A recall for 81,000 2025-2026 Chevrolet Equinox EV vehicles over concerns the pedestrian alert system may not meet legal requirements.
Chevrolet is announcing a recall for 81,177 Chevrolet Equinox EV models — this affects EV models, from these model years, only; no other Equinox models are affected. The potential issue is in the pedestrian alert sound system, which may not produce a sufficient rise in volume between the vehicle being stopped and moving at low speeds, due to a calibration error. That would mean these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards addressing electric and hybrid vehicles.
Dealers were notified on December 18, 2025 and customer notification is estimated to begin on February 2, 2026. Affected vehicles that are capable of receiving OTA updates can have the necessary updates installed that way; updates will also be available at dealerships for anyone who can’t, or prefer not to, receive OTA updates.
Here’s all the relevant info from the NHTSA Recall notice:
NHTSA Recall No.: 25V878
Manufacturer: General Motors, LLC
Components: BACK OVER PREVENTION
Potential Number of Units Affected: 81,187
Estimated percentage with defect: 100%
Descriptive Information:
General Motors has decided that certain 2025 to 2026 model year Chevrolet Equinox EV vehicles
potentially fail to conform to Section S5.4 of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 141,
“Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles.” The pedestrian alert sound system in
these vehicles may have an incorrect software calibration and may not produce exterior sound at the
required relative volume when the vehicle is travelling from stationary to 10 km/h (6.2 mph).
FMVSS1: 141 – Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
FMVSS2:
Description of the safety risk, including crash, fire, death, injury:
Under some conditions pedestrians may not be able to determine by sound whether an approaching
vehicle is speeding up or slowing down, increasing the risk of injury to pedestrians.
Description of the cause:
The sound volume in these vehicles can vary and fall under the relative volume changes required by
FMVSS 141 when travelling from stationary to 10 km/h.
Remedy Type: Software Update
Chronology:
On September 30, 2025, a GM engineer submitted a report to GM’s Speak Up For Safety (SUFS)
program following GM internal testing of a 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV that failed the requirements of
FMVSS 141 section 5.4, which dictates the relative volume change when a vehicle travels from
stationary to 10 km/h. This testing related to GM’s internal investigation of the condition at issue in
NHTSA recall 25V639. GM opened a product investigation on November 18, 2025.
GM’s investigation determined that, while the software calibrations used for 2025 and 2026 model year
differ, both versions of the software may not meet the requirement for relative change in volume when
travelling from stationary to 10 km/h. The 2025 and 2026 model year calibrations differ from the
calibration used for 2024 vehicles and the calibration used to remedy 2024 vehicles under NHTSA recall
25V639.
On December 11, 2025, GM’s Safety Field Action Decision Authority (SFADA) decided to conduct a
noncompliance recall. GM is not aware of any field incidents related to this condition.
For more information, and to see if your vehicle is affected, visit NHTSA.gov.
