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.

2,245,377 Total Complaints

140,173 Reported Crashes

56,794 Reported Fires

8,580 Reported 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

How to Read NHTSA Consumer Complaints › How NHTSA Investigations Work › Used Car: 7 Recall Checks to Run First › The Takata Airbag Recall: Full Story › OBD-II Codes Explained › All Articles ›

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Showing 169,480 complaints - component: ENGINE

Incident date: May 19, 2026

This complaint documents a recurring automatic transmission failure resulting in three complete vehicle shutdowns during active operation — two at highway speed and one in an active turning lane. The most recent failure occurred within 15 minutes of the vehicle being released from an authorized Hyundai dealership in College Park, Maryland, whose general manager admitted in a recorded call that t... Read more

Incident date: May 8, 2026

My Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe has an active safety recall involving possible catastrophic engine failure, fire risk, and sudden loss of propulsion. The manufacturer recall states that sand contamination inside the engine may lead to engine failure and vehicle fire. The recall remains incomplete and the manufacturer states the repair remedy is still under development. I was informed that repair parts... Read more

Incident date: May 18, 2026

I was operating a 2024 Kia Telluride and was fully stopped in traffic when my vehicle was rear-ended by another vehicle. Immediately after the impact, my vehicle experienced apparent unintended forward propulsion/movement despite my braking attempts. Following the collision, the vehicle continued moving/driving forward for approximately 20 seconds and did not respond normally to brake input. The ... Read more

Crash

Incident date: Apr 30, 2026

I was at a stoplight, waiting to making a U-turn. The light turned green release the brake and went to hit the gas. The entire vehicle shut off. I lost all power and had to restart the vehicle in the middle of the intersection with vehicles behind me. It took at least 30 seconds and I ended up having to wait a cycle on the light because I couldn’t go at the time. Once I got the car back on, I lo... Read more

Incident date: Apr 13, 2026

The engine in my 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport equipped with the 2.4L Theta II GDI engine is experiencing severe excessive oil consumption. The vehicle consumes approximately 2–2.5 quarts of oil every 1,000 miles despite multiple repair attempts and dealership-performed combustion cleaning procedures. Hyundai Motor America and the dealership documented the condition under PA #[XXX] and recommended... Read more

Incident date: May 21, 2026

> The engine block is cracked internally due to a known design defect in the 2.0L EcoBoost. Coolant is leaking into the combustion chambers through cracks in the cylinder walls. This causes white smoke from exhaust, misfires, and coolant loss with no external leak. Ford acknowledged this in TSB 19-2346 and TSB 22-2229 but has not recalled the 2.0L engines. Engine could fail while driving at highwa... Read more

Incident date: May 21, 2026

The head gasket malfunctioned/ broke. It has been confirmed by the Honda dealer where I currently have my vehicle. There were no messages or symptoms prior to failure. My safety and others were put at risk because my vehicle began to turn off as I was driving up a hill with no warning. The vehicle began to decelerate.

Incident date: Feb 1, 2022

Engine coolant intrusion. Known issue with these cars apparently that Ford needs to step up and fix/replace their design flaw. The fact car dealerships sell these ticking time bombs to unknowing customers is ridiculous.

Incident date: Apr 29, 2026

My car caught on fire on [CCC] and it's completely burned down, a total loss. Following is information about my car and some summary of what happened. Car information: - Mazda CX5 2024 - Bought in June or July 2024(car payment only made 22 times so far) - Odometer 24,445mi(as of 05/15/2026) What happened: - In [XXX] Friday afternoon, I was in Bellevue and noticed an engine overheat warning. So, ... Read more

Fire

Incident date: May 21, 2026

Error code, cylinder 2. This is 2018 Ford Edge 2L ecoboost and personal mechanic looked in cylinder and saw small amount of coolant. The car is sitting at Ford dealership in Albemarle NC at this time for full diagnostics. The car has mostly been parked since getting error code but husband said coolant is full, oil looks normal, is not cloudy and car drove fine to dealership. We are hoping this wil... Read more

Incident date: May 23, 2026

My vehicle is suffering from a severe coolant intrusion to cylinders 2 and 3 and I’m constantly getting bad misfire codes while driving.

