2023 Chevrolet Equinox

The 2023 Equinox owner's manual states that the Equinox can be flat towed behind a motorhome with all four wheels on the ground. I bought the vehicle based on this representation for towing behind our motorhome. When towing thorough turns at certain speeds and of certain radius and duration, the Equinox tires make a loud screeching noise and the smell of burning rubber is noticed. This condition begins shortly after the Equinox enters the turn and ends once the Equinox completes the turn. A video camera inside the Equinox shows the steering wheel vibrating strongly left/right accompanied by the screeching noise, and the degree to which the steering wheel rotates during the turn is LESS than when the Equinox is driven through the same turn. (See video at https://youtu.be/vEMAQiKWW64?t=14). The driver of the motorhome feels a lagging or pulling sensation against the motorhome, as if the Equinox is applying its brakes throughout the turn. I am concerned that a vehicle that applies its brakes while being towed through a turn is a safety hazard to those in the motorhome and to other drivers on the road. It may be causing unknown damage to components of the Equinox, its towing base plate, as well as to the motorhome towing equipment, tow hitch, and chassis. I brought this issue to GM's attention and there has been no fix to date.

While four wheel down towing my 2023 Equinox behind my motorhome, under certain road conditions, the tires can be heard squealing and burnt rubber can be seen and smelt. I put a camera in the car to record the event and during the described events the steering wheel can be seen shaking violently. This type of event occurs consistently on cloverleaf type on and off ramps and other roads that have somewhat tight turns that are banked. I am correctly towing the car per GM's published dingy towing instructions for the 2023 Equinox. I have ten years experience towing a 2011 Equinox with the same set up that have been trouble free. In May of 2023 I reported the issue to my dealer and sent the videos. GM opened a case, 9-9951144997, but to date no resolution for the problem. This is a serious safety concern for me and my family travelling in the motorhome and my concern extends to others on the highway. When you can hear the tires squealing from inside a diesel pusher motorhome and view on video how violent the event is, the safety of towing the 2023 Equinox has to be questioned.

The contact owns a 2023 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while driving at various speeds with the windows rolled down, the vehicle would shake violently with a loud winding sound throughout the vehicle. The contact stated that the shaking was extremely severe, causing it to be difficult to see out of the mirrors. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where an unstated defect was found but no assistance was offered. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 40.

While towing my equinox behind my motorhome, with properly installed equipment, I experience tire screeching when taking off ramps from the highway. From extensive research, I've found that many 2023 Equinox owners are having the same issue and many have started GM case numbers. This issue is happening with many different tow systems installed and the only constant denominator is the 2023 Equinox. I've read that GM is fully aware of the issue and is working on a fix. I just wanted to get my involvement documented to potentially show the scope of this problem.

2023 Equinox tires lock up on cloverleaf on/off ramps when being flat towed behind a motorhome. The safety concern has occurred several times on cloverleaf on/off ramps. Proper procedures for flat towing per GM user manual do not resolve the problem. The Blue Ox towing package was installed by professionals. Dealership has been in contact with General Motors technician and no solution has been found. Safety of passengers in motorhome as well as other vehicles on the roadways are put at risk for accident due to skidding and visible tire smoke of Equinox. The skidding and visible smoke tire are concerns as excessive forces to the hitch, tow bar and baseplate as well as the Equinox front suspension and electronic system could compromise safety. It's likely a cumulative effect of repeated tire lock ups could accelerate and compromise safety even further. Internet research has yielded similar safety concerns for this same problem with no solution from GM. On September 7, a phone call complaint was filed with GM; we are awaiting a case number. Letters including a detailed chronology were mailed to the Chevrolet dealership and GM on September 9. Please contact me if you wish to see this information.

On Aug 6, I started my car and tried to apply the brakes. My foot went all the way to the floorboards. The Brake warning lamp and stability warning lamps came on and would not go away. I tried restarting the car and the problem remained. The brakes were not properly functioning. On August 7, I took my car to the dealership. They saw the warning lamps, but the brakes were working. GM told them to just clear the codes and let me drive it. The service manager would not and is waiting for a part (5 weeks later). I will also include the information from OnStar with the codes.

Went to the grocery store, bought $300 worth of stuff, loaded it all in the back. Driving home, one of the bags full of bottles of wine fell over. Upon arriving home, tried to slowly and partially open the lift gate to prevent items from falling out. Hit button to open lift gate. With left hand, tried to slow down the opening while with right hand, reached in to catch loose bottles. Apparently my providing resistance to slow the opening was interpreted as some kind of "problem" causing the opening to reverse and causing the lift gate to close on my right arm. I now have a large abrasion and bruise on my right arm where the lift gate tried to eat my arm. If the lift gate had a manual opening, I could have opened it at my desired speed but there is only an automatic opening with its default speed. When this is combined with the automatic reversal, you have a people eater. I tried to report this to Chevrolet but could not find anything in their many websites where a safety issue can be reported.

While attempting accelerate on the highway at 70 MPH the car entered "Engine power reduced" mode resulting in the car to slow down. This reduced speed resulted in a few near misses on the highway. The check engine light than began to flash for about 15 seconds before all the messages went away and normal driving conditions occurred. Taking it into the dealership they pulled from the computer the issue of "multiple cylinder misfire" but could not replicate the issue. I also filed a ticket with GM letting them know of a potentially deadly issue but they sided with the dealer stating the car was operating within normal parameters since they could not duplicate the issue. The weather prior to the issue was rainy.