Fuel pump failure on the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox
3 fires 1 injury 4 of the 162 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 fuel pump failure gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox report fuel pump failure at a median of 77,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 58,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 135 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 29,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 91,576 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.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28,500 miles | 57,954 miles | 77,227 miles | 100,250 miles | 120,076 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 fire and 1 an injury are 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 $600–$2,600 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 16 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 105,000 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.
Noticed strong smell of gasoline after driving. The smell lingered for several hours after the vehicle was parked. Brought to the dealer and was told that there was a fuel leak. Also fuel sensor indicated gas tank was 1/2 full, but dealer stated tank was full. Vehicle has 67000 miles on it. Dealer is replacing the fuel pump and fuel sensor under the powertrain warranty. No injuries or damage resulted from this, but I consider this to be a serious hazard as leaking fuel/fumes could have sparked an explosion. After researching this issue, it appears other owners have had similar complaints. *tr
There is an overwhelming smell of gasoline inside the vehicle. Prior to taking the vehicle into the shop you would have to turn the key over a couple times to prime the line before it would start. I was told there is a gas leak due to faulty fuel lines. Gm does not make the replacement lines separately so the entire fuel pump most be replaced. This is a huge safety issue and a manufacturing defect I should not have to pay for, unfortunately there is no recall so I will be paying for it out of pocket. *tr
My wife started smelling gas after driving our 2007 chevy equinox. At first we thought it was a possible loose gas cap, but after checking the smell became worse over the next couple of days. I did some further checking on the internet and found a possible problem from others that had the same problem. I looked up under the vehicle and found a fuel leak coming from the top of the gas tank and running down the side next to the fuel fill neck that's located very close to the exhaust system. At that point we stopped driving the vehicle and called our local chevy dealership and where told that it was most likely a fuel pump issue and we needed to bring it in to have it looked at. The guesstimate cost is about $1000.00 parts and labor if that was the problem. I decided to remove the fuel tank myself since I have been a mechanic for 20+ years. I was correct that it's a cracked in the fuel pump pipe on the top of the gas tank that's part of the fuel pumpassembly. The leak was soaking the electric connectors for the fuel pump and running down the tank next to the exhaust system. I contacted the local chevy dealership and was told that my…
Also reported on the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox
Other electrical problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
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 162 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 fuel pump failure happen on the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox?
Across 135 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 77,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 58,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel pump failure on the 2007 Chevrolet Equinox?
162 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 8.5 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