Incident date: Apr 1, 2026

The vehicle exhibits two distinct and dangerous behaviors: 1. Engine stalling upon deceleration: When slowing to a stop, the engine stalls abruptly before the vehicle comes to a complete stop, causing a sudden, unexpected deceleration that throws occupants forward with significant force. 2. Unintended surge upon brake release: When releasing the brake pedal from a complete stop, the vehicle surg... Read more

Incident date: May 21, 2026

At low speed and at stop the vehicle has shut off and shifted to park. Various warning were present on dash. No CEL was present. The vehicle was able to be started and shifted to drive again.

Incident date: May 22, 2026

While driving a drivetrain warning ⚠️ was detected and code was displayed on the I drive, along with a CEL. The vehicle is in limp mode so I was unable to accelerate past 35-40 mph. Took the car into the dealership and was informed that my waste gate actuator failed @59,388 miles. The part is an electric controller and can fail without warning. In my opinion 59,000 miles is extremely early fo... Read more

Incident date: May 8, 2026

Unknown! sometimes the rear back up camera goes into a black screen and then once in drive the info screens stays black for about 30 seconds. the cars shifting is hard at times especially when going from slow to fast like for instance on a highway on ramp the shifting is very sluggish. the cupholder are a real hazard my cupholder bottomed out and my drink fell thru luckily there was no liquid in ... Read more

Incident date: May 14, 2026

I bought this vehicle in mid April 2026 with 9,500 miles. It has the 1.5L Ecoboost engine. I drove the car for 3,000 miles and noticed the coolant was at ‘minimum’ and wondered why a car with so few miles is using coolant. I took the car to my dealer and they confirmed coolant intrusion into the engine due to a bad head gasket. The vehicle is now at the dealer waiting on either a new head gask... Read more

Incident date: May 21, 2026

While accelerating onto the highway in my 2016 Kia Optima 2.4L, the vehicle suddenly lost all engine power without warning. The vehicle would no longer accelerate and I was forced to coast and brake to safety. Immediately after the engine shut off, the check engine light, oil light, and battery light illuminated on the dashboard. After the incident, the vehicle would not restart or crank at all. ... Read more

Incident date: May 24, 2026

The vehicle suddenly began vibrating noticeably when idling and at low speeds. About 30 minutes after this started happening a warning lamp lit up. We drove the vehicle about 2 miles to a local auto parts store to get an initial computer diagnosis of the issue. The test resulted in a code of "P0304" which detected a cylinder #4 misfire and recommended a fuel injector replacement. We brought ... Read more

Incident date: May 18, 2026

I own a 2019 BMW X5 xDrive40i with the B58 3.0L turbocharged inline-six engine. While driving in Minnesota, the vehicle suddenly displayed an urgent warning stating “oil pressure too low” and instructed me to stop the engine. This occurred while the vehicle was being operated on the road, requiring me to stop driving immediately. The vehicle was later inspected by an authorized BMW dealer. Th... Read more

Incident date: Apr 1, 2025

Coolant leaking into go engine. Causing erosion. Only 40,000 miles and been without car for 3 months now. Upon research this is a known issue. Confused why it wasn’t recalled with the number of people who appear to have been impacted.

Incident date: May 19, 2026

Ever since I bought this vehicle, it stalls randomly. Apparently this is a major issue with this car and complaints are all over the Internet by owners. I have a child and I am afraid to drive the car. I have bought the car to get fixed and it is still stalling. It appears that thousands of people have the same issue as some sort of canister needs to be replaced but even shortly after it is replac... Read more

Incident date: May 19, 2026

Good evening, I want to formally document what happened today regarding my GMC Sierra after I brought it to the dealership on Friday morning for transmission concerns that I had already reported. At that visit, the vehicle was inspected, and I was informed that the truck was still safe to drive while waiting for the extended warranty approval for the replacement parts that were needed. Unfortunat... Read more

Incident date: May 19, 2026

Timing gears/camshaft issues. dealer mechanic stated that the pin on camshaft broke and timing jumping. dealership stated this is a known issue with Elantra's but Hyundai has done nothing to address this issue. This repair costs over 4000 dollars for a known issue

Incident date: Oct 18, 2023

I have had several major problems with this car's engine. Once it shut down (was detecting no oil but was full) while on the interstate. Had to replace the radiator fan assembly and module. Coolant Leaks

Incident date: Jan 1, 2026

We were traveling to our son’s college graduation, driving on a rural interstate and suddenly all of the vehicle’s warning lights lit on the dash and the car started losing, and then completely lost power. The car was no longer operational. We were stranded on the roadside of a remote but busy 2-lane interstate for 2 hours until a tow truck could arrive and take the car to the closest car repa... Read more

