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 40,899 complaints - component: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2023) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 5, 2024
Incident date: Jul 27, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated while driving approximately 60 MPH, the vehicle was making an abnormal knocking sound with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact exited the highway and stopped at an auto parts store. The contact was advised by the store employee to have the vehicle towed to a repair shop. The contact had the vehicle towed to an indepen... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Compass. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The coolant temperature warning light was illuminated. In addition, the contact stated the steering wheel seized and the vehicle became difficult to steer. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, but the failure could not be replicated. The local dealer informed the contact th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 28, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the message "Low Coolant" was displayed. The contact stated that there was coolant leaking from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The fail... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact stated that the vehicle stalled while driving at approximately 45 MPH. The vehicle was steered to a parking lot. The vehicle was not able to be restarted. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was then towed to a dealer where it was diagno... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact's girlfriend owns a 2014 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while his girlfriend was driving at various speeds, the check engine warning light illuminated. Additionally, the driver noticed that there was coolant leaking onto her foot while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that coolant was leaking onto the accelerator pedal and floorboard. The local dealer and a se... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 MPH, the engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with a coolant intrusion in the engine. The dealer recommended that the engine be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that the coolant level would become low, possibly cause an engine fire, an... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Escape. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the engine overheated and an alarm sounded. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where the thermostat was replaced; however, the failure recurred while driving 23 MPH. The contact pulled to the side of the road. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mec... Read more
BRAKE PARTS
CARQUEST BS589
(9999) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 5, 2024
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Tundra. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V381000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); 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 contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken for an oil change, and the vehicle was diagnosed with coolant intrusion. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to call the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approx... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-150. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, there was an abnormal rattling sound coming from the engine compartment. After the vehicle engine had warmed up the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnose... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2024
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Mar 8, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while his son was driving approximately 65 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated, the vehicle started losing motive power and stalled. The vehicle was later towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the engine had failed due to coolant intrusion into cylinder #2. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced... Read more
NISSAN
PATHFINDER
(2015) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 5, 2024
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, there was an abnormal sound coming from under the hood. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed that the cam phasers had failed. The cam phasers were replaced under warranty. The contact stated the vehicle was taken to the local dealer on several occasion... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the engine had overheated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that engine coolant had leaked into the cylinders, causing severe damage to the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufac... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 23V707000 (Engine and Engine Colling) and 24V513000 (Air Bags); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were 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 contact stated while driving at... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
The contact's wife owns a 2019 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while the driver was driving 35-40 MPH, the check engine warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the Mobile App read diagnostic code for engine misfire. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact related the failure to Ford Campaign Number: 21N12. The manufacturer was notified ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact called on behalf of his daughter who owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine was misfiring. The contact stated that the failure persisted and the engine overheated. The contact was able to pull the vehicle to the side of the road, where white smoke was coming from the front of the vehicle near the engine compartment. The vehicle was... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
The contact's daughter owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion inside cylinder #1 had caused engine failure. The dealer determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to TSB Number: 19-2346. The ma... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2024
The contact stated owns a 2018 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced a rattling sound emitting from the engine compartment and the VIN was included in a Warranty related coverage for the cam phasers to be replaced. Approximately 4 years after the cam phasers were replaced, the rattling sound returned. The contact stated that the sound mostly occurred during cold starts, ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle was sputtering. The engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion in the engine. The local dealer recommended that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, who... Read more
MITSUBISHI
OUTLANDER SPORT
(2021) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 2, 2024
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while operating the vehicle, the check engine warning light illuminated, and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that engine coolant was present inside the cylinders, and the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Escape. The contact stated that there was heavy white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The contact stated that the failure persisted, with a sputtering sound coming from the engine with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was driven to an independent mechanic who immediately referred the contact to the dealer. The vehicle was towed to a dealer wh... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Focus. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed the vehicle stalled with the low oil warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed as a failure with the oil pump tensioner which caused the engine to seize. The contac... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 GMC Yukon XL. The contact stated that while his wife was driving approximately 65 MPH, the transmission started to slip out gear and the vehicle was losing motive power. The contact's wife had not observed any warning lights. The contact’s wife drove the vehicle back to the residence and while attempting to place the vehicle in park(P), the vehicle failed to respond. The ... Read more
FORD
BRONCO SPORT
(2021) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 2, 2024
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Tundra. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the vehicle shut down but restarted. The contact stated that the engine was not operating as needed. The contact stated that the message “Pull Over When Safe” was displayed. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V381000 (Engine and Engi... Read more
Incident date: Jul 3, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle was slow to respond. The contact stated that the gears were lagging while shifting. While driving at unknown speeds, the vehicle shut down. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact noticed that the coolant reservoir was empty. The... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2019
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that the vehicle was shaking while idling, and then hesitated to accelerate. The contact stated that the engine overheated while driving at highway speeds of 50 MPH or higher. The check engine warning light was illuminated with a misfire. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that there was a coolant intrusion into the engine. The... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2021) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 2, 2024
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while pulling out of a parking lot, at an unknown speed, the oil warning light illuminated. The contact was informed by her brother that there was no oil in the vehicle. The contact stated that oil was added to the vehicle. The oil and engine coolant system had been detected, and a full system check message was displayed on the navigatio... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated while driving at slow speeds, the vehicle occasionally shifted into neutral independently. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle drastically decelerated to 30 MPH. In addition, while coming to a stop, the vehicle shut off inadvertently. The check engine and traction control warning lights were illuminated. The local dea... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to respond as intended with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact stated that several days later while attempting to start the vehicle, there was a considerable amount of white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The contact inspected t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was white smoke coming from the exhaust, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact also stated that the vehicle was consuming an excessive amount of coolant; however, there were no visual coolant leaks found. The vehicle was towed to two independent mechanics for confirmation,... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine overheated with the check engine warning light remaining illuminated. Additionally, on several occasions the vehicle failed to start. Also, while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would not properly accelerate. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that coolant had ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that on several occasions when the vehicle was started, there was an abnormal amount of smoke coming from the rear of the vehicle. The check engine warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that the coolant level was topped off twice within three days. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
C250
(2014) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 1, 2024
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
The contact owns a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the engine was overheating, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was leaking coolant. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where the failure was related to a defective oxygen sensor. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure persisted. The vehic... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to pull to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who determined that coolant intrusion had damaged the engine. The contact was inf... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the vehicle shut off unintendedly but was able to be restarted. While at a stop light, the vehicle stalled. There was an unknown warning light illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); 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 ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 535I. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle was losing motive power and was running rough. The contact stated that the instrument cluster went black. The contact turned into a parking lot as the vehicle stalled. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle but after several attempts failed to restart. The contact had the vehicle towed to the... Read more
Incident date: Jul 26, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle briefly hesitated and vibrated, displaying symptoms consistent with a cylinder misfire. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who determined that coolant intrusion had damaged the engine, resulting in a misfire in cylinder #2. The... Read more
Incident date: Jul 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that when the vehicle started, there was a large amount of white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The contact stated that the coolant reservoir was refilled every three days. In addition, the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion in cylinder #4. The cont... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Edge. The contact stated while his daughter was driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the spark plugs had failed and needed to be replaced. The spark plugs were replaced but the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was then taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed and determin... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford F-150. The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced rough idling and stalled while at a stop light. The contact stated that the failure had occurred after driving for more than 30 minutes. The contact replaced the fuel injectors, but the failures persisted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer and local dealer were contacted regarding the failure, but ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 25 MPH, the engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle hesitated and was slow to respond. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that there was an indication of coolant intrusion in the engine. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and the contact was informed ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that there was an abnormal rattling sound while starting the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. Upon investigation, the contact linked the failure to the cam phasers. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a complaint was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 83,000... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated there was an abnormal rattling sound coming from the vehicle while cold starting the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective cam phaser. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated while driving at approximately 55 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle lost motive power. In addition, the contact noticed white smoke coming from under ... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the engine needed to be replaced due to a coolant intrusion into cylinder #1. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approx... Read more