As your local Chevy dealership, we at Bedard Brothers Chevrolet are here to keep you up-to-date on the latest news about the models in our lineup. For the 2024 model year, we’re proud to announce that the Equinox is making some advanced safety features more straightforward. The Equinox is an affordable, versatile, and stylish compact SUV. It has a well-rounded list of features, including a wide array of safety techs. The 2024 Equinox also has a five-star safety rating in collision testing from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
While the Equinox has many essential safety features, from its well-constructed and crash-worthy body to its airbags, we’re going to focus on something more specific: driver assistance technology. These features help you stay aware of your surroundings, even when things get hectic on the highway or in a crowded parking lot, and give you extra tools to help you stay out of harm’s way.
The 2023 Equinox already had many excellent driver assistance features, and the 2024 model makes them more widely available across trim levels. Let’s dig into the specifics so you can know what to expect from this new-and-improved SUV.
Standard Safety Tech Across the Equinox Lineup
First, cover the standard driver assistance features across the entire Equinox lineup. These features are on all trim levels at no extra cost, so you don’t have to pay extra for peace of mind. Forward collision alert warns you when a collision is imminent, and automatic emergency braking and front pedestrian braking automatically brake or supplement manual braking to avoid a collision.
Lane keep assist with lane departure warning helps you to stay centered in your lane without unintentionally drifting out while following distance indicator lets you know whether or not you’re keeping a good amount of space between you and the vehicle in front of you, something that can be tricky to manage at highway speeds.
At night, Intellibeam automatic high-beam headlights turn your brights on and off depending on lighting conditions and surrounding traffic, so you can get the extra visibility you need on dark roads without accidentally blinding the drivers around you.
Chevy’s rear vision camera makes it easy to maneuver in reverse without flying blind, and rear seat reminders help busy drivers not forget anything they put in the back seat at the start of their drive.
Suppose you’re using the Chevy Equinox to teach your newly-permitted kids how to drive. In that case, you can use Teen Driver technology to keep them safe, ensuring that your teenager remembers to buckle up, doesn’t go too fast, and doesn’t turn off certain safety features. You can use an in-vehicle report card to give your young drivers personalized coaching and advice, even if you aren’t in the car with them every time they drive.
Driver Confidence II Package: New Features & Expanded Availability
If you want to go beyond the standard suite of driver assistance, you can get packages that include more advanced tech. For instance, the Equinox offers the Driver Confidence II Package. On the 2023 Equinox, this package was standard on the RS and Premier trims and available on the LS and LT; it added rear park assist to the LS and both front and rear park assist on LT and above. Park Assist uses built-in sensors to alert you when objects are detected in front of or behind your vehicle so you can confidently park.
For the 2024 model year, the Driver Confidence II Package now comes standard on the LT trim as well as the RS, Premier and is still available on the LS. On top of that, it’s expanding to include new features. Lane change alert with side blind zone alert helps you keep track of vehicles that are approaching the next lane, even when they’re in your mirror’s blind spot, so that you can have an easier time maneuvering on busy freeways.
A rear cross-traffic alert comes in handy when backing out of a parking space in a crowded parking lot; it warns you when vehicles are approaching from either side so you can wait to back out until the coast is clear. With these extra features now standard on the affordable LT trim and readily available on the base LS trim, it’s easier than ever before for drivers on a budget to get top-of-the-line driver assistance tech.
Go Above and Beyond With Driver Confidence III
While you can get a lot of great features on lower trim levels, there are still some perks to upgrading to the Premier trim. For instance, you still have to opt for this trim to get the available Driver Confidence III Package, which has even more advanced features. Not all of these features are individually exclusive to the Premier trim (adaptive cruise control and HD surround vision are available on the LT trim and up), but the package bundles some valuable features in an easy add-on.
Adaptive cruise control lets you set a speed, just like regular cruise control, but it also enables you to set a preferred following distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. If traffic ahead slows down, the system will automatically slow down with it, as much as it needs to maintain a safe following distance. Once the coast is clear, it will automatically speed back up until it hits your set speed again. Like traditional cruise control, it’s easy to override this feature and regain control whenever you want. It can take a long drive on the highway and turn it into a piece of cake.
HD surround vision uses multiple cameras to give you a 360º view of the area around your vehicle so you can park even in a driveway littered with toys or a mall parking lot amid the holiday rush. Smart guidelines show you where you’re headed so that you can maneuver flawlessly.
Automatic parking assist makes parking this Chevy SUV even more effortless by automating it almost entirely. You still have to brake and shift between gears, but the system can automatically steer to help you parallel park perfectly. It works for perpendicular parking, too, but any driver can tell you which one they’d rather have a helping hand with.
Chevrolet Is Working Hard to Put Safety First
Everyone wants to stay safe on the road. Chevy is working hard to ensure that drivers of all types, from commuters to parents, can get all the features they need to drive confidently without going over budget. This process can be tricky as new advanced safety features are developed and introduced. Newer tech can be expensive, so balancing maximum safety and reasonable affordability isn’t always easy. But Chevy is continually working to make its features better, safer, and less costly to offer them to as many drivers as possible.
The expansion of the Driver Confidence II package may seem like a small step, but it’s just one part of a larger trend. The Chevy Safety Assist features that now come standard on all Equinox trims were once optional features, but they became standard across the lineup for the 2020 model year. In the future, even more advanced features will become standard, and new innovative tech will be introduced and improved. Chevy is always moving forward, and we at Bedard Brothers Chevrolet are proud to offer you all of the latest innovations from this great American automaker. Contact us to set up a test drive today.