NHTSA complaint: 2023 CHEVROLET EQUINOX — UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Went to the grocery store, bought $300 worth of stuff, loaded it all in the back. Driving home, one of the bags full of bottles of wine fell over. Upon arriving home, tried to slowly and partially open the lift gate to prevent items from falling out. Hit button to open lift gate. With left hand, tried to slow down the opening while with right hand, reached in to catch loose bottles. Apparently my providing resistance to slow the opening was interpreted as some kind of "problem" causing the opening to reverse and causing the lift gate to close on my right arm. I now have a large abrasion and bruise on my right arm where the lift gate tried to eat my arm. If the lift gate had a manual opening, I could have opened it at my desired speed but there is only an automatic opening with its default speed. When this is combined with the automatic reversal, you have a people eater. I tried to report this to Chevrolet but could not find anything in their many websites where a safety issue can be reported.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — Office of Defects Investigation