AtWhatMileage
Steering · 14 owner reports

Other steering problem on the 2013 Chevrolet Equinox

2 crashes 2 of the 14 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.

Reports of this failure 14
With an odometer reading 12
Reports per 1,000 built 0.1 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 25%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 2
Typical repair $350–$2,400
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 11th

When other steering problem gets reported

Owners of the 2013 Chevrolet Equinox report other steering problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 125,068 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.

25% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 12 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
22,692 miles 37,942 miles 62,673 miles 103,525 miles 147,760 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 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–$2,400 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 2022, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 105,000 miles.

By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 45; the 2013 has 14. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 chevrolet equinox. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, the steering wheel seized making it difficult to control the vehicle without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the failure was diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000 and the current mileage was 14,000.

75,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1052990 filed 2014-04-03

While driving on the road at 40 MPH and making a quick turn, my steering wheel locked and froze for a minute in a 3 way intersection. Steering wheel will not turn and after a minute it reset again. Then continuing driving pressing the brakes with lock the steering wheel and felt funny. Took it immediately to the dealer to address situation. Pretty scary situation here and a safety concern for sure. With only 25k miles with 3 mayor issues posted here, I'm getting rid of this vehicle and take a loss....very very disappointed with gm but before that I will write a big letter to gm ceo about the safety of this vehicle. *tr

25,767 miles NHTSA complaint 1067264 filed 2014-05-20

Received notice from gm saying there may be a steering issue described as steering very hard, but only on long trips. Gm said they will not repair unless the steering hard happens. Seems strange they are going to wait until it does. They did say they are extending the warranty to 150,000 miles for this issue. I have not experienced this issue. *tr

10,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1138849 filed 2014-12-13

Also reported on the 2013 Chevrolet Equinox

Excessive oil consumption

177 reports median 97k

Other engine problem

167 reports median 90k

Other visibility problem

119 reports median 55k

Other electrical problem

50 reports median 33k

Wiper or washer failure

36 reports median 62k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 14 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 steering problem happen on the 2013 Chevrolet Equinox?

Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other steering problem on the 2013 Chevrolet Equinox?

14 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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