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 ›

Clear

Showing 169,480 complaints - component: ENGINE

Incident date: Aug 23, 2026

The vehicle exhibits a repeatable low-speed driveline-related problem consisting of pronounced clicking or clunking from the driver-front area, fore-and-aft jerking, and harsh engagement during deceleration and light on/off-throttle transitions, particularly around 15–17 mph; the behavior can become significantly worse over rough or uneven terrain. The exact failed component or system has not ye... Read more

Incident date: Mar 17, 2026

While driving on a highway at highway speed of approximately 62 miles per hour, a rock from the highway went through the front grille's hole, and punctured the area of the radiator, resulted in a large loss of coolant, and the vehicle's speed suddenly lost highway speed and lost propulsion on the highway, while driving at a highway speed. Thankfully noone was driving behind me. However, If someon... Read more

Incident date: Aug 21, 2026

Vehicle loss of power on the Interstate at a high rate of speed. Vehicle would not start and could not be put in Neutral to safely remove from road.

Incident date: Jul 30, 2026

The ongoing issues with my 2023 Chevrolet Equinox, VIN [XXX], which I have brought to your dealership multiple times for the same unresolved problem. I was told three separate times that the engine light was fixed. I checked the vehicle today, and the engine light is still on. I was misled three times. Since purchasing this vehicle, I have not been able to drive it. Instead, I have spent the last... Read more

Incident date: Aug 22, 2026

Was driving the vehicle at 70 mph on the highway without any issues for several hours and suddenly the vehicle lost power and had no propulsion. It went into neutral automatically and the engine shut off while driving. Thankfully I was on a downward slope and could steer the vehicle off the very busy highway. Once safe, I tried to restart the car but the engine would not start or turn over. Roadsi... Read more

Incident date: Aug 23, 2026

I was stopped at a stoplight. The car has idle stop so the engine turns off at the light. When I tried to go the car went into park. I could not get it back in drive and had to turn the car off then back on. Meanwhile I am stuck in the middle of the road with traffic. This has happened several times before.

Incident date: Aug 23, 2026

Driving on I-75 with cruise control engages. Vehicle began decelerating. Pulled over onto emergency lane. Engine idled roughly. Shut down. Attempted one restart unsuccessfully.

Incident date: Aug 20, 2026

Vehicle shifted into neutral while driving down the highway, extremely dangerous. Would not shift into gear and could not accelerate. Was able to pull over and the vehicle would not restart. Had to have the vehicle towed to a dealership. Dealership found a blown fuse, problem happened again twice and the dealer could not find the problem. This was July 28th, 2026. On August 20th, while in cruise c... Read more

Incident date: Dec 31, 1969

Torque converter failure led to transmission failure in 6 speed transmission. Engine lifter failure.

Incident date: Jul 31, 2026

I was driving my NEW 2026 Cadillac Escalade down the highway when my engine froze up! It was damaged so bad that they replaced the engine. So obviously GM has not fixed this problem. They promised that the issue was fixed or I would have never bought this vehicle.

Incident date: Aug 23, 2026

Sudden loss of propulsion while driving on I-75 with cruise control engaged. Vehicle began to decelerate. Pulled off onto emergency lane. Engine was idle-ing roughly. Would not increase rev when gas pedal pressed. Shut down. Tried one restart. Unsuccessful.

Incident date: Jun 17, 2026

My 2023 Chevrolet Suburban equipped with the 3.0L Duramax diesel engine (LM2) has experienced a recurring engine oil leak involving the rear main seal/lower timing cover area. The vehicle has required repeated dealer repairs for substantially the same oil-leak condition, including major engine-related disassembly, but the leak has returned after repair. This is a safety concern because failure of... Read more

Incident date: Aug 22, 2026

Engine abruptly lost power in middle of high speed lane. I did not have enough momentum to make it to safety, totally on the shoulder, Transmission locked up, couldn’t move vehicle to safety, Extremely dangerous situation!!!

Incident date: Aug 8, 2026

My truck has been shuttering when accelerating and hard shifts periodically. The engine is also tapping. I have right at 74000 miles. regular oil changes and maintenances.

Incident date: Aug 17, 2026

This report is for a 2018 Chrysler Pacifica with 90,100 miles. The check engine light came on in July 2026. It was a cylinder 5 misfire. The spark plugs and ignition coil were replaced. The check engine light came on again about 2 weeks later (cylinder 5 misfire again), was dismissed and reset by the shop, and came on again about 2 weeks later. This time, the shop diagnosed cylinder 5 misfire due ... Read more

Incident date: Jun 2, 2023

Lifters failed at 4,000 miles.

Incident date: Feb 26, 2026

Car was driving fine, randomly at 10k miles, the car started turning off. Thank god I had reached my house before it died out on me. I called the Cadillac dealer and brought it in. Apparently a plug was fusing, which caused a shortage to the engine.

