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 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Forte. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V652000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) 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 the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while accelerating from a complete stop, the vehicle shuddered and was sluggish. The contact stated that the failure recurred while driving and while reversing. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where the spark plugs were replaced; however, the failure recurred while driving at various speeds. The contact stated that the vehic... Read more
Incident date: Jan 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while her son was driving approximately 70 MPH, the engine revved, and the vehicle started losing motive power. Additionally, the brake pedal was depressed, but the vehicle failed to respond. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that her son turned on the hazard lights and veered to the side of the road. The vehicle was t... Read more
Incident date: Jan 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2015 GMC Sierra 3500. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle abruptly lost motive power and decelerated to 25 MPH. The contact stated that the message “Engine Power Reduced” was displayed. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent, but always occurred while driving at high speeds. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer howe... Read more
Incident date: Dec 7, 2020
The contact’s daughter owned a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated while his wife was driving the vehicle 55 MPH on the highway, the vehicle lost motive power. The contact’s wife pulled off the roadway and the oil warning light illuminated. The vehicle was unable to restart and was towed to the dealer. The dealer diagnosed the vehicle and stated that the engine failed due to the failure of th... Read more
MACK
GRANITE (GR)
(2019) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jan 25, 2024
Incident date: Jun 28, 2021
The contact's brother-in-law owns a 2018 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while his brother-in-law was driving 20 MPH, the vehicle lost braking power. The brake pedal was depressed and went to the floorboard. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled with the check engine and low-pressure oil lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who stated that an engine repla... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
The contact owns a 2014 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, there was an abnormal oil odor detected. The contact pulled over and noticed there was a puddle of oil on the roadway. The contact checked underneath the vehicle and noticed oil on the undercarriage. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was contacted, and the contact was informed that the vehi... Read more
Incident date: Jan 23, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle started to blow white smoke out of the exhaust PIPE. The contact stated that the low coolant level warning light illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that there was a coolant leak and that the engine needed to be replaced. The ve... Read more
Incident date: Jan 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2010 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 contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 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 manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The con... Read more
Incident date: Jan 24, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Mustang. The contact stated while driving 45-50 MPH, the vehicle made an abnormal banging sound. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to veer to the side of the road. The contact noticed that oil and coolant were leaking from underneath the vehicle onto the ground. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the service engine warning light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was initially taken to an independent mechanic where a coolant leak was discovered between cylinders #2 and #3. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer and the failure was confirmed. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The m... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the check engine warning light remained illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle then lost motive power and stalled. The vehicle was taken to the local service center to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the camshaft sensor and wiring harness were faulty and needed to be replaced. The c... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 BMW X3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V7070000 (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 manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact stated while driving at approximately... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Ford Bronco Sport. The contact stated that while the vehicle was at an independent mechanic for an oil change, the contact was informed that the engine oil casing and separator housing were cracked, causing oil to leak into the engine. The independent mechanic determined that the engine oil casing and separator housing needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. Th... Read more
Incident date: Jan 4, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the "Low Engine Oil" and check engine warning lights illuminated. The contact pulled into a gas station as the vehicle began to shake and turned off the engine. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to a relative's home, and oil was added to the engine. Upon starting the vehicle, the warning lights returned, and an... Read more
Incident date: Jan 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that upon his wife starting the vehicle, she observed heavy smoke coming from the exhaust. The contact stated that his wife heard an abnormal sound coming from the engine compartment. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who determined that coolant intrusion had damaged the head gasket, and... Read more
Incident date: Nov 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to coast to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle was able to be restarted. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the water pump and determined tha... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated that while driving at 50–60 MPH, the high-pressure warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that an engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 79,000.
