2019 Chevrolet Equinox: jerking or lurching

Filed Sep 24, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · 89,000 miles · ME

The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed and went to the floorboard, but the vehicle hesitated to accelerate before lurching forward. Additionally, the vehicle lost motive power while driving 60-70 MPH and decelerated to 10 MPH. The engine revved while stopped at a red light, and the RPM was at HIGH. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to the dealer on six occasions for the recurring failure. The contact stated that DTC: P0401 and P0521 were retrieved and cleared after securing the air box cover after the first failure. The second time, the EGR housing was clogged with carbon, and the oil sensor failed internally and was replaced. The third time, the wiring harness and unknown sensors were replaced. The fourth time, an unknown sensor and module were replaced. The fifth time, the dealer replaced the transmission with a used transmission, but the failure persisted. The vehicle was then taken back to the dealer, and it was determined that the driver's side CV axle seal, NOx sensor 1, MAF sensor, passenger side front wheel bearing, two front tires, four TPMS, intake manifold, and air temperature sensor mount needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure by phone. The failure mileage was approximately 89,000.

Filed Jul 31, 2025 · Transmission · NY

The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while driving approximately 20-30 MPH, the vehicle jerked and stalled, and the vehicle was nearly rear-ended. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact immediately made a turn into the nearby independent mechanic shop parking lot. The contact stated that the vehicle was able to restart; however, the failure recurred while the vehicle was being test-driven by the independent mechanic. The mechanic diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the transmission had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Filed Aug 4, 2024 · Brakes · MO

Engine light came on. Said (reduced engine pressure). Started jerking then breaks went out.

Filed Jul 26, 2022 · Engine · MN

Winter 2021, vehicle went into reduced engine mode as I was going up a hill. There was no one behind me and I made it 100 ft to a driveway. I was able to turn around and get car home. Towed to Sonju, dealer where it was leased from. Fixed by them and returned to regular use. 06/28/22, while driving on a Hwy 53, 45 mph zone, with no notice, engine went into reduced power mode. I was almost hit due to the proximity of the car behind me and the sudden loss in power. I managed to hit my hazards, pull into middle turn lane until traffic passed. I then was able to get into a business parking lot. I shut car off. I made some phone calls. Turned car back on, all was fine. Back on the road. No call to dealer. 07/08/22, engine in reduced power mode while I was only .5 miles from my house. Made it to a turnaround point where I was able to turn vehicle off. Called dealer to make appt for service. Limped vehicle home. Vehicle towed to Sonju for fix. 07/18/22, after fixed at dealership, it was picked up. We made it 22 miles. I was in a urban part of Duluth, MN-speed limit 30, heavy traffic. As I turned to go up hill, engine again went into reduced power mode. There is no shoulder for me to go to and I'm almost hit from behind as the car jerked and slowed. I was able to pull off. Shut car off. When I started it up, it was still in reduced power mode. As it had been 30 mins, traffic had subsided, I went another mile to my work, where car would be safe to sit. Made arrangements for tow back to dealer. 07/19/22-towed to dealer after hours. When I moved it for better position for tow truck, the check engine light was on, but engine reduced power mode message never came on. 07/22/22-Per dealer, there is no explanation and thus far they can't figure it out. They continue to drive it to recreate the issue, but no end in sight of when I will get this vehicle back. 07/26/22-no word from dealer-vehicle is still there. I stopped bugging them!

Filed May 13, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 30,000 miles · CA

I have 33k miles on the vehicle and when driving the car feels as if it wants to shut down. A few recent drives, on city street, I've been feeling the car struggling to accelerate causing a jerking forward motion. Another issue I have is I recently had to put air in my right rear tire, when I plugged my tire inflator in the electric socket and turned the power on, the car sounded like it was struggling to stay on and the engine was becoming increasingly noisier. I proceeded to put air in my tire and the right break light began flashing, only the right brake light. I had used my tire inflator in the past on same vehicle about a year ago and had zero issues. I also received notification from onstar today, 5/13/20 that the system had detected a fuel emissions issue and then my engine light turned on.

