Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim, NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,245,377 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports, when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report, that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints, specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened, feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 129,250 complaints - component: AIR BAGS
Incident date: Feb 1, 2025
I was currently in an accident and my airbags did not deploy. My safety was at risk because I am pregnant. The vehicle was inspected by insurance representatives or body shop. No warning or other symptoms of problems prior to failure
Crash
1 injured
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2021) - AIR BAGS
May 9, 2025
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
I have contacted the Lexus dealership in Chattanooga, TN for the last two years and have been told that they did not have the parts to replace in my car. It shouldn't take two years to fix a recalled part. It's annoying and very frustrating.
Incident date: May 9, 2025
My wife and I purchased a 2024 Hyundai Tucson in June. Since February 28, 2025 the SRS indicator lights have come on twice. Hyundai replaced the airbag twice. In March, the emergency brake system red lights illuminated, and the car came to an abrupt stop. Luckily, there were no Cars behind me. Seconds later, the car resumed, and the lights disappeared. Hyundai dealership took the car in ... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2025
The passenger side seat belt light comes on when someone is sitting in the passenger seat. We have had to McGrath Honda in St Charles IL, but they say there is no recall. First time they did a diagnostic and said nothing wrong. Still came on sporadically. Took back, McGrath said they could do a diagnostic but it would cost $159. I said, you already did that. Why not change the sensor. They said we... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Fiat 124 Spyder. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V694000 (AIR BAGS); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was no... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2020) - AIR BAGS
May 9, 2025
Incident date: Nov 29, 2024
Porsche dashboard leather shrunk and staples pulled out. I was told that if the vehicle was in an accident the airbag might not deploy correctly. The Porsche dealer said it needs replacing. This is a VERY COMMON issue and Porsche is not recalling to fix. Please investigate and make Porsche correct this serious issue. Thank You
Incident date: Mar 4, 2025
The contact's wife owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact's wife received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V064000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue but confirmed that parts were not yet available and to wait... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Honda Civic. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V064000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue but confirmed that parts were not yet available, and to wait for the sec... Read more
Incident date: May 7, 2025
The contact owned a 2024 BMW X3. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 35 MPH and turning right, the vehicle unintentionally continued accelerating and veering to the right. The contact stated that she had depressed the brake pedal, but the brakes did not respond. The contact stated that the vehicle jumped the curb, the contact was not able to steer the vehicle back onto the roadw... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 2, 2025
The driver-side front airbag in my vehicle is under a safety recall due to the risk of it deploying improperly and releasing metal fragments, which could cause serious injury or death. I initially contacted the dealership in March and was told that I was not affected by the national backorder, and that the replacement part would arrive by early May. I have now been informed that the part will not... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
This has something to do with circuit board for the seat sensor that activates air bag? I can’t get dealer to take care of recall. They keep saying we don’t have the parts. This is going on since at least September of last year. Why have recall if they aren’t going to do anything about it? They make appointments and then cancel. I have called Honda Customer Service number(twice) listed on t... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the air bag warning light illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V834000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted and confirmed that parts were not yet available for the recall repair. The contact ... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2025
as mentioned by many customers the dash on the vehicles crack and GM refuses to pay for repairs. Now there is a Airbag recall that needs to be completed and I am told by dealer that the dash will crack more and get worse during the repair and they are not responsible for the damage. This is unacceptable and unsafe as it is costing me and consumers more money for a defective product.
