Unclassified problem on the 2011 Chevrolet Equinox
7 crashes 1 fire 7 injuries 15 of the 53 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.
Only 41 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When unclassified problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Chevrolet Equinox report unclassified problem at a median of 87,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 41 reports that carried an odometer reading.
It is the 66th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 800 miles at the tenth percentile to 147,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 147,200 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.
29% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 800 miles | 31,000 miles | 88,000 miles | 124,000 miles | 148,000 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, 7 a crash, 1 a fire and 7 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 97,500 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 100; the 2011 has 53. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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 2011 chevrolet equinox. The contact started the ignition and noticed that the front passenger air bag warning indicator turned off while a pillow was positioned in the front passenger seat. The failure occurred whenever the vehicle was in operation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they informed that the air bag functioned correctly as designed. The failure mileage was 800. Updated 3/14/11*cn the dealer suspected the seat was heat sensitive. Updated 04/25/11
Not sure of the exact date or mileage vehicle messed up first time. We bought it on january 19, 2011, messed up within first few days of having it. It's happened twice, when vehicle is stopped, but in drive (ex. Red light), then pressing the gas pedal it will either not go at all, or barely go and then not go any further. Have to put the car in park, shut off, then turn car back on to make it work right. Taken it to the dealership multiple times, they say they can't find anything wrong or duplicate the problem. No check engine light comes on, or any lights at all. Contacted gm also, they are not much help either, say we have to duplicate the problem before taking any further steps. Don't feel safe in the car, I have two small children. They have been with me both times it has messed up. The first time we were stranded between two lanes of on coming traffic.
Tl*the contact owns a 2011 chevrolet equinox. While driving approximately 65 MPH, the contact crashed into a deer. The air bags failed to deploy; although a powder residue emitted from the air bags. The front seat passenger sustained soreness in the chest area. A police report was filed. The vehicle sustained extensive damage and was towed to an independent auto center. The manufacturer was not made aware of the problem. The failure mileage was 4,436.
Also reported on the 2011 Chevrolet Equinox
Other engine problem
Excessive oil consumption
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other visibility problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 53 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 53 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 unclassified problem happen on the 2011 Chevrolet Equinox?
Across 41 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 87,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is unclassified problem on the 2011 Chevrolet Equinox?
53 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.2 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