Automatic Emergency Braking Problems of Chevrolet Equinox - part 1

My wife was driving home after picking up my daughter from a nearby school around 3:30pm on Thursday 1/22/2026. She was driving down a road maybe at 35mph and while her foot was on the accelerator the car did a hard brake though there's nothing in front of her nor is the adaptive cruise on. She didn't hit any button and was taken by surprise along with my daughter. Luckily the car behind her was far away and didn't hit them. We haven't yet informed the dealer. This has happened before and the car has about 3900 miles on it.

The brake system, specifically the master brake cylinder and/or associated brake system components, failed or malfunctioned. The defect results in a sudden loss of braking performance without warning. Yes, the vehicle is available for inspection upon request. It has remained in the continuous possession of the authorized Chevrolet dealership since January 13, 2026, and has not been returned to service. The defect involves the primary braking system, which is a critical safety component. Sudden and unexpected loss of braking ability significantly increases the risk of a collision, serious injury, or death to the driver, passengers, pedestrians, and other motorists. The vehicle was deemed unsafe to operate due to the risk of brake failure. The problem has been confirmed by the authorized Chevrolet dealership. The service department diagnosed the issue as a defective master brake cylinder and/or related brake system components. The dealer advised that the condition presents a safety risk and that the vehicle cannot be safely operated until the issue is addressed. The vehicle has been inspected by an authorized Chevrolet dealership acting as the manufacturer’s representative. The manufacturer has been made aware of the problem. No inspection by police or an insurance representative has occurred, as no crash took place. The vehicle remains unrepaired as of February 9 due to parts unavailability. There was no adequate warning that would have allowed the driver to anticipate the loss of braking performance. The defect results in sudden brake failure without sufficient advance warning, which is a significant safety concern. The issue was identified in January 2026, at which time the vehicle was taken to the dealership. On January 13, 2026, the vehicle was removed from service and has remained at the dealership continuously since that date. The vehicle remains out of service because the master brake cylinder is on backorder. There is no eta, and as a result, no repairs.

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.

See all problems of the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox 🔎.

The Equinox is detecting objects in the rear camera that are not there and automatically applying the automatic emergency breaking. This is causing the car to completely stop and has now caused me to injury my back due to the force of the stop. There is no warning given that the breaks are being applied. I was backing up at 7 miles an hour and the Equinox just stopped dead and there was absolutely nothing near the car. The car was in for an oil change and they said nothing was wrong with it. This latest incident of 4 now happened today and caused me to almost be hit in the parking lot of my child’s school while backing into a parking spot.

I was traveling about 45mph and the SUV emergency brake system activated, it scared me and my passengers, the guy behind me was even more scared. I had the front seat passenger immediately deactivate the emergency braking system.

I placed my foot on the brake to start my vehicle and when I pushed the start button my brake pedal went to the floor and warning came up stating brake failure ect. I contacted the dealership and was told to drive it to them so the could put it on the scope and tell me if it is safe to drive. I did and then was told it was a master brake cylinder failure and not safe to drive. In researching this is a know failure by gm service notice n252494220.

Car info – 2026 Chevrolet Equinox purchased 9/25/25 stock# [xxx] VIN: [xxx] type: lt 4dr all-wheel drive on 1/8/26, I took my 2026 Equinox to northpointe Chevrolet because I had a warning light that came on every time I started my car. The warning light states, ‘service driver assist system’. The alert had been coming on for about a month but I had to cancel my previous two appointments due to bad weather. I explained to the man in service that I would like the automatic braking feature deactivated on my car as well as the alert light corrected. I told him that I was coming up to a red light and I was slowing down when my car automatically slammed on the brakes and gave me whiplash. The man in the service department asked me if I lived on a back road. I told him that I did and he told me that is why I am having this issue. He stated that the dirt and mud caused the wires on the sensor under the front bumper to corrode. He stated that the sensor was supposed to be waterproof/weatherproof but they are not. He showed me where the sensor was on my vehicle. He also stated that the automatic braking was not something that they could turn off because it was a safety feature. He also told me that the broken sensor causes the automatic braking system to operate. I am now afraid every time the red light comes on in my car that the brakes are going to slam on again so I slow way down. My neck has not fully healed from the first time. What would happen if I am driving down the interstate going much faster that I was the last time they automatically stopped the car suddenly. He then explained that the issue was not covered under my bumper-to-bumper warranty because the dirt caused the issue – apparently the waterproof sensor box had no bearing??? I have only made 2 payments so far on this brand-new car. I was charged $87. 34 for the diagnostic check and I will be charged another $558. 25 when the part comes in to repair my sensor. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5.

Forward collision system dint notify of an object infront , also breaks locked up when used . Air bags didn’t go off while a forward collision with a bus happened.

See all problems of the 2020 Chevrolet Equinox 🔎.

While driving today at about 21 mph, when a warning came on that my car had brake assist failure. It said the speed would be limited and to break hard to enable the car to stop. . I was able to get to a parking lot safely, but my car did not break at the stoplight and went straight through. Luckily there was no one coming. . My car is at the dealership now and they are finding no issue and nothing showed up on my chevy app. From the articles I have read it said this issue is something that happens on cars that do not have super drive. I drive a 2005 chevy Equinox rs with super dr. So clearly the brake problem is happening on this vehicle as well. . It took all my strength to get the vehicle to stop. . I called onstar and was going to have it towed and turned the car off. Once the car came back on all of the warning lights were gone, and then the car drove fine. . I got lucky today, but this is an issue that still needs to be addressed. . The issue was supposed to be taken care of in 2024. I just purchased my 2005 in September and I have 3100 miles on the car. . I was driving in a rural area with many hills and was scared to death. I had to keep my foot all the way on the brakes the entire time to keep myself at a slow speed. .

Onstar module malfunctioned, has been diagnosed and awaits identification of specific type of module to determine if one is available or if it is one that will be on back order. The safety of myself and my family was put at risk, along with others, when vehicle braking system randomly activated and slammed on the brakes despite clear highways all around, almost causing us to be rear-ended more than once. This has happened prior to 12/01 several times randomly but we assumed the sensor was sensitive and was picking up something we couldn't see, however this was not the case in this situation. The battery keeps going dead and needing jumped and there are numerous warning messages/lamps. Dealer service department confirmed onstar module failure and need for replacement, has not yet reproduced braking issues. Vehicle is currently at dealership service department for inspection and was deemed unsafe to drive at this time. Dealer stated they had no loaner vehicles to supply and instructed us gm would reimburse up to $45 daily for rental at enterprise, so a rental vehicle was obtained and placed on waiting list at two different dealerships for loaner vehicle. Wifi and navigation system originally quit working, then car battery started dying and requires being jumped multiple times if not driven within 8 hours, received alerts off and on of "lane change alert system off", "service parking break", "adaptive cruise control temp unavailable", "service power steering", "service electronic stability control", "service transmission now, unable to shift soon", and cruise control/lane assist etc quit working. We became stranded in another town and had to purchase a portable jumper. Dealer currently has no anticipated repair date.

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.

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.

Phantom braking at high speeds when there is no reason to stop. Had happened at lower speeds too and around turns.

Vehicle engages the forward collision control system without an obstacle, locking the brakes and causing abrupt stops. This usually happens in heavy slow moving traffic conditions with sharp and short accelerations (merging and lane changing).

See all problems of the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox 🔎.

Vehicle was being parked in garage when it accelerated in reverse, on it's own, very quickly. Fortunately I was able to avoid colliding with any thing behind me by braking in time. I then shifted into drive when vehicle accelerated forward, on it's own again, very quickly. I was not able to brake before vehicle crashed into concrete garage wall, severely damaging front end. Vehicle is still under warranty, and I intend to have dealership haul it in for repairs. I have found other drivers complain on the internet of experiencing the exact same issue as I described above. This model, Chevrolet, Equinox, 2025 is not safe to drive!.

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.

On Sunday September 7th 2025. I was driving 40 miles an hour. And all of a sudden my electronic braking system engaged and locked up. Big jolt and came to stop. Luckily I was not on the highway and also luckily I did not get rear-ended as well.

See all problems of the 2022 Chevrolet Equinox 🔎.

