Owner-reported complaints naming the driver-assistance system, filed with NHTSA
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Reports naming forward-collision avoidance, lane keeping, back-over prevention, cruise control and related electronic driver-assistance systems. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 45 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
The 25 most recent of 45, in the owner's own words
I have had multiple times where my car kicks in the automatic emergency brake because it things I’m about to hit something. All those instances that it has happened, I was not about to hit something and the car short stops and stops in the middle of the street which is so dangerous because then I quickly have to start my car so that someone doesn’t crash into me since I’m stopped in middle of the road
Phantom automatic emergency rear breaking
Vehicle slammed on brakes on highway with no obstruction in front. Emergency system reacts to shadows
On numerous occasions, the multiple automatic collision braking systems have engaged in what I would describe as phantom breaking. For me personally, the automatic breaking has on multiple occasions caused a serious crash, both while backing out of parking, at intersections and most recently on Interstate 880. The AEB system engaged and slammed the breaks while changing a lane in traffic and the car came to a complete standstill. Two cars almost crashed into me. I feel less safe with AEB engaged than I feel without it and I this incident was the final straw. I will be disabling AEB. The system is severely flawed and will be the cause for serious accidents.
I was driving in heavy traffic. It was a traffic jam. The driver in front of me was stop and go. I was keeping a good distance as we were moving along. Suddenly the engine braked so violently I was thrown off my seat and the seatbelt had to catch me. Inadvertently my hand must have hit the the shifting toggle. The car was then in reverse. I was unaware and shocked, so I went to get out of the brake and then started to reverse for it to then brake on me again in reverse, only slower this time. I contact gm, they put me to a dealer, that treated this like it was routine maintenance and had no urgency. They offered me a rental program, but I had to process a lot of paperwork, I asked for another someone just to take care of it, and they just sent me phone numbers. They never advised me not to drive the car.
The contact owns a 2025 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that the battery failed to continue charging while driving or while parked. Additionally, the door opened independently, the Automatic Emergency Braking system (AEB) failed, and while the brake pedal was depressed, there was a delay before the vehicle stopped. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was not available.
Front automatic emergency braking has activated abruptly three times in routine following traffic while I was already braking behind a slowing vehicle. It caused a very hard stop and nearly led to a rear-end collision from the vehicle behind me. Please inspect the forward camera/sensors, calibration, AEB settings, and check for any related fault codes or software issues.” This happened on 3/18 while I was getting ready to go onto the freeway and the cars in front of me slowed down I applied the brakes to slow down and the ABS brakes abruptly and strongly I was almost rear ended. There was another passenger that felt the same thing and commented on what happened.
Vehicle will randomly apply brakes detecting something with the automatic brake system that is not there. I was driving at 30 mph with nothing in front of me and the vehicle applied full brakes and beeped. Also at a light I went to take off as the first car and it immediately applied brakes when trying to accelerate on green. My 5 y/o in the back had her head slammed forward and was crying because of the force from accelerating/decelerating. It’s happened 5 or 6 times since January purchase
The vehicle will hard brake on its own while going down the freeway, no blockage of the camera or vehicle in front when it happen
While driving on the highway during morning rush hour the automatic braking fully engaged during slow traffic almost causing me to be rear-ended. The braking engaged after a split second collision warning after a car had merged in front of me. I was already slowing down via one pedal driving and about to begin applying my brakes when this occurred and there was plenty of space before any type of collision. I was going roughly 5-10 mpg when this occurred having slowed down to allow the car to merge. Afterwards it took a few seconds for the car to allow me to re-engage the gas to start moving again. This type of phantom braking has occurred in other instances in my driveway and in store parking lots but this is the first time it's put me at risk. It is available for inspection as needed. This has not been examined or reproduced by the dealer on my vehicle or inspected.
I was waiting behind 2 cars at a red light to turn left. Once the light turned green, I slowly started to accelerate and turn, the car then came to an immediate stop in the middle of the intersection. The HUD indicated the front automatic braking was enabled. Luckily there was no one behind me so I wasn’t rear ended. This was at night time. This was a completely empty intersection besides the 2 in front of me.
Driving several times in normal city conditions, the car activated the automatic emergency brakes stopping the vehicle in the middle of the street and in danger of being rear ended. There was no reason for the brakes to activate - we were driving below the speed limit in city streets
The emergency braking system is not engaging appropriately and when activated it stutters to a stop and does not come to an immediate stop. When in emergency situations the braking system detect objects that are not present causing it to come to a stuttering stop and causing a hazard and accident.
The automated emergency braking system triggered when nothing was in front of the car. It suddenly stopped the vehicle for no reason and it almost caused an accident.
On 10/26/25 at approximately 3:40pm while on a freeway (traveling approximately 65mph) with no traffic or cars in close proximity for the automatic brakes to be engaged, the 2025 ev equinox slammed its brakes on its own without driver braking. This caused whiplash to be experienced by two of the three passengers and it felt like we were rear ended but no cars were around. This is very dangerous. Had there been car behind me this would have caused serious accident.
