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: Jun 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle started losing motive power, with the check engine warning light illuminated. As the contact continued driving, he began to hear an abnormal knocking sound coming from the engine. The contact pulled over and discovered that there was no oil in the engine. The contact added oil to the engine however, the ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 29, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle was shaking and hesitating. The contact also had to top off the oil every two weeks. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was diagnosed by an independent mechanic with a faulty catalytic converter. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle was stalling. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact pulled over safely to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer and diagnosed with catalytic converter failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (Engine... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2022
The contact owns a 2009 BMW 528I. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (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 contact stated that there was an abnormal burning odor coming from the vehicle. The manufacturer was... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2021
The contact owns a 2009 BMW 528I. The contact stated while turning on the heater, there was a bad odor coming from the heater. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amo... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2014) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 18, 2022
Incident date: Jul 17, 2022
Severe oil leak and oil loss from engine. Unknown source of leak.
Incident date: Jul 17, 2022
Severe oil leak and oil loss from engine. Unknown source of leak.
Incident date: Jun 18, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, an abnormal noise was heard coming from the engine compartment. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that he pulled over on the side of the roadway, opened the hood, and noticed that the antifreeze reservoir container was empty. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure was d... Read more
Incident date: Apr 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, an abnormal clicking noise would emit from the vehicle without warning. As the noise persisted, the contact stated that the vehicle shut off upon the depression of the accelerator pedal while at a stop. The check engine warning light was illuminated on the instrument panel during the failure. Upon re... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 530XI. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (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 had not been made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 3, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. A DTC reader indicated a misfire in cylinder #3; and the contact replaced the spark plugs and the ignition coils. Despite the repair, the failure recurred the next day. The contact also began to notice that the coolant was being consumed very quickly with a thick white smoke coming from the e... Read more
Incident date: Jul 12, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH, a low coolant warning message appeared on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective water pump. The dealer was then notified of the failure where they acknowledge that the failure was common with her model vehicle. The contact was the... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, she heard abnormal bubbling sounds coming from the engine before the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to veer to the side of the roadway. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and drove to her residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that coolant had been leaking into the engine an... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving approximately 5 MPH, the vehicle vibrated and stalled. The TPMS warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who diagnosed a failure with the catalytic convertor, engine, and pistons. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer who was unable to determine the cause of the failure... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2019
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would not properly accelerate due to a #2 engine cylinder misfire. Additionally, there was blue smoke coming from the exhaust. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the vehicle had experienced an internal coolant leak into the engine cylinder. The contact indicated that ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 BMW X3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 BMW X3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was smoke coming from underneath the hood and the exhaust pipe. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or... Read more
Incident date: May 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while accelerating at 65 MPH, the vehicle began to shake and hesitated with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle would not accelerate above 60 MPH; the contact was able to drive the vehicle to the residence. The vehicle was then towed from the home to the dealer where a diagnostic test discovere... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that while driving approximately 25 mph, there was smoke detected from the vehicle. The vehicle caught fire without warning. There were no reported injuries, air bag deployment, or crash. The fire department distinguished the fire. A police report was filed. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The ... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving 40-50 MPH, the warning message "Vehicle Overheating" was displayed. The contact veered to the side of the road to allow the vehicle to cool down and the continued driving; however, the failure reoccurred several times while driving. Upon arriving at her residence and parking the vehicle, the contact noticed that there was no coo... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2009) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Jul 11, 2022
Incident date: Feb 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2009 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that she had experienced several electrical failures with the vehicle including the power seat and power windows, the parking brake, the exterior lighting, and the air bag warning lights. The contact also stated that the vehicle would lose motive power and stall while driving at various speeds with several unknown warning lights illumi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Compass. The contact stated while driving 25 MPH and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle failed to respond, lost motive power, and stalled. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed; however, the mechanic was unable to retrieve a fault code. The contact explained to the dealer that the vehicle was experiencing the failure listed in NHTSA Campaign Number: 16... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2022
Started with the oil pressure engine light coming on and off always told it's a sensor then 2 days it wasn't putting any oil to one of the rocker arms and told by a dealership that it's going to cost me$7500 for a whole new engine when all they did was their diagnostic test.
