall text as published by NHTSA and the manufacturer.

What owners complain about

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA; one complaint can name several areas. Not verified by NHTSA.

Complaints by year filed

2015: 1 complaints20152016: 14 complaints20162017: 14 complaints20172018: 17 complaints20182019: 38 complaints20192020: 43 complaints20202021: 30 complaints20212022: 53 complaints20222023: 74 complaints2023742024: 54 complaints20242025: 43 complaints20252026: 19 complaints202619

NHTSA investigations

Front Wiper Transmission Inoperative

EA19005 · opened Dec 13, 2019 · closed Nov 28, 2022 · led to recall 22V165000
Summary

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 whether conditions, while the vehicle was in motion.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 intruding into the windshield wiper assembly ball joints, leading to excessive wear and eventual detachment of the affected ball joint resulting in loss of windshield wiper function. ODI?s review focused on 2010-2012 and 2014-2016 Equinox and Terrain vehicles. Owners were reporting a high rate of failures of the windshield wiper system. These failures were the same as that addressed by recall 16V-582. ODI's review of data supplied by GM as well as its own confirmed a high failure rate in model years 2014 and 2015. On March 17, 2022, GM filed a defect information report recalling all MY2014-2015 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain vehicles to remedy the potential failure of the front windshield wiper transmission assembly.General Motors is also conducting a special coverage pro…

Windshield Wiper Transmission Failure

RQ18002 · opened Nov 2, 2018 · closed Dec 19, 2019
Summary

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 detachment of the affected ball joint with an attendant loss of windshield wiper function. The recall remedy addressed these conditions with the installation of an improved windshield wiper motor/transmission assembly and the relocation of a drain hole on the Air Inlet Panel at the base of the windshield.RQ18-002 was opened to assess windshield wiper failure rates in the MY 2010-2012 and MY 2014 - 2016 Equinox and Terrain (subject vehicles).During the course of the investigation, ODI received additional consumer complaint traffic bringing its total to 602 concerning the alleged defect in the subject vehicles. In their December 20, 2018 response to ODI's Information Request (IR) Letter, GM reported 1,303 complaints related to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles. Together, these bodies of data correspond to 1,905 unique Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN).GM stated the recalled vehicles exhibited double the warranty rate and five times the complaint rate of the subject vehicles and that continuing complaint traffic concerning the all…

2016 vs. other Chevrolet Equinox years

Owner complaints by model year; the darker bar is the 2016. Click a bar to switch year.

Questions

Does the 2016 Chevrolet Equinox have recalls?

Yes — NHTSA lists 1 recall campaign covering the 2016 Chevrolet Equinox, the latest from Jun 21, 2016 (equipment). A recall applies to specific vehicles: enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see whether yours is affected and still open.

What are the most common problems with the 2016 Chevrolet Equinox?

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA most often mention engine (211), visibility (120), unknown or other (32). Complaints are consumer reports and are not verified by NHTSA.