Yesterday the car was moving forward at 2-3 mph, when the brakes suddenly engaged without warning, bringing the car to a sudden stop, violently enough that I thought I had been in a collision. However, there were no cars behind me, and the car in front was about 20 feet away, also moving forward slowly. No pedestrians were in view. A light mist was falling, but otherwise the weather and visibility were fine. If there had been a car close behind me, or if this had happened on a highway, a serious accident could have resulted. A quick internet search shows that this problem has been reported by other Equinox owners, and the only apparent fix is to disengage the automatic braking system. This is a safety issue (both the unexpected braking problem itself and the unsafe fix of disengaging a major anti collision feature), and warrants a recall.
I have driven the vehicle 13,000 miles without incident. However, twice this week, once moving forward and once backward, the emergency parking brake engaged without warning, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt stop. In both cases it was daylight, clear weather, with no visual indication of an obstacle in the vehicle's path. In response I have turned off its automatic braking/collision avoidance features and will see if that solves the problem. What is concerning, however, is that this did not occur for 13,000 miles, and then abruptly started.
On star Telematics is not working the issue is effecting GPS and most importantly the adaptive driving system including cruise control system. I have stopped using these services to due an intermittent failure while driving. The adaptive cruise will disengage itself. Also the collision avoidance system will initiate braking randomly. I was told that the replacement parts are not available and or “extremely long wait time”. I’m not comfortable driving this vehicle and have no options but to continue until the lease is up.
Driving down rural highway (Interstate 43 in northern Walworth County, WI, divided access restricted freeway) the car panic braked with no car or obstacle in front of it. No warning sign, no error message, called Onstar and they reported no faults, took to Chevrolet dealership and they reported no issue. Car also has had phantom alerts from the forward collision warning system.
Phantom braking at high speeds when there is no reason to stop. Had happened at lower speeds too and around turns.
Automatic emergency braking engaged when there was no risk of a collision. I was in a roundabout (traffic circle) when the brakes suddenly engaged, nearly stopping my car. There was a car yielding to roundabout traffic ahead of me (waiting for me to clear before entering the roundabout). I was nearly rear ended by another car due to the sudden braking. I then disabled the automatic emergency braking feature to avoid similar “phantom” collision detections.
Car randomly brakes hard when traveling at highway speeds with adaptive cruise control active. Happens about once a day.
I was pulling into the parking lot of my job. The one pedal driving mode was on, and my vehicle was not slowing down like it generally does. So, I immediately stepped on the brake, and it still didn't slow down, it felt like a brick, I stepped on it harder. It still did not stop! I ran into the barn/building I work in. I was terrified!! What if there was a person there, or another car, or kids playing, etc. I immediately called the Chevy Dealership in Woodland at 8am, they had me tow the 2025 Equinox to them. I just talked to them at 4:30pm. They said there were no messages with regard to the braking system. They said they would install the update, and would continue to diagnose the problem. I do not feel safe in this vehicle, it poses a significant risk as a driver!
Phantom braking at speed: I have experienced more than one alarming instances of "phantom braking at speed" where the vehicle unexpectedly brakes, all wheels locked, and violently skids on the pavement. This is a very alarming occurrence to driver and passengers as well as to drivers of other nearby vehicles. Specifically, this first occurred without warning on [XXX] on [XXX], traveling at 30 mph. The wheels then unlocked spontaneously after 2 to 4 seconds. This is potentially a significant and intolerable life-safety issue. When a car suddenly and unexpectedly slams on its brakes, it can create a dangerous situation for both the driver and passengers and others on the road. This could lead to a rear-end collision if the driver behind my Equinox vehicle does not have enough time to react; this may also result in Driver panic and overcorrection: The startling nature of the Phantom Braking can cause the driver to potentially swerve into another lane or oncoming traffic. The Phantom Braking again occurred on the afternoon of [XXX] on [XXX] in SLO while driving at 40 mph past [XXX]. Loss of confidence: Repeated incidents of phantom braking have eroded this driver's trust in the vehicle's safety features, which could lead to ignoring legitimate warnings in the future. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
OnStar module has failed and malfunctioned. Vehicle is available for inspection. Vehicle now sates it needs an important safety update from GM, but vehicle will not update. Vehicle has not been to a dealership at this time, because I can not get a dealership to give me an estimate for repairs, not will they provide a loaner. But the error code has been verified in writing by OnStar- yet they refuse to just send a new module to preferred dealer so I can get it repaired. Absolutely no warnings on vehicle. Forward emergency braking system engaged when not needed and almost put myself and my grandkids through the windshield. (even though we were all properly restrained) I have since had to disengage this feature because it has now happened 2 times. There are thousands of persons with these same issues as can be found on the OnStar community or Chevrolet Forums.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
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