Incident date: May 8, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the air bag warning light illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that the air bag was visible on the steering wheel. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle, and the air bag warning light was reset. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. In a... Read more
Incident date: Mar 17, 2018
A lady driving a Honda Fit pulled out in front of my wife while she was driving her Infinity QX80. My wife was driving about 40-45 MPH at the time of the crash. The driver at fault in the Honda Fit I noticed all air bags deployed. My wife's QX80 had none of the air bags deployed. The officers at the scene were shocked to see the amount of damage to my wife's QX80 while not triggering the air b... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 15, 2025
The contact owns a 2000 Ford E-150. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 20 MPH, the driver's side air bag exploded hitting her face and chest. The contact stated that she also observed smoke emanating from behind the air bag and when the vehicle stopped, she disconnected and reconnected the battery. The vehicle was restarted, and she continued to drive. Medical attention was not... Read more
1 injured
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2018) - AIR BAGS
May 8, 2025
Incident date: Mar 24, 2025
Around February or March of 2025, my Tesla Model 3 (year 2019) began to flag an electronic warning for a passenger occupancy sear sensor and recommended immediate service. The sensor and warning did not stay on and would only appear intermittently. I still decided to service the vehicle and took the car to the manufacturer service center closest to me in May 2025. I was quoted for $500-$600 to rep... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2025
The contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen Passat. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V148000 (AIR BAGS); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was ... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Corolla. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts n... Read more
Incident date: May 7, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 GMC Acadia. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experience... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated intermittently. The local dealer and other unknown dealers were contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that t... Read more
Incident date: May 7, 2025
I brought this vehicle into the dealership for safety recall 15s39. There were no problems with the vehicle prior to taking it in. When I received the vehicle back from the dealer they had admitted to not completing all the steps in the safety recall. Now that I have the vehicle the dealer returned it to me with the following issues: all of the interior and exterior lighting including the headligh... Read more
Incident date: Mar 11, 2025
The contact owned a 2012 Chrysler 300. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, a vehicle abruptly merged in front, causing the contact to T-bone the vehicle. The driver's side air bags did not fully deploy. The front passenger side air bag deployed, but there was no occupant. The vehicle was towed to a local tow yard. The vehicle was condemned as a total loss. The contac... Read more
Crash
1 injured
TESLA
CYBERTRUCK
(2024) - AIR BAGS
May 7, 2025
Incident date: May 7, 2025
There were no warning light, malfunction errors or anything prior to 1/4/2025. My passenger seat weight sensor was supposedly finally replaced on 4/9/2025 (I kept being turned away due to the part not being available), but it is still not working, as it is not illuminating/communicating with the dashboard appropriately. I told the dealer this the same day and they said it was late in the day so I ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Rav4. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (AIR BAGS); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made a... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2025
The OCS sensor is faulty and doesn’t detect a passanger and may cause the airbag not to deploy, this is common according to other Subaru owners. This is a common problem on many cars and those cars have been recalled
Incident date: Apr 27, 2025
Siempre se le prende la luz “atiende airbag” Hace 2 años la compuse que fue el sensor y ahora tengo 2 semanas que se se le prendio la lleve al dealer y que la bolsa salió defectuosa de fábrica y es muy caro .
Incident date: May 6, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Camry Hybrid. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not e... Read more
Incident date: Apr 30, 2025
The contact owns a 2013 Volkswagen Passat. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V834000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not exp... Read more
LAND ROVER
RANGE ROVER SPORT
(2016) - AIR BAGS
May 6, 2025
Incident date: May 5, 2025
The contact owned a 2012 Hyundai Genesis. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, she collided with another vehicle on the front driver's side. No air bags deployed. BM Automotive towed the vehicle, then the vehicle was towed to her local dealership. The contact stated that she sustained head and back injuries. The contact mentioned they informed her that she sustained whiplash ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE L
(2021) - AIR BAGS
May 6, 2025
Incident date: Aug 17, 2024
The airbags deployed on their own on 7-4-2023 in my daughter’s 2013 VW Beetle. My daughter and her friend were both injured (physically/mentally) as a result of both front airbags (steering wheel and dashboard airbags) deploying on their own causing over $10,000 USD damage to the beetle and injury to my daughter and her friend who was a passenger in the front seat. Volkswagen never sent out a... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: May 6, 2025
The contact owns a 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V785000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2023) - AIR BAGS
May 6, 2025
Incident date: Apr 11, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V215000 (AIR BAGS); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disc... Read more
Incident date: Apr 30, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Camry Hybrid. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not e... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2025
"During airbag deployment, the driver’s hand was burned with blistering. I believe hot gas or chemicals vented abnormally. This caused a painful injury requiring treatment."
