Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox
3 crashes 3 of the 48 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 22,500 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles, from 42 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 700 miles at the tenth percentile to 95,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 94,547 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
45% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 654 miles | 22,279 miles | 50,000 miles | 69,571 miles | 95,201 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 $700–$3,000 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 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2024, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2020 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2007 chevrolet equinox. The air bag off indicator light fails to illuminate when a passenger is seated. The dealer stated that the vehicle does not operate due to bone structure. The current mileage is 6,500 and failure mileage was 6,300. The consumer stated after 2 attempts to have the vehicle repaired she is concerned this is a major malfunction and life threatening defect and wants to reimbursed for the vehicle purchase to repurchase a different vehicle. The dealer stated traction control light comes on and the cupholder in console is broken. Updated 09/05/07 *tr
Tl*the contact owns a 2007 chevrolet equinox. The airbag off light would illuminate with an average sized adult seated in the front passenger seat. The dealer stated that the sensors were working correctly. There is a recall for the air bags: frontal: sensor/control module (NHTSA campaign id # 07v344000) however, the dealer stated that his VIN was not included. The contact felt that his vehicle should be included as part of the recall. The failure mileage was 6,000 and current mileage was 7,100. Updated02-14-08 *bf updated 02/14/08 *tr
Too many times to count the passenger air bag sensors have not detected various passengers in this 07 equinox. Brought it to dealership 2 times including once when sensors were replaced, have complained via phone numerous times & told they couldn't fix it. Called gm hotline 02/13/08 & opened a new complaint case based on this & 2 other "unfixable" problems. They requested 1 more chance & truck was brought in 02/25/08. 02/26/08 gm rep called & told me the dealership looked at it & involved gm engineers & that there was no fix & he needed to call the field mgr to authorize a resolution since truck could not be returned due to safety liabilities. 02/29/08 still no return call to gm from field manager. Gm states to stay in rental vehicle since truck is a safety liability & should not be driven. 03/05/08 gm rep states that, although he does not agree, the field mgr stated that when a passenger is present they need to watch for the "air bag off" light to be illuminated & the passenger needs to wiggle around and move until it goes out. She mandated that we return the rental car immediately as gm would not pay for it & we needed to…
Also reported on the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox
Fuel pump failure
Other electrical problem
Other fuel system problem
Other steering problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 48 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox?
Across 42 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 22,500 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox?
48 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.5 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