2005 Chevrolet Equinox
This year drew an ordinary 638 complaints for a Chevrolet Equinox — the model's median is 370. What they were about is the unusual part: 16.8% of them mention head, against 5% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Chevrolet Equinox was redesigned for 2005. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 638 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 370 |
| Involving a crash | 56 |
| Involving a fire | 13 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- head — 16.8% of this year's complaints, against 5% across the other years of this generation (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: head, gasket, head gasket, coolant.
- noise — 14.1% of this year's complaints, against 4.3% across the other years of this generation (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: noise, grinding, front end, struts.
- bearing — 8.5% of this year's complaints, against 0.9% across the other years of this generation (9×). Owners wrote it as: bearing, shaft, drive shaft, carrier.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING 50 MPH, THE CONTACT HEARD A REALLY LOUD GRINDING NOISE AND THE STEERING BECAME VERY DIFFICULT TO MANEUVER. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO DIAGNOSE THAT THE CARRIER BEARING NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE FAILURE RECURRED SIX MONT…
WHILE TRAVELING 35 MPH, THE HEAD GASKETS BLEW ON THE VEHICLE. THE FAILURE OCCURRED AND THE VEHICLE OVERHEATED AND STALLED. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE WATER PUMP HAD BEEN CHANGED PRIOR TO THE FAILURE, BUT DID NOT CORRECT THE PROBLEM. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 04V302000 POWER TRAIN
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Equinox was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Chevrolet Equinox? What happened to yours?
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