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
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle briefly hesitated and jerked, after which the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle w... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle started shuddering with smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The contact stated that the engine was replaced, and the vehicle was repaired; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer however, the cause of the failure could not be duplicated. The contact related... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while cold starting the vehicle, the vehicle made an abnormal knocking sound coming from the engine compartment and the vehicle was idling roughly. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that once the vehicle had warmed up, the vehicle operated normally. The contact had taken the vehicle... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated with the engine overheated message displayed. The contact pulled over to allow the engine to cool down. The vehicle was drivable. The contact was constantly adding coolant to the coolant reservoir and the engine overheating message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dea... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds the vehicle would not properly accelerate. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission was faulty. The transmission was rebuilt and the failure was remedied. The vehicle later experienced engine failures causing the check engine light to illuminate, a slushing liquid sou... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford F-250. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure within cylinder #2, resulting in damages to the e... Read more
CHEVROLET
EQUINOX EV
(2024) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 19, 2024
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 BMW 128I. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled. While at a stop sign, the vehicle stalled. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V707000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The veh... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle sputtered, and the engine overheated. In addition, the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion into the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. T... Read more
Incident date: Jun 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 GMC Terrain. The contact stated while driving at approximately 65 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed to overtake another vehicle in the right lane and the RPM raised up 8,000 RPM. The contact stated that there was an abnormal banging sound coming from the engine compartment. The contact stated that smoke started coming from the front of the vehicle. The contact stated... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to restart; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed with a blown head gasket and coolant intrusion into the cylinders. The contact was informed t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle was leaking fluid. The contact stated that the coolant level was very low, and the engine hot message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who was unable to identify the source of the leak. A dye was placed in the cooling system, and the contact was informed not to add coolant. While driving at an undiscl... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
The contact's son owns a 2019 Ford EcoSport. The contact's son received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. While the contact's son was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate above 45 MPH while depressing the accelerator pedal. The engine oil warning light was illum... Read more
TOYOTA
GRAND HIGHLANDER
(2024) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 18, 2024
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 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 stated while driving at approximately 30 ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine overheated. The contact stated that an unknown warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion into the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made a... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ID.4
(2023) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 18, 2024
Incident date: Jul 4, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 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 local dealer was not contacted. 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 ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS CROSS SPORT
(2024) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 18, 2024
Incident date: Sep 30, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 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 various speeds, the vehicle failed to accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal with the transmission warning light illuminated. The vehicle was jerked fo... Read more
Incident date: May 16, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the engine overheated with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to be restarted; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed with water pump failure. The contact was informed that the water pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS CROSS SPORT
(2020) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 18, 2024
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 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 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 an undisclosed speed, the... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 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 not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN to... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle sputtered with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed, and it was determined that coolant was leaking into the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not re... Read more
TOYOTA
GRAND HIGHLANDER
(2024) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 18, 2024
Incident date: Jul 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH and attempting to depress the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as intended. As a result of the failure, the contact drove in neutral a short distance to the residence. The contact also stated that the Auto Start/Stop warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired b... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 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 not made aware of the issue. The contact stated that while driving approximate... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Toyota Corolla. The contact stated that when the outside temperature was hot, the vehicle was not working correctly. The vehicle was difficult to start, and there was an abnormal ticking sound while starting the vehicle. The contact allowed the vehicle to cool down before the vehicle would run smoothly. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an i... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-150. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the vehicle made an abnormal rattling sound. An independent mechanic diagnosed the vehicle at the residence and determined that the cam phaser needed to be replaced. The contact related the failure to Ford Campaign Number: 21N03 (Engine Cam Phaser Replacement) Engine and Engine Cooling. The dealer was not notified o... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 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 local dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair.... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Edge. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle briefly hesitated before returning to normal functionality. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who observed a misfire in cylinder #2, due to coolant intrusion, resulting in engine damage. The contact was informed that the long block needed to be... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle jerked with several unknown warning lights illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that white smoke was coming from the exhaust pipe. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion into the engine. The contact was informed that the engine ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 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 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 65 MPH, the vehicle lost ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who replaced the coil pack in cylinder #3 and spark plug. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the independent mechanic, who determined that coolant was intruding into c... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, there was a knocking sound coming from the engine compartment. The contact stated that the vehicle had stalled several times. The contact believed that the vehicle was leaking oil; however, when the coolant reservoir was inspected, the coolant fluid was low, but no visible leaks were found. The contact stated t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the check engine warning light remained illuminated, and the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that coolant was present inside the engine and had caused severe engine damage. The contact was advised that the engine needed ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving the vehicle. The contact stated while cold starting the vehicle, the vehicle was idling roughly but started operating normally after warming up. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent but became a recurring fa... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ID.4
(2023) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 17, 2024
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, there was a rattling sound coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer who diagnosed and determined that the coolant level was low. The contact was informed that the head gasket was leaking coolant into cylinder #1. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 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 that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, there was an extremely loud sound coming from underneath the vehicle. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the catalytic converter, observing that the catalytic converter had detached from the exhaust pipe. The vehicle was re... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the temperature gauge indicated that the vehicle was overheating, after which the vehicle entered LIMP Mode and 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 towed to an ... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2021) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 16, 2024
Incident date: Jul 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2015 Acura TLX. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (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 dealer was contacted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experie... Read more
Incident date: Nov 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while operating the vehicle, the check engine warning light remained illuminated, and the temperature gauge indicated that the engine was overheating. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced an oxygen sensor, but the failures persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 68,000.
Incident date: Jul 15, 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 stated while driving approximately 65 MPH... Read more
Incident date: Oct 22, 2020
The contact owns a 2016 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine started overheating. The contact inspected the coolant reservoir and became aware that the coolant level was low. The contact refilled the coolant reservoir; however, two days later, the coolant level was low again. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, and it was diagnosed and... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that on several occasions while the vehicle was started, there was an abnormal rattling sound coming from the engine compartment. The contact stated that the abnormal rattling sound ceased after the engine warmed up. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the cam phasers needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. T... Read more
Incident date: Jun 27, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Hyundai Palisade. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle hesitated while attempting to accelerate. The contact stated that on another occasion while driving 60 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed and th... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the vehicle was shaking and vibrating abnormally with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that coolant was intruding into the cylinders, causing severe damages to the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
E350
(2014) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 16, 2024
Incident date: Jul 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, there was an abnormally loud sound coming from the engine compartment. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to properly accelerate before the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the engine oil pump tensioner had failed, and the engine needed to be replaced. Th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the vehicle was idling abnormally rough, after which the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V707000 (Engine and Engine ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS CROSS SPORT
(2022) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 16, 2024
Incident date: Jul 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the residence. The contact stated that when the vehicle was parked, the contact raised the hood to inspect the vehicle and became aware that the coolant reservoir was extremely low. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an indep... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Edge. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact also stated that the engine temperature warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was able to be restarted however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed with coolant intrusion into the engi... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who determined that there was coolant intrusion into cylinder #3, causing an engine mis... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle shuddered, and smoke came out the exhaust system. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed; however, the independent mechanic was unable to repair the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to another independent mec... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Focus. 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 conf... Read more