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: Dec 18, 2023
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328xi. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V707000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer 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 experienced... Read more
Incident date: Mar 10, 2024
The contact's daughter owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while his daughter was driving 25 MPH, there was a significant amount of smoke coming out of the tailpipe, and the vehicle stalled. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle failed to restart and was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that there was a coolant intrusion in the engine. The mechanic det... Read more
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2022) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Mar 21, 2024
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 60 MPH, the vehicle stalled and was pulled to the shoulder of the road, The Check Engine warning light had illuminated. The vehicle failed to restart and was left in a parking lot, where it was diagnosed by a local independent mechanic. The mechanic determined that the engine oil pump had failed and needed t... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Expedition. The contact stated while driving and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to exceed 60 MPH. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where an unknown software update was performed. Additionally, the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled. The contact also stated that the v... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated intermittently. The contact stated that she had replaced the spark plugs herself; however, the failure recurred. Additionally, the contact stated while driving 45 MPH the vehicle decelerated independently, and the vehicle failed to exceed 40 MPH while depressing the accelerator pedal. The co... Read more
Incident date: Mar 3, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the check engine warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was driving rough and failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was co... Read more
Incident date: Mar 3, 2024
I am second owner. At just before 110,000 miles the motor expirenced shuddering, with misfires, from P0303. I was able to get it to a Ford Service Center. Diagnosis with a borescope reveled coolant into cylinders 2and 3. Almost 8,000 dollars later, a new motor. In my Opinion, the cost of the actual motor should be free, or at least less then 2,700. I do not think it's very fair for Ford to profit ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 28, 2024
The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and veering to the left, the vehicle stalled. The battery warning light was illuminated. A towing service performed a diagnostic test on the vehicle and informed the contact that the failure was not related to the battery and the alternator. The contact drove the vehicle to the residence. The con... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2020
The contact owns a 2018 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while her husband was driving 55-60 MPH, several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle stalled temporarily and then accelerated unintendedly. The contact's husband was able to pull to the side of the road. The contact stated that her husband was able to continue driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnos... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2024
The contact owns a 2008 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle overheated. The coolant temperature warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with a coolant leak and a corroded subframe. The contact was informed that the subframe was significantly thin due to corrosion and that the vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at 30 MPH, the temperature gauge indicated that the vehicle was overheating. The contact stated that he pulled to the shoulder of the road; however, the failure persisted. The coolant temperature warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who determined that the coolant level was abnormally low, and... Read more
Incident date: Mar 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 23V858000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) and 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated to start. There was no warning light illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated while driving at an undisclos... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Acura MDX. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. An unknown 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: Oct 5, 2023
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 while driving at approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle started losing motive power. The contact stated that the low oil pressure warning light illuminated, and the vehicle stall... Read more
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Kia Optima. The contact received a notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact stated while driving at approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle would shudder. The contact pulled over to the side of the road. The vehicle was restarted and driven to a restaurant. The vehicle was then driven to the residence, where the failure reoccurred ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Focus. 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 his daughter was pulling out of the parking lot at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light and the low oil pressure warning light were illuminated. The contact's ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact stated that while driving at approximately 60 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to increase in speed. The vehicle was merged to the shoulder of the road to be restarted but the vehicle would not turn on. The vehicle was to... Read more
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2022) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Mar 20, 2024
Incident date: Mar 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently lost all motive power. The contact was able to pull to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the oil pump, resulting in damage to th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 27, 2023
The contact owns a 2014 Ford F-150. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle, there was a puddle of coolant discovered leaking underneath the vehicle. The cause of the failure and location of the coolant leak was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 200,000.