This has happened about 4 times in 4 months. In each scenario I am driving very slowly (3 times forwards, one time in reverse) with no obvious obstacle or crash potential. The brakes will slam suddenly very aggressively, I assume it is the e-brakes as it feels like I hit a wall. It is a safety issue as if someone was behind me it could cause an accident. This is discussed on multiple message boards(e. G. Hard braking without warning! | chevy Equinox ev forum https://share. Google/eugsd4xpqzopnluwy) but the manufacturer is not acknowledging any issue when contacted. I called the dealer as well and they were not aware of any issues. I have not had the vehicle inspected.

Automatic emergency braking sometimes triggers when backing up in the rain when no hazard is present. Has occurred several times since purchase. Occurred today 8/13/2025 for perhaps the fifth or sixth time since ownership.

Braking failure on 2025 Equinox ev lt model - my car has had two separate brake failures going down a steep dry rocky road in clear weather, once with one pedal driving on and once without, on July 21st, 2025 and August 11th, 2025 respectively. It doesn't happen every time going down this road and each time at no more than 5 - 10 miles per hour, with the brake pedal to the floor the car was not slowing down and the weight of the car on the steep track made it speed up considerably which made it dangerous due to the steepness of the hill and turns in the road. The first time I drove off the road onto flat grass and the car came to a stop, the last time it happened I pumped the brakes until the car stopped and the "abs engaged" light came on the dashboard above the steering wheel. It happened twice on the road that time. There were no prior alerts or warning lights. The car has 5000 miles and is still under warranty, the chevy dealership had the car for 3 days. The dealership was not able to reproduce or confirm the problem with the brakes. The dealership told me they did a series of resets. They have not given me the written service report yet. I have an appointment to take the car back to the dealer. The brake fluid level is good, there are no current alerts on the dashboard while driving. The car is available for inspection upon request. I am concerned that my wife and I may be injured or killed in a braking failure or that we may injure or kill others or damage property.

My car won’t stay started as if the gas is not going through the engine. I was told it might be the fuel control module or fuel pump.

The vehicle will randomly brake on its own. I can be doing 70 on the interstate with no one around and it will disengage cruise and brake hard. It has nearly caused one accident when I had someone following me too closely.

Our car has just around 77,000 miles and the brakes stopped working while driving. To our luck my husband quickly thought to use the e brake to prevent a car crash. We took it into our mechanic who diagnosed a brake pump failure. It looks as though the 2020 Equinox has recalls for brake issues but our VIN number was not listed. This is very dangerous and could have caused a deadly or serious injury crash. We had no prior warning to this happening. The shop owner is fixing the issue and we are holding onto receipts if this becomes a recall available on our vehicle. Very unsafe and according to my research has happened to alot of gm owners.

Equinox ev multiple charging errors replaced 3x’s phantom automatic braking transmission error. Getting stuck in reverse while trying to move forward.

Abs and breaks exploded at 67k miles and at 78k miles car shut off in middle of the street with no warning. Electric issues confirmed by mechanic.

Inappropriately activates forward emergency braking without a vehicle ahead or obstruction ahead. Inappropriately activates reverse emergency braking without a vehicle or obstruction behind. Inappropriately activating forward collision alert without vehicle or obstruction ahead. Gauge cluster display goes black while vehicle is in motion. Hypersensitivity of the left blind spot monitor. Activates without a vehicle or obstruction within the blind spot area. Causes distracting strobing during dark hours. Dealership claims to be unable to reproduce any of these issues. Claims there is no software update available to address these specific concerns nor is there a software update available in general for the vehicle. The unexpected emergency braking has left me stuck in the middle of a normally busy intersection as well as blocking another two lane road when my gauge cluster also turned off with a emergency braking incident and I could not change gears and did not know the parking brake engaged as well due to the display being off as well.

My wife started noticing issues with our 2019 Equinox. We got several error mesaages: service brakes, service sylteering, enigine light and abs. I did some digging online and found similar issues with other Equinox owners. The fix is to replace the battery. We did and after leaving the shop the car won't move. It will go into differnt gears but wont move and is currently at home in our driveway.

See all problems of the 2019 Chevrolet Equinox 🔎.