Incident date: Jan 1, 2026

At 116 miles, the engine blew and I was informed it would need to be replaced. I purchased a used engine from the same year of vehicle because Kia said it would not be covered since the vehicle had passed the 100,000 mile mark. I spend over $5,000 to get this engine and have it installed by a licensed mechanic. This second engine has now also blown leaving me without a vehicle as a single mom with... Read more

Incident date: May 23, 2026

While driving, the engine started to shutter and run rough. Pulled over to check and see if everything was ok. When restarting engine it developed a ticking noise which got worse and worse. We then made an appointment at a transmission specialist to get it serviced. While driving there the engine started experiencing engine failure with loss of power and loud ticking noise. Diagnostic from trans s... Read more

Incident date: Mar 18, 2026

While driving at normal highway speeds, I got a warning light for engine overheat condition and cooling fans came on. I also got a warning that the engine would go to reduced power. I reported this issue to my local GMC dealer. Was told that this was a comm problem with this engine however: my vin number indicated that this vehicle was not covered under warranty N252508341. I was advised to br... Read more

Incident date: Mar 18, 2026

Vehicle has excessive oil consumption defect acknowledged in Kia TSB ENG222. Repeated catalytic converter failures indicate potential overheating risk similar to 2019 Gamma engine recall for fire hazard. Engine burning oil creates risk of critically low oil levels leading to engine failure/stalling while driving. Multiple emission system failures (oil consumption, catalytic converter) suggest unsa... Read more

Incident date: May 23, 2026

While traveling at highway speeds on Interstate 5 in Oregon, my 2015 GMC Yukon Denali experienced a sudden, catastrophic engine failure with zero advance warning. The vehicle instantly lost almost all propulsion and power while surrounded by high-speed traffic, creating an immediate and severe safety hazard on a major interstate. The engine began making a loud, severe knocking noise, and I was for... Read more

Incident date: May 22, 2026

My 2020 Ford EcoSport is subject to Safety Recall 23S64 for failure of the engine oil pump drive belt and/or tensioner. What component failed: The engine oil pump drive belt and/or tensioner failed, resulting in loss of oil pressure and major engine damage. Date of failure: Approximately [XXX] (Repair Order opened January 13 2026, mileage at failure: approximately 98000). Safety risk: This defe... Read more

Incident date: May 22, 2026

My vehicle has already had recalls on the fuel system and brake pin. Now I have an auto idle stop system problem. The indicator light is constantly flashing. Two days ago I was stopped at a red light on a two lane road in the city. When I pushed in the brake the car did not come out of idle. It just stalled. It took probably 30 seconds to a full minute before I could do anything. My option was to ... Read more

Incident date: Jun 16, 2025

I own a 2023 Toyota Tundra that is part of the major engine recall due to machining debris in the 3.4L V6 engine. A few days prior to the failure, I called the dealership to raise concerns that the acceleration was starting to not act right. Despite this, while driving at 70 mph on the highway yesterday (May 22, 2026), the engine suddenly failed and died without any prior warning, it is my belief ... Read more

Incident date: May 23, 2026

P0128CODE P0024 CODE SECOND Cam Shaft sensor failure Thermostat failure, stuck open Electrical issues from low battery power Failure to shift to park when shutting off vehicle

Incident date: Apr 24, 2026

My vehicle wasn’t reading my key fob when I was pressing the lock and unlock button, so I took out the hard key and unlock the doors. Then the alarm set off and I was using the key fob again trying to shut the alarm off no response so I took the key fob and press the start stop button and the engine turn over and the key was working again then I went to shut off the engine same way. The engine w... Read more

Incident date: Apr 13, 2026

Left for work. Started running funny, stalled-started-stalled-started on my street. Got on highway about 1/2 mile, check engine light & engine temp light came on. Got off highway and called a tow to SARASOTA FORD. Tech ran diag. for codes, codes found.: P1285( cylinder head over temp ), P0316(engine misfire ), P0304( cylinder 4 misfire ), P0303(cylinder 3 misfire ), P0302( cylinder 2 misfire ), P2... Read more

Incident date: Mar 31, 2026

The vehicle will not get to highway speed causing it to impede traffic and presenting a safety risk for collision.

Incident date: May 23, 2026

Coolant bypass valve leak. An known issue however dealership will not pay for repairs due to vehicle having 106000 mile. 6000 over what the bulletin 24TE04 states it will cover.