Incident date: Oct 4, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH going up a hill and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle started to jerk and lurch forward. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact had driven the vehicle to a local dealer and diagnosed; however, the failure could not be duplicated. The contact stated that t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2020
The contact owns a 2017 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that the Auto START/STOP feature failed to restart after the vehicle was stopped. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified but no additional assistance was provided. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA A... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2009 BMW 328I. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would hesitate upon depression of the accelerator pedal without warning. The contact then received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The dealer had been notified about the issue and confirm... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2012 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The dealer had been notified about the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would hesitate upon depression of the ac... Read more
Incident date: Jul 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, coolant entered the engine and the engine overheated. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle lost motive power and stalled in a construction area. The contact refilled the coolant reservoir and drove to his residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notif... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 530XI. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confi... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2021
The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that while at a complete stop, the vehicle stalled upon depression of the accelerator pedal. The contact also stated that the vehicle would hesitate while driving at highway speeds. The contact stated that the failures occurred without warning. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. Upon investigation, the cont... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle overheated and cannot simply be fixed. The check engine warning light illuminated with a message to stop the vehicle immediately displayed. The temperature gauge was on HOT. The contact turned the vehicle off for 5 minutes, then restarted and drove to the local independent mechanic. The vehicle ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328XI. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (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 manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had... Read more
Incident date: Oct 26, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently shifted into limp mode. The contact stated that the engine was knocking. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the catalytic convertor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The contac... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to restart after briefly turning off the vehicle. The vehicle was initially towed to her residence and was later towed to Shawnee Mission Kia (7951 Shawnee Mission Pkwy, Mission, KS 662020). The dealer informed her that the battery would be replaced and that an oil change would be performed; however, the failure conti... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while driving at an undetermined speed, there was an abnormal odor of smoke detected. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where they informed her the coolant had mixed with the CVT transmission fluid. The vehicle was diagnosed and it was d... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
The contact's son owns a 2013 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that while her son was driving 40 MPH, there was an abnormal knocking sound coming from the vehicle with the check engine warning light illuminated. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to her home where a mechanic inspected the vehicle and informed her that there was a recall on the vehicle under NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V224000 ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The dealer was notified of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer had been notified of the issue. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2019
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 330XI. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (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 manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Vin tool confirm... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2020
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, there was smoke detected and the vehicle was making an abnormal popping sound. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who informed him that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who informed the contact that the veh... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2022
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving at unknown speed, the check engine warning light appeared illuminated. Shortly after the light illuminated, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who discovered that the vehicle was low on oil; however, there was no evidence of an oil leak. Oil was added, however, the vehicle fa... Read more
Incident date: Apr 17, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving at 60 MPH, an abnormal clunking sound had emitted from the vehicle. The contact then heard parts falling out of the engine as white smoke began to release from the vehicle's hood. The check engine warning light was also illuminated on the instrument panel as the contact pulled over. The contact lifted that hood and saw flam... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jun 3, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle would shake and then loose power and slow down. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact pulled of the roadway and turned the vehicle off and waited 20 minutes to restart the vehicle. The failure was recurring and the vehicle would hesitate while getting up to normal... Read more
Incident date: Jun 26, 2022
engine temperature warning light came on. engine coolant leaked out. engine die while we were waiting for help on the side of I-15 freeway. The vehicle is now at Lincoln dealership for repair. They also told me that there is a faulty fuel pump code that they are looking at. They told me that the factory did not place a water hose in the properly designed placement. The truck die at about 500 miles... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Audi S6. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the turbocharger needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the repair would not be covered due to aftermarket parts. No additional assi... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the check engine warning light illuminated and there was smoke coming from underneath the hood. Additionally, the temperature gauge indicated that the engine was overheated. Upon inspection, it was discovered that the engine coolant was constantly low however, there were no visible leaks present. The vehicle ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle jerked and decelerated from 65 MPH to approximately 20 MPH; the vehicle then independently accelerated to 40 MPH. While at a stop sign, the vehicle stalled. The engine power reduced message was displayed. Additionally, water had entered the trunk of the vehicle and the contact ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 328XI. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (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 made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN too... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated before the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the catalytic converter was faulty and needed to be replaced. The catalytic converter was replaced however, the check engine warning light remained ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 23, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Soul. The contact stated while her mother was driving 35 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not drivable. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired.... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Acura RDX. The contact stated that while at a stop light, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle failed to move or shift into neutral(N). The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the fuel pump motor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified but no additional assistance was provided. The contact stated that the fail... Read more