2019 ice failures! Help!

[r5ran]

Hello,
A brand new Equinox owner here and my first post!
Got a question I can't find any info on, anywhere, hopefully someone on this site can give me some advice.
Just picked up a 2019 Eq 2.0T Premier with just about every option. After just a couple days of ownership and only 41 miles on the odometer, we had to head out on a trip to lower Michigan for a family emergency, from the frozen U.P.. On the way south, we hit a nasty snow/ ice storm (common up here). As the snow turned to ice, and began to build up on the vehicle and the various cameras and sensors, a lot of my driving aids started shutting down. This included the lane keep assist, the intellibeam headlights, and the adaptive cruise. This is not a surprise and totally makes sense, in fact I even got several messages saying ice was on the windshield blocking the camera behind the mirror.
What was a surprise though, is after a little while, my navigation screen turned off, and said "SD card removed", which was not true, as the SD card reader (which is in the front center cubby of the dash) was never touched. Efery time you tried to activate the nav, you got the SD card has been removed error. When I tried to reseat the SD card, I noticed the normally lit white surrounds around the various devices of the SD card reader (USB port, and other outlets) were out. Also, all of the USB ports failed (both front and inside the console). Seems like this SD device and USB ports may have lost all power. Hence my nav failed, along with all USB charging and Android Auto connectivity.
So, as we got to slightly warmer weather, and the ice was slowly melting, I pulled over and cleaned the windshield ice blocking the camera (it was covered pretty badly). I also shut down and restarted the vehicle several times. As I expected, the LKAS function returned, along with intellibeam high beams. However, the SD card reader stayed blacked out and the adaptive cruise still failed along with the nav, Android Auto and other USB ports. Manual cruise worked. Not happy, I assumed I blew a fuse that handled this SD and USB port functions. While the owner's manual was not specific, I narrowed it down to fuses F36 or F39 in the dash fuse panel....
When we finally arrived, after unloading all the stuff, I went out to the garage, to check the suspected fuses.....but to my surprise, the SD card reader was now lit up, and all functions (nav, USB and adaptive cruise) were working perfectly!
So, this is where I need some good advice! While I can see the ice causing the LKAS and intellibeam failures, I can't see why it would shut down the all power to the SD card reader and it's related functions. And why did it come back afterwards, before I even checked the fuses? Only logical explanation I can come up with is that possibly a loose or flaky fuse, but with today's cars, you never know how they are wired and interconnect.
I do plan on reseating the fuses and hope that helps, unless the problem returns, than I am heading to the dealer asap.
Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks, Randy

 

[r5ran]

Just an update, I did check the fuses, and F39 in the interior fuse box, seems like it may have been the circuit.
When I pulled it, the symptoms were similar to my failure I encountered while driving. I did swap it with another 10 amp fuse, to try and narrow down the root cause. Is it simply the fuse or is their something faulty in that circuit's path?
Only time will tell. So far, have been driving it a few more days in lower Michigan, where it's been cold, but no snow or ice. We get a lot of snowy winter weather in the U.P., so if ice was the root cause, I'll know soon when I return home.
Thanks.

 

[kinetic]

I experienced something similar to this yesterday with only 50 miles on my premier. I lost functionality of adaptive cruise and lane departure features. I called my dealer, and they said there is also a sensor and camera under the front grill bow tie emblem. If the sensor gets covered with snow/ice the safety features are shut off. Check and make sure the sensor is clean. As far as the sd card reader and usb ports though it sounds like you are on the right path.

 

[TopHat]

Typically, your car will reset after shutting off the engine. At least that is my experience on a number of high tech vehicles, unless it is a fuse. When sensors are blocked by road spatter, snow etc, don't expect all that to work on any vehicle.

 

[ricklack]

Some of the older Equinox had issues with electrical connectors near the bottom of the chassis that would produce intermittent connections when wet, I wonder if the newer ones may have a similar issue? I had a 2013 but did not see this issue in 350,000km.

On my 2022 I experience the LKA, Adaptive cruise, Parking Assist, blind spot lights etc being disabled with ice build up, that's common. Clean off the ice, things work again.

The SDCard error is not related to those but may be more related to the electrical connector issues in my first paragraph. I had a hard failure of the SDCard that was fixed by replacing the SDCard. However, there is also a known issue if you see the SDCard removed issue intermittently, it is supposed to be cured by a software update - I created a thread that contains the TSB here: https://www.chevyequinoxforum.com/threads/2022-equinox-nav-error-sd-card-removed.3673/

Since the dealer replaced my SDCard I have had the intermittent error appear once. Since the dealer had already performed the software update trying to cure my hard error, that software update may not work in all cases. I did not notice if the lights for the ports below the SDCard were out when I had the intermittent error - i would suspect not. That's what made me think of an electrical connector that needs some cleaning, reseating and protection.

Since there is a TSB I believe the dealer will perform the update, even if your warranty has expired. Can't hurt to ask.