MAZDA
CX-90 PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2024) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jan 24, 2024
Incident date: Jan 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at 70 MPH, the temperature started indicating that the engine was overheating, with a message “Engine temperature high” displayed. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who determined that the engine was low on oil, resulting in damage to the engine. The con... Read more
Incident date: Jan 12, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 2500. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel briefly became tight before returning to normal functionality. After the failure, the temperature gauge indicated that the engine was overheating. The contact also stated that the brake pedal required excessive force to slow and bring the vehicle to a complete stop. No war... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the low oil pressure warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the oil pump resulting in damages to the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. Afte... Read more
Incident date: Jan 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ram 1500. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 22V406000 (Fuel System, Diesel) and 23V411000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part 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 contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed spe... Read more
HYUNDAI
SONATA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2017) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jan 23, 2024
Incident date: Nov 27, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 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 contact heard an abnormal ... Read more
HYUNDAI
SONATA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2017) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jan 23, 2024
Incident date: Nov 27, 2023
The contact owns a 2010 BMW 128i. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle started running rough. 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 not contacted. The contact stated that... Read more
Incident date: Jan 17, 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 that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and conf... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Aveo. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle shut off independently. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to restart and was towed to the dealer. The dealer informed the contact that they could not diagnose the vehicle because the vehicle failed to start. The dealer informed the contact that an unknown wiring harness might need to be in... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Honda Ridgeline. The contact stated that the 4WD system became inoperable. The contact stated that the antifreeze was not suitable for the area he lived. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact called the dealer, who stated that the antifreeze would thicken below 35 degrees. The contact was informed that the engine would not produce enough power to move thicke... Read more
Incident date: Dec 19, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormally loud sound coming from the engine, and the oil pressure warning light illuminated. The contact pulled over to the side of the roadway and turned off the vehicle. The vehicle was then towed to the local dealer to be diagnosed, where belt fragments and metal shavings were fou... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated, prompting the contact to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway. The contact became aware that the vehicle was idling rough. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the cam phasers. The vehicle was not r... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 62 MPH, the service engine light illuminated. While driving, the engine light started to flash, and the vehicle was running rough. The contact pulled off the roadway. The vehicle was taken to a tire center, but no assistance was provided. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the head gasket had ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the temperature gauge indicated that the engine was overheating. After a visual inspection of the engine compartment, the contact observed that the coolant reservoir was empty. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminat... Read more
Incident date: Jan 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle, there was blue smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that there was coolant intrusion into the engine and determined that the short block needed to be replaced. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer... Read more
Incident date: Dec 18, 2023
The contact owns 2014 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while his daughter was driving 65 MPH, the vehicle started shuddering. Additionally, the vehicle stalled while at a complete stop at a traffic light. The contact stated that his daughter verified that the vehicle had sufficient fuel. The contact's daughter was able to restart the vehicle and continued driving; however, the vehicle stalled... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2018) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jan 22, 2024
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
The engine has a known issue where coolant leaks into the cylinders. There is no fix for this. It affects all Escapes 2013-2019. Ford did a very limited recall restricted to just the 1.6L engines but the issue affects all engines. My escape is at the dealership now and has confirmed that my engine has this issue. I called Ford to ask what they were going to do to correct this issue. They acknowled... Read more
Incident date: Jan 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, an abnormal knocking sound was coming from the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was discovered that the engine was damaged due to excessive wear of the connecting rod bearing. Upon investigation, the contact discovered NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Acura TLX. 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. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the check engine and several unknown war... Read more
Incident date: Jan 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle briefly shuddered. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed failures with the thermostat and torque converter. The vehicle wa... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2021
The contact owns a 2018 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact stated that while driving at approximately 10 MPH, the low engine oil pressure warning light illuminated. The contact stated that she observed an audible alert but was unaware of where the sound came from. The vehicle was taken to an independent mech... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while accelerating from a stop, there was white smoke coming from the vehicle. There were no warning lights illuminated. There was a trail, and a puddle of oil underneath the vehicle. The contact who is an independent mechanic and stated that there was a rear main seal leak, and the engine might need to be replaced. The local deale... Read more
Incident date: Jan 11, 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 that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The local dealer was contacted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. VIN tool ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the low oil pressure warning light illuminated, and the vehicle failed to exceed 30 MPH while depressing the accelerator pedal. The message "Engine Fault - Service Engine Now" was displayed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V9... Read more
Incident date: Jan 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Taurus. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle shutoff without warning. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and was informed that water was leaking, the water pump had failed, and the timing chain was fractured. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and refe... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
METRIS
(2017) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jan 22, 2024
Incident date: Jan 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 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 local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The manufacturer was ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ram 1500. The contact stated after pulling to the side of the roadway to allow a Fire truck to go by, the vehicle experienced rough idling. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring while the vehicle was idling. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, to be diagnosed. The dealer determined that the engine needed to be replac... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
SPRINTER 2500
(2021) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jan 22, 2024
Incident date: Jan 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Kia Cadenza. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked in the garage, she noticed that the engine oil had leaked onto the ground. Additionally, the contact stated while driving 55 MPH, there was smoke coming from underneath the hood. The low oil pressure warning light was illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road. The contact then drove to a nearby deale... Read more
NISSAN
PATHFINDER
(2013) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jan 19, 2024
Incident date: Jan 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 10 MPH, the contact became aware that antifreeze leaking from the vehicle. The temperature gauge light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the failure was due to antifreeze leaking into the engine. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the fa... Read more
Incident date: Jan 13, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while driving at unknown speeds for several hours, the vehicle lost acceleration. The driver was able to coast off the freeway. The oil warning light was flashing. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who advised that the cam shaft position sensor needed to be replaced. The computer failed to communicate properly with the vehic... Read more
Incident date: Nov 12, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, there was a large cloud of white smoke coming from the exhaust. The contact stated that the vehicle was also idling roughly. The contact stated that while driving during the day the smoke ceased; however, the vehicle would idle roughly while stopped for a traffic signal or while slowing for traffic. The contact sta... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Mustang. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact used a code reader which indicated that a spark plug had caused an engine misfire. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was confirmed as a spark plug misfire; however, the dealer determined that the failure was a result of coolant intrusion into cylinder #3. Due to the fa... Read more