NHTSA Complaint #11554842 — 2023 CHEVROLET EQUINOX

I intended to pull the vehicle behind my RV using a tow dolly. I loaded the vehicle on the tow dolly per the owner’s manual and left the key fob in my RV. After about 15 mins, we began our trip and the vehicle pulled behind without issue. About 10 miles down the road, I stopped to check the securement straps to make sure they were still tight and I also needed to check the steering strap to make sure it was still tight as well. After doing so, we proceeded down the road for a very short distance (approx 100 feet or so) when we noticed smoke behind us. We immediately pulled over and observed that the rear tires were locked up by the emergency brake setting on the vehicle. We tried several times to get the vehicle to release the emergency brakes, only to have the emergency brake reset on its own after pulling the vehicle forward only a couple of feet. We ended up taking the vehicle off the dolly only to discover that the two rear tires had already been ruined by flat spots on them. Come to find later, by reading on the vehicle forums of our particular year and model, that others were experiencing the same issue. It was discovered through reading the forums the vehicles electronics need to go to sleep (approx 10-15 minutes) before you can safely tow the vehicle. This makes sense to me now, because we had no issue when we first started on our trip. The issue didn’t occur until we had to get into the vehicle using the key fob. My main concern here is that this should be included in the owner’s manual as part of the steps or at least a cautionary to tow on a dolly. This is definitely a safety issue, as the tires could have blown or started a fire if I continued down the road without notice.As it stands, I will be required to purchase two new tires to replace the rear tires that only had 2,000 miles on them. I made contact with Chevrolet customer service on 11/13/2023 to advise them of the issue and they should consider including more detail in the owner’s manual.