Filed Feb 26, 2020 · Steering · 16,519 miles · MI

Car steers itself. Steering wheel jerks itself to left or right randomly while driving, usually enough to cause minor control of the steering of my equinox. This happens more often on highway and higher speed roads. When going around curves in the road / highway, vehicle will not straighten out when out of curve. This has caused me to drive off of the road into gravel shoulder and nearly sideswipe other vehicles both next to me and drive into oncoming traffic. No accidents have been caused as of yet, but many near misses. This issue has been going on since september. I made chevrolet aware of the issue through a repair attempt. It has been serviced three times for this issue and I have opened a case with the bbb. Chevrolet has not fixed the problem, replaced the vehicle, or acknowledged the problem. I have made it clear through extensive conversations with the general motors business resource center that is dealing with my bbb case that my life is in danger every time I drive this vehicle and they simply do not care. Regardless of my three repair attempts for the same issue, nobody at gm cares about my safety. When I bring it up, I have been told 'don't drive it if you don't feel safe in it' as if I can simply walk to work, appointments, etc. General motors does not care about the safety and safety concerns of their customers. It has been 129 days since I initially brought up this safety issue and general motors is doing nothing about it. The vehicle is still in use daily, still having the same issue. Documentation of repair attempts and bbb paperwork available upon request.

Filed Jan 25, 2020 · Acceleration, Brakes · 9,000 miles · OH

The electronic speed control suddenly stopped working and no longer functions. The automatic stop feature causes the vehicle to lurch forward suddenly when you press the gas peddle following a stop. The dynamic braking suddenly engages while driving at highway speeds on the interstate and there are no other vehicles or obstructions in the area.

Filed Nov 12, 2019 · Engine · 37,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2019 chevrolet equinox. While driving 55 MPH, the contact heard a loud abnormal noise. The contact mentioned that the vehicle jerked violently and the power reduced and check engine indicators illuminated. The vehicle was pulled over and the contact noticed that the turbo hose was disconnected from the engine. The vehicle was taken to grieco chevrolet of fort lauderdale (1300 n federal hwy, fort lauderdale, fl 33304, (954) 607-4358) where the contact was informed that the faster needed to be replaced in the engine. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 37,000.

Filed Aug 30, 2019 · Engine, Transmission · 1,301 miles · CA

Car would start bucking, stuttering and jerking. This occurred three times. A/c compressor froze, had to be rebuilt. Almost got rear ended twice. The dealer could find no problem on the last two times. This happened on city streets while in motion and from a stop.

Filed Feb 6, 2019 · Engine · 1,500 miles · IL

The auto stop engine feature has no control device to disable the feature. Auto engine stop causes the vehicle to lurch forward when restarting from the auto stop condition at traffic lights. I have also experienced hesitation of the restart condition when making a left turn at a busy interesection causing myself slight panic when trying to accelerate to complete the turn with oncoming traffic approaching. Very dangerous! This feature should be allowed to be turned off by the owner especially when driving in rush hour traffic. Safety is more important than fuel consumption.

Filed Jan 19, 2019 · Engine · 1,250 miles · PA

The engine "auto stop" feature can have enough of a delay to allow the accelerator to be pressed as the engine starts causing it to lurch forward rather than accelerate smoothly. It also can cause a delay when pulling out into heavy traffic. There is currently no way to temporarily or permanently defeat the system on this gm model according to gm service department. Though I am sure it is operating as designed for certain owner driving styles and traffic conditions this can be a serious hazard. Car makers should be required to either disable the feature permanently by owner request or have a method for the owner to bypass the system.

Filed Dec 29, 2018 · Transmission · 1,100 miles · AZ

The engine "auto stop" feature can have enough of a delay to allow the accelerator to be pressed as the engine starts causing it to lurch forward rather than accelerate smoothly. It also can cause a delay when pulling out into heavy traffic. There is currently no way to temporarily or permanently defeat the system on this gm model according to gm service department. Though I am sure it is operating as designed for certain owner driving styles and traffic conditions this can be a serious hazard. Car makers should be required to either disable the feature permanently by owner request or have a method for the owner to bypass the system. With less than 250 miles I have experienced 2 incidents of almost hitting the car in front of me from a stop and 1 of almost being hit pulling into heavy traffic from a stop. I see many other similar complaints and hope this can be addressed before someone is hurt or worse due to it. While stopped at a railroad crossing with auto stop the engine unexpectedly started as A/C compressor turned on causing the car to lurch forward toward the moving train. Almost a major near death issue.