Crash
Incident date: Nov 6, 2024
Owner [XXX] [XXX] . Driver [XXX] [XXX] ) [XXX] All of a sudden my 2024 Tucson vin: [XXX] gages indicated emergency braking for about 1 to 3 seconds and the front end went down ,(my wife and I went foward ) as though I was stopping (scared me ). It was the forward collision avoidance sys. I was so happy no one was behind me. Avoided a rear end collision. [XXX] we were Traveling west in th... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2020
The contact owns a 2013 Volkswagen Passat. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V834000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that several local dealers were contacted; however, the contact was informed that parts wer... Read more
Incident date: Apr 28, 2025
The passenger seat occupancy sensor has malfunctioned. The airbag turns off when a passenger of sufficient weight is seated; a warning light comes on intermittently. This happens often, posing a safety risk to the passenger.
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2019) - AIR BAGS
May 5, 2025
Incident date: May 1, 2025
"Error: Airbag" periodically comes on, goes off at random times. Seems to be an issue with the Passenger Occupancy Detection System Module. Nothing spilled to make this module not work properly. With this error on, it turns off the airbag for the passenger. This has been confirmed by the dealer. This error appeared without warning or incident at ~45K miles on the car.
Incident date: Apr 18, 2025
Safety Recall 19B/NHTSA 24V-198/SABIC Inflator. Two (2) recall notices have been received (March 2024 and May 2025). A local Chicago area dealership, Tyson Chrysler, advises that replacement parts have not been received for the 2019 model vehicles, but have been received for model years 2020 and 2021. As a result, the potential danger associated with possible rupture of the SABIC Inflator Curtai... Read more
Incident date: May 5, 2025
The contact owns a 2015 Hyundai Elantra. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal was depressed, however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. The vehicle crashed into a guardrail. In addition, the air bags did not deploy. The contact was taken to the hospital and was treated for facial fractures. The contact was then transferred to another hospital for ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 29, 2025
My Car's Driver side air bag sign is on and took it to the Nissan dealer for diagnostic and was told the car seatback needs to be replaced as the airbag is not working. the technician was surprised that this part of the car needed replacement. this car has clean title no accidents and one owner. contacted nissan consumer affairs but they would not help in this issue. the component was never inspec... Read more
Incident date: May 5, 2025
My Car's Driver side air bag sign is on and took it to the Nissan dealer for diagnostic and was told the car seatback needs to be replaced as the airbag is not working. the technician was surprised that this part of the car needed replacement. this car has clean title no accidents and one owner. contacted nissan consumer affairs but they would not help in this issue. the component was never inspec... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
E350
(2014) - AIR BAGS
May 5, 2025
Incident date: May 4, 2025
I was driving my 2026 Tesla Model Y when another vehicle pulled out from a driveway and struck the front/side of my car. The Tesla failed to initiate Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and no airbags deployed. This raises serious concerns about the functionality of Tesla’s safety systems in real-world scenarios. The vehicle has not been modified in any way and was in standard driving mode. I ha... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 10, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the rear driver’s side air bag warning light was intermittently illuminated while driving at various speeds. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for a diagnostic, and the contact was informed that the air bag wiring harness needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure,e and a case ... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Toyota Highlander. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experie... Read more
Incident date: May 4, 2025
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Fusion. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 15V34000 (STEERING), 19V001000 (AIR BAGS), and 21V158000 (AIR BAGS); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 16, 2025
Was stopped at a red light behind the car in front of me. I was stopped at a appropriate distance from the car in front of me. I had my right foot on the brake pedal, when the car accelerated on its own. It launched its self into the car ahead of me. I looked down and my foot was still on the brake pedal. None of the air bags inside the car deployed.
Crash
2 injured
DODGE
GRAND CARAVAN
(2018) - AIR BAGS
May 5, 2025
Incident date: Oct 25, 2024
Airbag light sensor is on in the dashboard
Incident date: May 4, 2025
Vehicle flashed SOS call not available on the radio. Then noticed airbag light on. Immediately went to the dealership and was informed the sensor is out and therefore the airbags are not functional. The part was supposed to be ordered only to find out more than a week later that the part is unavailable. The vehicle is without airbags and without emergency call if the airbags were to deploy. Have e... Read more