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: May 10, 2022
LOSING OIL AND LOSING SPEED OIL WAS TWO QUARTS LOW AND NOT YET TIME FOR A OIL CHANGE
Incident date: May 10, 2022
LOSING OIL AND LOSING SPEED OIL WAS TWO QUARTS LOW AND NOT YET TIME FOR A OIL CHANGE
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
The contact's daughter owns a 2015 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while her daughter was driving 55 MPH, the vehicle stalled with an unknown warning light illuminated. The contact's daughter was able to drive the vehicle to an independent mechanic who informed her that the catalytic converter and oxygen sensor were defective. The vehicle was repaired. The contact was informed by her daughter th... Read more
Incident date: Apr 12, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while her husband was driving approximately 55 MPH, he heard an abnormal loud sound coming from the hood before the vehicle stalled. The contact was unsure whether there were and warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that her husband was unable to restart the vehicle and might have pushed the vehicle to the side of the roadway. Upo... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle overheated and the coolant needed to be refilled daily. The vehicle was taken to two independent mechanics who related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V209000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer wa... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving up a hill at approximately 60 MPH, the vehicle overheated, lost acceleration, and lost motive power. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed the vehicle with engine failure and informed the contact that the engine needed to be repai... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 2022
The contact's son owns a 2007 BMW 328i. The contact's son 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 contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated while her son was driving approxima... Read more
FORD
FUSION HYBRID
(2014) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
May 6, 2022
Incident date: Apr 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would start overheating after 15 minutes of driving. The contact stated that the engine temperature warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the transmission and water pump needed to be replaced. The vehicl... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2021
The contact owns a 2007 BMW 328i. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the vehicle started to overheat. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving and parked the vehicle at his residence. However, the vehicle failed to restart after several attempts. The contact later received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) h... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact stated the water pump was leaking. While driving, the vehicle overheated and stalled. The overheating message was displayed. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 79,000.
Incident date: Jan 5, 2021
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 330XI. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle began to overheat. The check engine warning light, the coolant temperature warning light, and other unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road and waited. The contact then continued driving. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring increasingly while driv... Read more
Incident date: Apr 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, her husband noticed that there was a fluid leak underneath the vehicle onto the ground. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the water pump needed to be replaced and the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V537000 (Suspension) t... Read more
Incident date: Apr 3, 2022
The contact owned a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated while driving 25 MPH, the vehicle's engine started making a loud humming sound. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact pulled into parking and observed what appeared to be steam issuing from under the hood. The contact raised the hood and saw that the engine compartment was on fire. The fire department was cal... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jan 1, 2019
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Sorento. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who informed him of an unknown module that needed to be replaced. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mil... Read more
Incident date: Apr 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 Lincoln MKZ. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal knocking noise detected and the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that water had entered the engine and the water pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failu... Read more
Incident date: Jan 3, 2021
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 525i. The contact stated while driving 60-65 MPH, the vehicle started to overheat. The coolant temperature warning light was illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road and added coolant in the vehicle. The contact then continued to drive. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred while driving. The contact stated that he replaced the thermostat himself... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2021
The contact owns a 2015 Dodge Journey. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was overheating. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the thermostat was replaced. Additionally, the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated and the transmission slipped... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 525XI. The contact stated that the vehicle was overheating while driving. The coolant temperature warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the thermostat and radiator were replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the computer needed to be repla... Read more
Incident date: Apr 28, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, she smelled smoke and that a "stop driving" warning light illuminated. The contact safely pulled off of the roadway and turned off the vehicle. There was smoke coming from under the hood. The contact raised the hood and observed that steam was coming from the radiator and the radiator hoses. The contact had... Read more
Incident date: Apr 19, 2022
The check engine light came on. I was told by my regular repair shop that there was a bulletin from Ford and I had to have it fixed by a dealer’s service department. I was then made aware by the Ford dealer’s service department that coolant had leaked into the engine and destroyed it leading to the engine needing to be replaced. My car is 5 years old with 79,000 miles. This is unacceptable. In... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
Bought vehicle with around 65K miles, started having issues with coolant level low and causing the engine warning light to come on. Then the car would go into “limp” mode to get the car to a safe place. There was no visible loss in coolant level. This happened on and off for about 3 months. Called local ford dealer about a coolant recall for 2013/2014, was told my VIN not included in that. End... Read more
Incident date: Apr 29, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 325i. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, he smelled a burning plastic odor. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact continued to drive the vehicle. The contact later 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 contacted and ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 25, 2020
The contact owned a 2015 RAM 1500. The contact stated that she observed that oil was spotting her driveway intermittently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact checked the engine compartment and observed that the coolant reservoir fluid was very dark-colored. The contact observed that there was engine oil in the coolant reservoir. The contact had the vehicle towed to a ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 23, 2022
The contact owned a 2006 Nissan Armada. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH and approaching a stop sign, the contact became aware of smoke and then fire coming from underneath the hood. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact and passenger exited the vehicle safely. The contact stated that she had minor hip pain but did not seek medical attention. The contact stated t... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Apr 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 330i. The contact stated while driving at 45 MPH, the vehicle stalled inadvertently and the engine exploded. The automatic transmission gearbox warning light illuminated. The contact immediately exited the vehicle. The contact stated that there was a significant amount of dark smoke and there was fire underneath the hood of the vehicle. The fire was extinguished indepen... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Feb 27, 2022
