Verified government source

NHTSA complaint #11424523

This page summarizes an official U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration owner complaint. Use the verification links below to confirm the record directly with NHTSA.

Vehicle

2020 CHEVROLET EQUINOX

Manufacturer

General Motors, LLC

Components

SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE

Dates

Incident: 07/08/2021
Filed: 07/12/2021

Owner complaint summary

Back in early October 2020, vehicle had about 2000 miles on it. I noticed that when I started up the vehicle The Brake Assist Service message came on the brakes were spongy and had vibrating feel. I drove about a half of a mile and the problem stopped. The engine light came on and stayed on but then went out. Everything was ok for about two weeks when it did it again light came on took it a dealer but light went off. They serviced the vehicle and seem that the problem had stopped. Then in Early April of 2021 it happened again. Took it to the same dealership, they replace some more parts. Week or two weeks later same issue. Took it back to the dealership. They replaced the engine control module. During all these times, an engine light would soon follow after the message about the brake assist message. Thought it was fixed. On June 14 2021 at 1:14PM started my vehicle up the SERVICE BRAKE ASSIST message came on called the dealership. The brakes were vibrating and were not smooth. I stopped and turned off the vehicle and restarted the vehicle message went away brakes appeared to be fine. This time however no engine came on. Dealership was willing to service the vehicle but if the engine light wasn't on it would hard to diagnosed. I took a picture of the message before it had clear. On July 8th 2021, at 2:08PM, I started my vehicle and the SERVICE BRAKE ASSIST message came on. I took a photo of it. I tested the brakes appear to be ok. Turned the vehicle off the message didn't show again. My son borrow the vehicle and he got into an accident the same day approximately 6 hours. He swerved to avoid hitting a deer. He said that brakes appeared not to slow him down. He left roadway and struck a tree head on. The vehicle caught fire and he was lucky to escape. The vehicle was destroyed by the fire and crash. Not putting blame on anyone because I know there were other contributing factors to the accident . I just wanted to report this because of past problems with GM.

Crash reportedFire reported1 injuries reported
This is an owner complaint filed with NHTSA (ODI #11424523). It is not automatically an official recall, investigation outcome, or manufacturer admission unless the complaint text itself describes one.

Official record ID (ODI): 11424523. This page is the human-readable source link used across afterwarranty. The raw JSON link proxies NHTSA's public API for machine verification; prefer this page when reading the complaint.