On 3 separate occasions now, my vehicle has slammed on the brakes abruptly when there were no other cars around me in close proximity. The sensors vibrated the driver seat each time right before slamming brakes on, even though no other cars were even close to me. The sensors often go off when they shouldn’t be. The first time this happened, there were no cars ahead of me or beside me on the highway but there was one car behind me about 50 feet I’d say. Thankfully he was paying attention or he would have rear ended me. The 2nd time my husband was getting off an exit ramp so he was only going about 25mph and the car slammed the brakes on. There were no cars ahead of him or behind him. The 3rd time I was pulling out of a plaza entering a stop light and when I saw no cars coming, I started to pull out and it slammed on the brakes. There was a car behind me, but none beside me, and since I was turning left to approach the stop light, there were a few cars in each lane but they were about 20 feet away from me. None of these incidents should have activated the emergency braking. It has to be faulty sensors as they go off often when they shouldn’t. My husband and I both felt like we had bruised ribs and we thank god that nobody hit us, but at some point, we won’t be so lucky! and I am forced to drive this death trap because it’s not showing any codes for the dealership and I still have to pay on my loan to drive an unsafe car!.

I have 149,000 miles in this car. In my lifetime of being the one owner and purchasing this car brand new the vacuum pump has failed five times. Twice now resulting in blown engines. And still no recalls.

Driver side mirror sets itself to non useable position even when auto mirror option is not turned on. Everytime I shift gears the mirror positions itself to an unuasable position making it impossible to safely pull out from a parked position. It happens wether pulling forward or backing out. I can not seem to find any information on how to correct the issue. Other owners have reported the same issue but Chevrolet refuses to address the issue. . Read more...

See all problems of the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox 🔎.

While driving my 2019 chevy Equinox it was acting to me to have a flat tire shaking weirdly in what felt like the front right tire. I was going around 72 mph down the freeway slowed to exit to the nearest station no issues there my speed was around 37 mph exiting off the freeway and suddenly the break pedal was to hard to press I found myself with no breaks the break pedal was extended or? it wouldn’t press down at all and although I tried to pump them, I didn’t want to break anything and it felt like if I pushed down it would break something! so I wheeled it into the gas station and put it in park to stop. I called right away to the dealership I bought it at and had it towed from the station! I was lucky! I know I was lucky! I might not have been!! this came without warning other than thinking I had a flat from the shaking! there was no light or other symptoms to alert me! imagine suddenly the car is shaking and you have no breaks!?! the cause I was told is a faulty booster! if you cant guarantee the breaks why sell the car! its a vital aspect of safety! now im terrified! this is not okay! all I get is excuses and runarounds about it! be aware these cars have issues! how can a consumer feel safe driving a vehicle not knowing if the breaks will work or not?! the shaking was my warning I say looking back but not an acceptable one! I think it’s what saved my life and those of my children! only the shaking!!!!!!!!!!!!! not okay GMC not at all!!!!!.

I have a 2018 chevy Equinox. Was driving one day when the lights for service brake assist, park brake released, and traction control came on. The brake petal went extremely hard and was almost impossible to stop. Had the vaccum pump replaced. Drove for two-three weeks, same lights, brakes go hard off and on, vaccum pipe with sensor changed, only one week later same issues, another vacuum pump put on and oil changed due to metal from faulty pump in oil. We are now 900 dollars in repairs and no fix. Same issues over and over. Gm is well aware of the issue with their faulty pumps and system but refuse to fix the issues and continue to put them in the vehicles which will lead to fatalities.

A message has begun appearing in my 2018 chevy Equinox lt that states "parking brake released". This message did not previously appear and seems to be a potential issue to fix. After doing some online research, I found 3 technical service bulletins for parking brake issues/messages for the 2018 Equinox on an automotive repair website. However, when I contacted the chevy dealership and did a VIN search, there were no open recalls or any recalls for my car. I am not clear why other 2018 Equinox models have recall notices but my VIN number is not impacted by those notices, even though it was manufactured during the same year. Please help investigate if my car should be included in those tsbs and dealer repairs. The TSB numbers are: 20na094, 19na213, and pi1410b.

My car is loosing oil, I have to keep putting oil in my car. I think this is affecting the performance of the Cadillac converter that makes the car lose power, make noise and overall make the car not run correctly.

See all problems of the 2013 Chevrolet Equinox 🔎.

Front impact crash with two deer, rear seatbelt came unlatched causing car seat to fly into the front seat and the front seat belt did not lock nor did the airbags go off. No sensors alerted.

See all problems of the 2023 Chevrolet Equinox 🔎.