Other engine problem on the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox
2 fires 2 of the 140 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 engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox report other engine problem at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 107,500 miles, from 96 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 37,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 132,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 94,990 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.
9% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37,010 miles | 55,292 miles | 79,500 miles | 107,588 miles | 132,000 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, 2 a fire 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 $300–$4,000 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 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 2,500 miles, and latest on the 2021 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 167; the 2012 has 140. 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.
When stopped at a stop sign or red light sometimes the engine tries to cut out, and the car jerks like it is trying to stay cranked. I have a friend that has a gm terrain and hers does the same thing. When turning there is a knocking in the steering. The speakers have a rattling sound like they are busted, but it doesn't do it all of the time. I took my car to the dealer, but of course they couldn't find anything wrong with it, the car now has 23,000 and it still hasn't been fixed. (this has been going on since september of 2011 when I bought the car). *tr
The 2012 chevy equinox stall constantly below 30 MPH. It stalls at least 2 to 3 times trying to back out of garage to move it 10 feet. The idle starts off smooth but within 10 seconds the equinox starts idling rough and jerking, then it stalls. When stopped at stop light the equinox jerks back and forth, when I give it gas to go, the equinox jerks forward and usually dies on me. It burns a large amount of gas and oil, I have to refill the oil up at least once a week.I have changed the oil myself and found the oil is saturated with metal filings. The check engine light comes on and off repeatedly. I have already replaced the battery twice because of a dead cell. I have replaced the front right tire due to a blow-out at 24,000 miles and dealership refused to replace it, saying I hit something and it could not have blown out. The entire navigation system in out and the lights flicker in the cup holders. The tire pressure sensors when out for at least 5 days and it started working again with no repair of the system. This is not a safe vehicle to drive considering, I don't know when it is going to stall driving down the highway. A…
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 chevrolet equinox. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled and the check engine light illuminated. The vehicle restarted after several attempts. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 34,000.
Also reported on the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox
Excessive oil consumption
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Wiper or washer failure
Other visibility problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 140 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 engine problem happen on the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox?
Across 96 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 107,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox?
140 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 6.8 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