Incident date: Apr 24, 2024

My 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.3L V6 (148,000 miles) has documented oil consumption and a recurring DTC P0278 (Cylinder 6 Contribution/Balance). Hyundai's formal oil-consumption test confirmed oil consumption, but said it was below the threshold for combustion-chamber cleaning. The check-engine light and P0278, and losing acceleration ability continue to recur. The vehicle is available for inspection.... Read more

Incident date: Mar 7, 2026

Engine burning excessive oil over a quart in 1000 miles. Catalytic converter code P0420 because of the excessive oil burning. Oil was always changed within the specified dealer milage range.

Incident date: Dec 31, 1969

Car losing power on the interstate and side roads Replaced spark plugs, replaced coil packs replaced fuel injectors after dealers diagnostic testing $2500 for those issues Vehicle still misfiring took in to another dealer head gasket need replacement $5200 quote

Incident date: Jun 22, 2026

The engine began knocking on startup and on acceleration. The vehicle would sometimes have difficulty accelerating. Upon taking it to the dealership, they were able to duplicate the issue. Upon inspection by the dealership, 2 rod bearings had spun and caused crankshaft damage. The manufacturer approved a full engine replacement under the warranty. There were no warnings lights, messages, or any ot... Read more

Incident date: Jul 29, 2026

Catastrophic Engine Failure while driving with 2,500 miles, leaving me stranded on the highway in the dead of night. Cadillac towed it in for repairs, yet refused to install a new engine, instead swapping out block with a rebuilt one and moving all other components over from the blown engine. As this was a “V” model which is equipped with an 6.2 LT4 engine, I was told that this would not be su... Read more

Incident date: Apr 28, 2026

I purchased my vehicle from GMC on April 13th and had approximately 4,500 miles on it. It was sold as new and drove it for about a week at 4,994 miles on the highway. During this time, it shifted from drive to neutral , but the vehicle was towed back to the dealership. Upon inspection, it was diagnosed with a seized engine.

Incident date: Aug 22, 2026

The oil recall on my truck has been completed, but the low oil light still comes on. They changed the weight of the oil stated that it didn’t fall Under the engine replacement recall. All that was done was a new oil cap and change weight of oil. Did not solve anything.

Incident date: Apr 24, 2026

Engine crank bearings failed at only 16,310 miles. Engine replaced with a new one due severe internal damage.

Incident date: Aug 10, 2026

I purchased a new 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit equipped with the new 2.0L Hurricane 4 Turbo. The vehicle has a repeatable and potentially dangerous accelerator-response problem. From a complete stop, I can apply substantial/full accelerator input and the vehicle initially provides little or no expected acceleration. The vehicle may begin creeping forward and the tachometer may begin moving, but... Read more

Incident date: Aug 8, 2026

My kids and I were driving when my engine started making a loud noise. I pulled over and turned it off for a few minutes then I turned it back on. It worked for another mile or so then started making the noise again and died while I was driving at about 55-60 miles an hr. I was able to pull over, put it in park and turned the key off....it wouldn't turn back on and the check engine light came on. ... Read more

Incident date: Aug 4, 2026

I pulled out onto a highway and sped up to 65 mph. About 10 minutes later, I heard a ticking sound.That sound proceeded to get very loud, almost like a loud pan banging/squeeling. The car seemed to “drive” normal but that sound was heard only on acceration of the gas pedal. If I was not pressing on the gas, the car sounded normal. Once I pressed the gas, the loud squeal occurred . I had it tow... Read more

Incident date: Jul 27, 2026

My 2024 Chevrolet Trax is currently operating with a suspected internal engine defect tied to active Safety Recall A242435780. On 7/27/2026, Michael Hohl Chevrolet performed the software patch for this recall. However, severe internal engine noise remains. On my official repair order, the Shop Foreman test-drove the vehicle and explicitly documented: 'suspects could be something internal will need... Read more

Incident date: Jul 31, 2025

Since July 2025, this vehicle has suffered from severe, recurring electronic and software glitches that critically affect driveability and safe operation. While driving, multiple critical warnings display on the instrument cluster indicating that the airbags are inoperable. Following or during these warnings, the vehicle experiences sudden power/system disruptions, after which the windshield wiper... Read more

Incident date: May 21, 2026

Motor ceased at 38k miles In october 2025 replaced engine and happened again several months later ceased at 3k miles in the middle of highway. major safety issues with these 6.2 v8 motors. GM has NOT fixed the design problem.

Incident date: Jul 9, 2026

Engine would tick and burn oil after the updated recall was done. There would be a hesitation occasionally when applying gas when pulling out from stop sign or stoplight. The engine stalled and would not restart. It would crank over but it was a super fast and elongated turn over. We had to call a tow truck and have it towed. The dealership said they found nothing wrong and sent us back out with i... Read more

Incident date: Jul 15, 2026

One evening while driving home from work, the transmission warning light illuminated on my dashboard, indicating that the vehicle would soon stop. The notification specifically stated there was a transmission problem. The following morning, I brought my truck to GMC for service. After running a diagnostic, GMC confirmed an issue with the transmission. A few days later, GMC informed me that they we... Read more

Incident date: Aug 19, 2026

After stopping at a red light the engine auto stopped and would not restart after releasing the brake. After 20 minutes of trying to turn the vehicle on/off it finally restarted. Serious safety concern since it was a busy road and the vehicle couldn’t be put into neutral to push it out of the lane. The vehicle is under 20,000 miles and in the warranty period. I haven’t taken it to the dealersh... Read more

Incident date: Jun 24, 2026

Catastrophic failure of engine while exiting the interstate.

