2013 Equinox wheel bearings

My wife and daughter both own Chevy Equinox vehicles. My daughter's is a 2010 and my wife's a 2013. Both vehicles are all wheel drive have sustained wheel bearing failures. The rear bearing went out on the 2013 with under 20k miles. The front bearing went out at 70k on the 2011.

I've learned from other Equinox forums that GM went back to a ball type bearing because it rolls easier than the traditional needle bearing thus reducing friction and increasing CAFE. If this is true, the consumer again suffers from an inferior design for the sake of arbitrary CAFE regulations that must be met by our car makers.

Has anyone else experienced premature wheel bearing failures on a late model Equinox?

topcopfh1,

I am sorry to hear your wife and daughter had this concern. Have both wheel bearing concerns been resolved?

Erica Tiffany
GM Customer Care

Due respect I don't think the OP's concern is whether or not the vehicles are fixed, but the root cause of the problem especially if it is an inherently poor design.

Due respect I don't think the OP's concern is whether or not the vehicles are fixed, but the root cause of the problem especially if it is an inherently poor design.

You are correct. I had a 1996 corolla. NEVER had to replace a wheel bearing. owned 2 GM products, replaced bearing's regularly. Chinese auto part vendors/ suppliers, would be my guess. A wheel bearing is a pretty important safety item.