Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,215,138 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA — including 138,663 crashes, 56,255 fires, and 8,561 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 2,215,138 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 40,517 complaints — component: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Incident date: Aug 19, 2024
See attached document for complaint.
Incident date: Jul 3, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 BMW 430I. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, coolant leaks were present coming from the engine compartment. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the water pump and the oil filter housing gasket were faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with timing belt, water pump, and engine failure. The contact was informed that the timing belt, the engine, and the water pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford F-150. The contact stated that there was oil leaking from the oil pan. There was oil on the driveway and garage floor. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact called an independent mechanic, who determined that the oil pan gasket needed to be replaced. The mechanic informed the contact that the parts were on back-order. The local dealer was contacted and ... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
METRIS
(2016) — ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 19, 2024
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact ha... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2024
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Aug 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact stated that on several occasions while driving at various speeds, the contact observed that the "Hill Start Assist Failure" message was displayed. The vehicle was restarted after several attempts. