NHTSA Complaint #11459857 — 2018 CHEVROLET EQUINOX

The vehicle first started having a cigarette residual smoke smell in it during the summer of 2019. It was right after a good rainfall, but we didn't know what to attribute it to. We called the local Chevrolet dealership and they weren't sure what it might be either. The odor would come and go over the last couple of years, but we couldn't figure out what it was from as none of my family members smoke. Then my husband went to run errands in my vehicle during a heavy downpour and heard water running inside of the car. He found water coming out of the fuse panel on the driver's side in the rear hatch (video available). He started removing the wet stuff in the rear hatch & when he got down to the spare tire compartment, he found it was filled with water. He also smelled the cigarette smoke-like odor like 10 times stronger than before & realized that it was due to the felt-like pad in the spare tire compartment being soaked in water. We again called the local dealership & they weren't sure what the problem might have been. My husband & stepfather did research and found out a lot of Equinox owners were experiencing the same issue & it had been determined that it was due to the sunroof water drainage system being clogged. The provided solution was to run air through the water drainage pipes, which my husband did. However, the vehicle still had some water appearing behind the driver's side seat during the lighter rainfalls afterwards. As well, the odor that smelled like cigarette smoke had now been replaced with a strong mildew/mold smell. This poses two major safety issues - water going into fuse boxes (water & electrical don't mix), as well as the mold/mildew being inhaled - especially of concern since we have two toddlers sitting in the backseat of this family vehicle. One dealership was unable to duplicate water inside the vehicle, but found the water drain pipes partially clogged. Other dealership noted mold/mildew smell and did an ozone detailing.