Incident date: Feb 24, 2026

2024 Silverado ZR2 with the 6.2L engine was involved in the GM safety recall N252494003 for L87 Engine Loss of Propulsion. Vehicle taken to local dealership where inspection was performed. Passed inspection on 11/11/2025 resulting in the dealership changing to higher viscosity oil per safety recall instructions. 27,000 miles on vehicle at time of recall inspection. On 2/24/2026 was using the on r... Read more

Incident date: Aug 15, 2026

Car died in middle of nowhere at high speeds

Incident date: Jun 24, 2026

Vehicle lost all power and shutdown coming off the highway. This all happened even after the heavier ow-40 oil was added from the initial engine inspection. Been waiting almost 2 months for a total engine replacement

Incident date: Feb 2, 2026

In February 2026, my 2021 Volvo XC90 Recharge T8 (VIN: [XXX]) experienced a hybrid battery cell failure. The failure was diagnosed and confirmed by an authorized Volvo dealership (Volvo of Tacoma) and is covered under the vehicle's manufacturer warranty. However, I have been informed that a replacement part may not be available until December 2026 or later — a delay of ten months or more from th... Read more

Incident date: Feb 20, 2025

In February of 2025, while driving my 2016 Chevy Equinox home from work, I heard a loud pop and loss of engine power a block from home. The weather conditions at the time were below freezing and light snow. After getting my vehicle home, my neighbor, who works for GM looked under my Equinox and discovered the rear main oil seal had blown and informed me this was a known issue with the GM 2.4L Ec... Read more

Incident date: Aug 22, 2026

Symptoms are those described in Hyundai recall 236 (delayed shifting,hesitation, stalling). Vehicle has had multiple TSP services at Hyundai but symptoms persist intermittently. Software updates do not fix issue. Hyundai dealer has no other remedies.

Incident date: Jul 12, 2026

I learned from Carfax on July 12, 2026 that a recall has been issued on my vehicle, a 2019 BMW 530e -- "Recall 26V-441:540 Engine Starter". The recall relates to the engine starter and I understand from my research that the engine could catch on fire, even when the car is turned off. Now 5 weeks later, I have not received ANY notification from BMW about the recall, the hazard it presents, nor th... Read more

Incident date: Jun 23, 2026

On 06/23/2026 at approximately 62,745 miles, I brought my 2023 Cadillac Escalade Sport Platinum 4WD equipped with the 6.2L L87 V8 engine to a Cadillac dealership because of excessive engine oil consumption. The vehicle has been consuming approximately 3 quarts of engine oil every 2,000 miles, or roughly 1 quart every 650-700 miles. The dealership began an oil-consumption test to document the cond... Read more

Incident date: Aug 8, 2026

Vehicle has stalled when moving slowly and making a turn or slight turn. In all cases, the engine shuts off, all displays (instrument cluster and infotainment display) go black, and power accessories such as windows, radio, ac are all off. No warnings or service lights have appeared in the instrument cluster. July 4, 2026, morning – Vehicle stalled entering an alley, moving slowly and turning. ... Read more

Incident date: Aug 22, 2026

Bought a 2021 Escalade and at 50,000 miles it turned off at the middle of intersection while riding with my kids taking them to basketball. I had it towed to Cadillac they said it needed a new battery I left with new battery and broke down on the interstate while trying to pick up kids from school. I then had the car towed back to shop where they then said two days later I needed a new motor and t... Read more

Incident date: Jul 25, 2026

Blown head gasket

Incident date: May 24, 2026

I am writing to report my 2021 GMC Yukon Denali. This vehicle recently suffered a catastrophic failure of its 6.2L V8 engine while traveling on the freeway with my family inside, creating a severe and terrifying safety hazard. This failure occurred after my vehicle was supposedly remedied under GM’s official safety recall for the known L87 engine defect (Recall N252494001). As the National High... Read more

Incident date: Jul 27, 2026

The engine overheated due to a failed coolant pump at approximately 47,000 miles. Following diagnostic testing, the Toyota dealership retrieved diagnostic code P26CB71 and confirmed a cooling system fault. The repair consisted of replacing the coolant pump and thermostat.

Incident date: Aug 21, 2026

Yesterday (8/21/2026) my husband took this vehicle in for a routine oil change and upon the 100 point inspection was informed there was an oil leak somewhere from the engine. This vehicle is barely 2 years old and barely at 30,000 miles. There were 0 signs of a leak somewhere we had no idea. They completed diagnostics and determined it was the axle seal. Thankfully this was covered under warrant... Read more

Incident date: May 18, 2026

Unusual engine noise inspection at 86011 miles determined engine failure do to metal shavings and particles found in engine oils and oil filter by GM Dealership wher serviced only by them at mileage intervals on record and purchased new in 2019.

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 ... 25 26 27 ... 3389 3390 Next

Vehicle Safety

Consumer Safety

Infrastructure

Public Health

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