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2023) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Mar 19, 2024
Incident date: Feb 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Edge. The contact stated that stated that upon starting the vehicle, the engine shuddered with heavy white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. Additionally, the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was initially taken to an independent mechanic where an ODB scanner retrieved information of a misfire in cylinder #4. The vehicle was then taken to a dea... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 1500. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V406000 (Fuel System, Diesel) and 23V411000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. 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 h... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 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 not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine seized. The contac... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to AutoZone, and it was diagnosed with a failed O2 sensor. The vehicle was taken the dealer where it was diagnosed that coolant had leaked onto the O2 sensor and that the water pumped needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repai... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fusion. The contact stated when starting the vehicle in the morning, the vehicle idled roughly and was emitting white smoke from the exhaust pipe. The contact stated that once the vehicle had warmed up, the vehicle ran normally. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was a recurring failure. The contact drove the vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Mar 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the vehicle was idling roughly and misfiring. The contact stated that there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring. The vehicle was towed to an unknown local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determin... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Focus. 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 contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle made an abnormal sou... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2020
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at unknown speeds, the vehicle sputtered and stalled. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who stated that the failure was due to the short block and coolant entering the engine block. The local dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not diagnos... Read more
Incident date: Mar 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle decelerated to 40 MPH and went into LIMP Mode. The low oil pressure warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, who informed the contact that there was no warranty coverage on the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that oil had been leaking from the oil cooler lines. The contact took the vehicle to a dealer to be diagnosed. The dealer confirmed the failure and provided the contact with an estimate for repair. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure and informed the contact that there were no recalls on the VIN. The vehicle was rep... Read more
Incident date: Feb 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford F-150. The contact stated that upon taking the vehicle to a dealer for maintenance, a mechanic discovered an oil leak coming from the timing belt cover. The contact had the vehicle serviced and the timing belt cover was replaced. The contact then stated that while stopped at a stop light, a blackish then greyish smoke began to emit from the vehicle without warning. The... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while his granddaughter was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated, and there was white smoke emanating from the exhaust pipe, after which the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The driver was able to pull to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. The check engine warning light was il... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the vehicle shuddered and vibrated after starting. While driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated and the message "Engine Fault, Service Now" was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local service center who discovered that the engine coolant level was extremely low. The cause of the failure was not ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 17, 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 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 m... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Audi S8. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the low oil warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. Upon visual inspection of the engine compartment, the contact observed that the engine oil level was abnormally low, prompting him to add oil to the engine. However, afterwards the contact stated that the low oil warning light illuminated again, after which there... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2023
Check engine light came on steady. Took vehicle in for service at 1st possible appt. Was told it was engine block failure due to faulty porous block installed by Ford. Vehicle has 54000 miles on it, 8 months out of the 60,000/5yr powertrain warranty. Have an extended warranty but they refused to pay stating Ford knew about the faulty engine blocks installed on thousands of vehicles. Ford had is... Read more
Incident date: Jan 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 528I. 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 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 manufa... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2021
My car has roughly 55,000 miles on it. The check engine light was turning on and off intermittently. Every time I took it to the dealership, the light would go off and they could not retrieve a code. Recently it started idling rough when it would first start. Within a few days it started driving very rough. Took it to the dealership and they determined that coolant was leaking into the cylinders c... Read more
Incident date: Mar 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2008 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine seized. The contact stated that the starter and the computer were replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed as a possible liquid propane injection system failure. The contact stated that after researching, the failure was like the ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2010 BMW X5. 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 contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle idled unusually rough. Th... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 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 not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine and low oil p... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the spark plugs. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to an independent mechanic, who then determined that co... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ram 1500. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 22V406000 (Fuel System, Diesel) and 23V411000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the parts to do the recalls repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated to respond and jolted while driving from a complete stop and while driving at various speeds. The contact stated tha... Read more
Incident date: Mar 11, 2024
First indication of an issue was when the check engine light illuminated (2/1/2024). I took car to an independent repair shop who identified the codes as PO304 - misfire cylinder 4 and P0316 - misfire on start up. Borescope revealed coolant leaking thru #4 cylinder wall & cylinder #1 showing stream of coolant from cylinder head gasket. Ford TSB recommends long block engine replacement due to coola... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2024
I bought a used 2018 Ford escape eco-boost SUV from Elder Ford. I recently have been experiencing coolant problems where the coolant is dissipating from the engine. The car has run hot two or three times and now there appears to be coolant and oil mixed together that's over the engine and it appears that there is a cracked head gasket. I have researched on the computer to find this is a known prob... Read more
Incident date: Mar 16, 2024
2018 Ford Edge purched certified pre-owned in Novemeber 2023. In February, engine light displayed after diagnostic was ran, we were told that there is a coolant intrusion and we would need to replace the entire engine, approximately $8k. Ford Autonation, Valencia and Ford customer service directed us to contact you so we can report the coolant issue which is a known recall for Ford Edge. The VIN n... Read more
Incident date: Mar 11, 2024
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Feb 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the check engine warning light had illuminated, and white exhaust smoke was present coming from the exhaust system. Upon inspection, it was discovered that the engine coolant level was low. The vehicle was taken to the local service center who determined that the spark plugs were corroded. The vehicle was lat... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2020
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 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: Feb 23, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 MPH, he observed a tumbling noise emanating from the engine compartment. The vehicle was taken to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V707000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Kia Stinger. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact noticed a very strong oil burning odor. The contact pulled over, raised the hood, and observed smoke coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The contact stated that the oil was recently changed by the dealer. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, and ... Read more