Other suspension problem on the 2005 Chevrolet Equinox
3 crashes 3 of the 27 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other suspension problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Chevrolet Equinox report other suspension problem at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 19 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 90,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 74,667 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
37% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15,000 miles | 20,500 miles | 60,000 miles | 80,000 miles | 89,667 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 3 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle restarted and was placed in drive, however it did not move. The vehicle was towed to a dealership who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. Also, the vehicle shook while driving over 60 MPH and when the brakes were applied. The dealership replaced the tires twice, rotated, and balanced the tires in an effort to correct the problem. The dealership also replaced the rims, wheels, and hubs, however the problem persisted. In addition, the air conditioner unit fell off the bracket which caused the engine to shut down. The vehicle was towed to the dealership. Updated10/04/06. *jb
My wife and I bought this 2005 equinox in march of 2005. It had 9k miles on it. A few times after that it did not sound like it was going to start. When it did the whole vehicle shook, it was like starting a manual in gear. At around 12k miles the front end started shaking when the were brakes applied. Took it in to be serviced in february 2006 and asked them to check brakes. They said there was no problem. They did not feel anything. Contacted chevrolet and the customer service told me to take the vehicle back to the dealership and have them check the brakes again. When we did they told us the rotors were warped. This should not be happening already. Still has half the life on the brakes. Today we took it in to have the shocks and struts replaced. This was due to a loud noise we kept hearing. Hopefully that fixed that problem. As far as the brakes and rotors, the dealership told us not to worry about having new rotors put on until the brakes were worn. It is really dangerous on the interstate when someone slows down in front of you when you're doing 50 to 65 MPH and it don't feel like your going to stop. We were told this wasn't…
Bought the car used with 20,000 and it was having problems a week later. Passenger window would not roll up,grinding and clicking at slow turns. They replaced rotors ,clutch and suspension and the problem was solved. Then came the air condition not blowing cold air and the ignition sticking on start up. The final straw was the transmission slipping and dropping into lower gears,the car will be in the shop in the morning. Last chevy I will ever buy back to nissan. *jb
Also reported on the 2005 Chevrolet Equinox
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Head gasket failure
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other powertrain problem
CV axle or driveshaft failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 27 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other suspension problem happen on the 2005 Chevrolet Equinox?
Across 19 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other suspension problem on the 2005 Chevrolet Equinox?
27 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 409 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed