2012 Chevrolet EQUINOX - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2012 Chevrolet Equinox SUV FWD has a respectable overall safety rating of 4 out of 5. It received high ratings in various crash tests, including 5 stars for overall side crash rating and side pole crash rating. Additionally, it is equipped with standard electronic stability control for better handling in challenging driving conditions. Although it has optional features such as forward collision warning and lane departure warning for added safety measures.

On the downside, there have been 646 complaints reported for this vehicle, along with 3 recalls. These numbers indicate that there may be some issues that owners have faced with this model. It is recommended for potential buyers to further research these complaints and recalls before making a purchasing decision.

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Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

646

Recall Count

3

Investigation Count

3

Safety Rating

4/5

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Safety Features

2012 Chevrolet Equinox SUV FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox SUV FWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

Optional
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

Optional

2012 Chevrolet Equinox SUV FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox SUV FWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 4 5
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 4 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 4 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated 4 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated 5 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result Tip No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5

Complaints for the 2012 Chevrolet EQUINOX

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"pcv freeze-up with blown main rear seal losing all oil almost instantly while driving on the interstate at 70mph in 1 degree f weather. spent 2.5 hours on the side of the road in 1f weather in a vehicle with no heat (because the engine was blown) before a tow truck could arrive. no warnings ahead of time, and no notification from gm of this well-known problem. although it is a design flaw of the engine, it would be easily preventable if gm would notify users of the potential for this catastrophic problem."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2025-05-01
Complaint:
"driving to work at 6:30 am. i slowed down at a stop light. heard a weird noise i've never heard before from under the hood, headlights dimmed and became bright again, started to accelerate as stop light changed to green. wouldn't accelerate passed 25 mph causing vehicles behind me to almost rear end me. got to the next stop light, same thing, weird noise dimmed headlights back to bright but accelerated fine. got to work 2 miles later and my engine was making a very loud noise (rattling). shut engine off, checked oil which was full. 2 hours later tried to start it and it would not turn over. towed to a mechanic shop where they determined my engine blew and will cost $7,500 to replace."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2023-08-11
Complaint:
"i purchased a 2012 chevrolet equinox with 100,550 miles on it in april 2023. the original owner gave me all service receipts & records to show the automobile had been taken great care of. the interior & exterior are still in like new condition. the problem i've experienced is sudden "reduced engine power" that caused the engine to stall while driving. two weeks prior, i had had a service check with an oil change and the works. i had it towed and to my surprise, the mechanic showed me that my automobile didn't have any oil. the oil indicator light never came on. afterwards, i did research and discovered that gm is aware of this exact problem in this particular make and model and been sued in a class action lawsuit for this and lost. why haven't they issued a recall to replace the faulty pistons that causes this?"
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2024-09-09
Complaint:
"car is using a quart or more of oil a week. consistently needing top offs and has shut off while driving before. this is a major safety issue. there is a major possibility i could be driving down the road and my engine explode because it ran out of oil. there is no leak. it is just the oil burning so fast. there is no resolution asides from putting a new engine in it and that is not something i can afford considering i just got the car from a dealership back in november. if there is not a recall on it, there should be. the oil will be full and then suddenly get super black and then next day be empty."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2023-01-05
Complaint:
"eats up oil, no oil leaks, shuts off while driving but will start back up. but it's dangerous when your on the interstate and it quits running and traffic is behind you. multiple of people with this model experience the same thing with the oil consumption, and dying on them even after replacing multiple items that were suggested the vehicle needed but made it worse and now doesn't want to drive when pushing the gas pedal when it is running and in drive"
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2024-08-06
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2012 chevrolet equinox. the contact stated that the vehicle was consuming an excessive amount of engine oil. the contact stated that the engine oil was topped off once every month. the dealer was made aware of the failure; however, the contact was informed that the repair would be an out-of-pocket expense. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 70,000."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2017-03-08
Complaint:
"the engine went completely out as the vehicle is known for excessive oil consumption."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2023-01-03
Complaint:
"excessive oil consumption. has been since i purchased the vehicle."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2023-06-03
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2012 chevrolet equinox. the contact stated that the oil level was constantly low, and she was adding 5 quarts of oil in the vehicle every 4-6 weeks. the contact stated while driving 25-30 mph, there was smoke coming out from underneath the hood of the vehicle. the contact veered to the side of the road. the contact’s son lifted the hood and noticed that there was oil residue on all the components under the hood. additionally, there was a significant amount of smoke coming out of the engine compartment. the contact added oil to the engine. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the engine needed to be replaced; however, the part to do the repair was not available. the vehicle was not repaired. an unknown dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. the failure mileage was approximately 132,000."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2020-04-12
Complaint:
"oil consumption excessive burning oil timing chain has been replaced unfortunately problem still occurs..car was calculated by mileage driven 2000 miles heavy excessive oil consumption when removing key from ignition to turn off vehicle. the vehicle will still run with a heavy shake die out rumble noise.. scarey.."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2022-01-02

Recalls for the 2012 Chevrolet EQUINOX

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"general motors llc (gm) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 buick verano and 2016 chevrolet malibu as the electronic park lock lever may allow the ignition key to be removed without the transmission being in park. also, certain 2013 buick encore, 2011 buick regal, 2013-2014 buick verano, 2011-2016 chevrolet cruze, 2010-2013 chevrolet equinox 2013-2015 chevrolet malibu, and 2011-2013 gmc terrain vehicles may have been serviced with similar defective replacement electronic park lock levers. as such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) number 114, "theft protection and rollaway prevention.""
Consequence:
If the key is removed without the transmission in PARK, the vehicle may rollaway as occupants are exiting, increasing the risk of injury.
Remedy:

GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and if necessary replace the key cylinder lock housing, free of charge. The recall began on October 14, 2016. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, Buick 1-800-521-7300, and GMC 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 50490 and 50491.

Component(s) Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM > IGNITION
Date of incident: 2016-07-05

CHEVROLET Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

CHEVROLET ranks 2 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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