Chevrolet Issues Major Recall for Over 80,000 Vehicles

Federal regulators have announced a recall affecting more than 80,000 Chevrolet vehicles due to a faulty pedestrian warning system.

In a notice issued last December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) flagged that some 2025-2026 Chevrolet Equinox EV models aren’t compliant with federal safety regulations. Specifically, they fail to meet the required acoustic standards for hybrid and electric vehicles.

The NHTSA’s notice explains that General Motors made this decision after it was revealed that the calibration of the pedestrian warning sound systems in these cars may be flawed. This problem could hinder the vehicle’s ability to produce the necessary external sound at the required volume when traveling at approximately 6.2 miles per hour from a stop.

According to the recall notice, this malfunction might prevent pedestrians from accurately identifying whether an approaching vehicle is speeding up or slowing down, raising safety concerns.

In September, GM engineers submitted a report to the company’s Safety Improvement Program following internal tests on the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV.

The tests indicated that the vehicle failed to comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 141, which establishes requirements for sound volume changes when a vehicle moves from rest to 10 km/h.

Further investigations based on this report found that while the software calibrations in the 2025 and 2026 models differ, they both may fall short of the standards for relative volume changes under the same conditions.

It’s important to note that the calibrations for the 2025 and 2026 models are distinct from those applied to the 2024 vehicles.

The recall announcement was made on December 11. Fortunately, the notification stated, there have been no incidents or accidents linked to this defect.

GM has indicated that fixing the issue will involve using over-the-air technology or a software update performed by a dealer’s service team.