The contact leased a 2021 Kia Seltos. The contact stated that while his son was driving in traffic, he heard an abnormal banging noise and noticed smoke emerging from the engine compartment. The driver was able to pull off the road and exit the vehicle. The vehicle spontaneously caught fire and was engulfed in flames. The fire department was on the scene to extinguish the fire. The driver did not ... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Apr 27, 2020
The contact owns a 2008 BMW X5. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, between 5-70 MPH, she smelled a plastic burning odor. The contact saw smoke coming out from underneath the hood. The check engine warning light illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road for thirty minutes. The contact then continued to drive. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who inform... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jul 11, 2021
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 530i. The contact stated while driving at approximately 65 MPH, the contact observed an unspecified "yellow" warning light on the dash and heard a small explosion sound issue from the engine compartment. The contact stated that smoke began to come out from under the hood. The contact turned the vehicle off and set the transmission to "neutral" coasted off the roadway on... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Mar 16, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle stalled with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to her residence. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number 19V120000 (Engine, Engine, and Engine Cooling) for which the VIN was inclu... Read more
Incident date: Apr 16, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that while driving, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact opened the hood and noticed an abnormal burning odor. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer where it was diagnosed the oil was not entering the engine and an engine replacement was needed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate fa... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Dec 6, 2021
The contact owned a 2006 BMW 330i. The contact stated while her boyfriend was driving 65 mph, he heard an abnormal noise coming from underneath the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to park on the side of the road and exit before the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The driver saw the fire starting under the transmission. The driver stated no one was ... Read more
Fire
HYUNDAI
SONATA HYBRID
(2017) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Apr 26, 2022
Incident date: Apr 26, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, a message indicating a vehicle failure was displayed and the coolant temperature warning light illuminated. The contact stated that as she was veering to the side of the road, she saw white smoke rising up in the rear of the vehicle through the rearview mirror. Another driver also notified the contact of the wh... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Apr 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine overheated and the vehicle stalled with the engine coolant temperature message displayed; and the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact called the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate fail... Read more
Incident date: Apr 26, 2021
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 328i. The contact stated that the vehicle would frequently surge while in idle position and she was smelling an abnormal oil odor. Upon opening the hood of the vehicle to determine the cause of the failure, the contact's husband noticed that oil was leaking from the valve cover gasket onto the engine compartment. The warning message "Service Due Soon", "Misfire in cylin... Read more
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 BMW X5. 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: Apr 25, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 528i. 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 contacted. 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 ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2022
The contact's client owns a 2013 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while his client was driving 70 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. After the failure, the vehicle was towed to a dealer where the mechanic discovered that a rod had blown through the engine resulting in engine failure. Upon investigation, the contact discovered NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V224000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the coolant temperature warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the water pump weep hole was leaking, causing the water pump to be damaged. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was notified of the failure and advised the contact to take the vehicle in ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2008 BMW X3. The contact stated that while at a stop there was an abnormal plastic burning odor coming through the vent. Additionally, the vehicle lost motive power with the check engine warning light illuminated. An independent mechanic was called to her home for maintenance, and the mechanic made minor repairs and reset the computer; however, the failure returned soon after re... Read more
Incident date: Jul 25, 2021
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328i. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle overheated. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed the failure to be the heater coil. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 2... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2009 BMW 328i. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled. There was an unknown warning light illuminated. 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 manufac... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
The contact's daughter owns a 2012 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while her daughter was driving at various speeds, the vehicle would stall with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact's daughter had taken the vehicle to an independent mechanic and the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective catalytic converter. Upon investigation, the contact discovered NHTSA Campaign Number: 19... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Ford explore. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH the vehicle engine stop warning lights turned on. The engine started overheating and the contact pulled over and added water. The contact drove the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacture was notified. The failure mileage was 72,000
Incident date: Apr 17, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, the engine temperature hot warning light illuminated as the vehicle began to stall. The contact pulled off to the side of the road as a white smoke started coming from the vehicle. The contact waited for the vehicle to cool down before opening the hood and discovering that the coolant reservoir was empty. The c... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2007 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 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. Parts distribut... Read more
Incident date: Jan 25, 2022
The contact owns a 2007 BMW X3. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle overheated. The contact noticed smoke coming from under the hood. There were no warning lights on the instrument panel. The contact pulled over safely. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Veracruz. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V705000 (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 cont... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2022
******* DELETE VOQ ******* THIS COMPLAINT IS BEING MARKED FOR DELETION BECAUSE THE CONSUMER PLACED THE REQUEST.*DJR ******* DELETE VOQ *******
Incident date: Apr 17, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 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 while driving at various speeds, a fuel odor began to emit from the vehicle without warning. Upon inspection, the contact discovered that a grayish smoke had emitted from the rear valve... Read more
Incident date: Feb 21, 2021
We have refill engine oil weekly. After every oil change a month the oil is dark and a needs a quart more to refill. This is regularly since 2015. We purchased the car in 2012. 2019 the front ball joints started clumping in reverse, replaced in 2021. While driving on the freeway and exiting off onto a ramp the car dramatically down shifted and was unable to correct itself. Later discovered the com... Read more