This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The front windshield wipers quit working while I was driving home from work during rush hour on the freeway. It was during a very heavy rainstorm and left me with no visibility in heavy traffic. There was no warning signal or system notification. They just stopped working.
While driving on the interstate through a heavy rain storm, with the windshield wipers on 'high', they suddenly stopped working. The view through the windshield was instantly obscured. I barely was able to pull into the left hand breakdown lane and out of the traffic lane, by rolling the driver side window down and looking out the side window. If I had been traveling in one of the middle lanes and had to navigate through traffic in the other lanes, I am not sure I would have been able to get out of the travel lanes without a crash. If I had been on I10 instead of I95, there would have been no breakdown lane to move to due to construction and lane closures. There was no warning prior to the failure. When I finally got home I found the plastic ball joint linkage had popped apart. The car has 66,240 miles on it.
Traveling on hwy 61 South during heavy rain when windshield wipers stopped working out of the blue. Had to brake and move to inside lane shoulder. Wipers appeared to have over traveled all the way to the driver side edge of windshield. Had to take it in to local dealership.
I was driving on the interstate at about 65 miles per hour. It was pouring down rain and there were semi trucks in front of me and to the left of me spraying water. There was also a semi behind me. My windshield wipers literally stopped working. After a nanosecond of panic, I turned my flashers on and pulled off to the side. I couldn't see anything. After considering for a few seconds, I decided it was not safe where I was, so I slowly and carefully drove several miles on the shoulder to make my way to the next exit. I then pulled into a business lot. My wipers were stopped on my windshield.....the left one was partially off the left side of the windshield. I picked it up and placed it back toward the center of windshield. Back inside the car, I tried to turn the wipers on again. I could hear mechanical noise that sound like they should work, but they did not move. The car is now at a dealer for service.
- Greenfield, IN, USA
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Yesterday, I was traveling on I-95 at 75mph when my wipers suddenly stopped working in the pouring down rain. I couldn't see five feet in front of me and was terrified. I pulled over at the nearest exit, tried turning the car off and on and also tried starting the wipers by hand but to no avail. I had no choice but continue my trip with little visibility as semi-trucks passed me splashing even more water on my windshield. I read that this was a recall on 2013 models, but apparently, it is on other models as well.
Driving in the rain home from near by town and windshield wipers were on they made a strange noise and suddenly stop working. Had to pull over could not see. Very scary. Thank goodness I was not on highway like the day before. It could of caused a accident
While driving on highway during a storm my wipers stopped working, they stopped right in the center of my windshield, my heart stopped as I had my kids with me. I had to pull over!!!! call for help. This vehicle needs to be recalled
The wipers were working perfectly fine. We were traveling down the highway at 70 miles an hour and during a pouring rain storm and they immediately stopped working. They actually violently jerked out of position to where one wiper was actually hanging off the windshield by about a foot. They are not operating now
There have been recalls with Chevrolet Equinox's wiper components in recent years due to the wiper ball joint bushings corroding. As I was driving with my young son in the middle of a terrible storm, my wipers stopped working putting us in danger on a highway with cars traveling around us in speeds in excess of 70 mph. I took my Equinox to the local shop and was told it would be ~$500 to fix because Chevy doesn't allow for the bushings to be purchased. You have to replace the entire linkage. There are so many complaints online about this and it is unfair for my car to not be apart of this recall when it is the same exact issue that others were experiencing in the recall. This is extremely dangerous and Chevy needs to step up and fix this for all cars in the 2010-2016 range, not just some. Please help!!!!
A portion of the windshield wiper linkage broke. This is the second time that this piece has broken within two years. Once was in a thunderstorm with wipers on high. This time it was in snow but the window was already cleared off by hand. There's a loud pop and the windshield wipers do not work. Thankfully this happened in the driveway but does cause problems trying to get to a repair shop.this is especially troublesome in the winter when you have road spray.
While I was driving through the mountains in the rain, the windshield wipers stopped working. I attempted to turn them back on, but they would not move, but a sound could be heard like they were moving.
I was driving my vehicle on the New York state thruway in a rain storm when my wipers just stopped working. I had to pull over to the shoulder of the thruway and wait it out until the rain stopped. My father in law (retired automotive teacher) diagnosed the problem to be a ball joint on the wiper transmission had come apart disconnecting the wiper transmission from the wiper motor. He replaced the wiper motor assembly with a new unit from Chevrolet parts department which was modified to include a deflector to keep the elements away from the wiper transmission ball joints. I learned GM had a recall on the 2013 model year Equinox for the same issue but never extended it to the 2016 model year despite several complaints from owners.
2016 Chevrolet Equinox, 87,000 miles highway miles. While driving in the pouring rain this morning the wipers completely stopped. Had to immediately pull over since I could not drive in the rain without them. The motor was still ruining but the wipers were not moving. Called onstar to ask for them to run a diagnostic. The corporate response was the wiper system was not considered an essential function even tho it should be in situations like this. Had to get it towed to the shop since we are in a downpour right now and it could not be driven there. The shop said the motor was fine, it was the wiper transmission that is completely burnt out/shot! this car is 4 years old the wiper transmission should not be completely shot/burnt out.
During period of heavy rain, wipers stopped working while driving approx 60mph causing severe visibility issues. Had to pull car to side of road waiting for rain to stop before proceeding. Issue caused by faulty wiper transmission assembly. Vehicle has approx 74000 miles.
2016 Chevrolet Equinox. Consumer writes in regard to defect with link ball socket in wiper transmissions. The consumer stated the vehicle should be repaired at no cost to the owner, before the knownfailure occurs.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Columbus, OH, USA