Incident date: May 7, 2026

On 5-11-26, I was driving and the vehicle just stopped in the middle of the roadway. I couldn’t go in drive or reverse, just sitting with engine running.No warning lights, no noise, or anything that would let me know there was a problem. Cars was coming up behind me and in front. I called a towi truck, and a police officer. The officer pushed me off the road way, and the car was towed.

Incident date: May 18, 2026

While driving over the expressway, the engine light came on the vehicle started revving extremely hard but was decreasing speed to less than 20 miles per hour I had to cut on the hazards and coast into s safety lane where I could get off the expressway. I then shifted the car into park cut off the vehicle and cut it back on, the car started up but make loud noises from the engine I was able to coa... Read more

Incident date: May 14, 2026

Our 2017 Ford Edge Titanium had its engine check light go on at 60,788 miles on April 6, 2026. So we brought it into our local Ford dealership (where we purchased it new) the next day on April 7. We were told that diagnostics showed there was a coolant intrusion in one of the cylinders (2.0L Eco-Boost engine) and we would need to basically rebuild the engine (long block) for $9,900! This is very f... Read more

Incident date: May 9, 2024

I own the car and have had it for 3 years well maintenance but I notice when I pump gas it doesn’t want to go water leak in the the car when it rain and the fuel g lm from the gas tank leaks and you can smell gas strongly

Incident date: May 2, 2016

Vehicle experienced sudden severe loss of motive power consistent with Ford Safety Recall 23S64 (NHTSA Campaign 23V905000). Prior to repair, the vehicle entered limp mode and could not accelerate beyond approximately 30 to 35 MPH. Low oil pressure warning indicators and check engine light illuminated repeatedly. Engine produced abnormal grinding and strained startup noises. Vehicle also experience... Read more

Incident date: Apr 8, 2026

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Engine is malfunctioning, increase in oil consumption, MPG dropping, a ticking/knocking noise coming from the engine, and erratic engine behavior with random surges while driving to 6000+ RPM. Brought it into Kia 2x now for same issue and first time said nothing was wrong and second time I am now goi... Read more

Incident date: May 13, 2026

Component failed 1.6L Escoboost engine coolant intrusión into cylinders causing misfire and white exhaust smoke vehicle available for inspection upon request .safety risk:engine misfire and coolant loss cause sudden of power or ingine fire while driving. Recall 17S09 was issude for this exact defect .Ford SSM 46433 states this requires new engine assemby . Problem confirmed multiple repair shops ... Read more

Incident date: May 14, 2026

Multiple DTC codes on car at 25,120 miles,32,344, 34,324, 47,484, 51,853, 53,521, Consistent Fuel Injector failing under warranty, prior to 60,000 miles and not replaced correctly, as I have had to see dealership 4 times for ineffective fuel injector replacement and consistent problem. First DTC code reading @ 25,120 miles as stated on DTC coding Reports through Hyundai/Bluelink app. SEVERE Fue... Read more

Incident date: Apr 16, 2026

Was stopping at red light. Got to about 5mph when Jeep accelerated to about 35mph. I was standing on the breaks but the Jeep kept accelerating until impact struck the car in front me which was stopped. I have video.

Crash

Incident date: Apr 16, 2026

The engine failed on a 2015 Hyundai Elantra with approximately 71,000 miles. The vehicle has an open, unresolved safety recall (Recall 251, NHTSA #23V651000) for an ABS module brake fluid leak that Hyundai has acknowledged but has not provided a remedy for. The vehicle is currently at an independent repair facility and is available for inspection upon request. The vehicle repeatedly shut off witho... Read more

Incident date: May 22, 2026

The primary failure is in the electronic transmission control system and engine wiring harness assembly, specifically throwing diagnostic trouble codes P0700 (Transmission Control System Malfunction) and P0717 (Input Speed Sensor Circuit No Signal). The authorized dealership identified a critical issue with the engine harness chafing, but their subsequent repair attempts have failed to resolve the... Read more

Incident date: Apr 26, 2026

***SAFETY/DANGER*** On April 12th at around 5:30 p.m. my family of five, to include three minor children were returning home from visiting family which live about an hour and a half away and as we're traveling on the freeway at highway speeds, in traffic, our new Tahoe unexpectedly and without warning went into reduced power mode and cut speed down to approximately 35 MPH in active traffic, which... Read more

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Vehicle Safety

Consumer Safety

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Consumer Safety Complaints

What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?

How to interpret what you read

If you've experienced a defect

Read more from our blog