2008 Chevrolet Equinox
This year drew an ordinary 370 complaints for a Chevrolet Equinox — the model's median is 392. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.6% of them mention intermittently, against 3.2% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Chevrolet Equinox, which began in 2005 and ran to 2009. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 370 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 392 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- intermittently — 8.6% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: intermittently, occasionally.
- headlights — 6.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: headlights, moisture, bulbs, lights come.
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
THE SPEEDOMETER TO MY VEHICLE IS NOT WORKING. REGARDLESS IF THE CAR IS ON OR OFF, THE NEEDLE IS ALWAYS STUCK ON 120 MPH. I HAVE ALSO STARTED TO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE BACK DOORS IN WHICH THE LOCKS ARE NOT WORKING WITH THE REMOTE. IF I TRY TO UNLOCK, THE BACK…
BOTH HEADLIGHTS CONTAIN MOISTURE DUE TO FAULTY SEALS. BOTH HEADLIGHTS NEED REPLACING ON A MINIMUM OF TWICE A YEAR. ADDITIONALLY, BREAK AND/OR TAIL LIGHTS SEEM TO FAIL AT LEAST TWICE A YEAR AS WELL.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
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 2008 Chevrolet Equinox? What happened to yours?
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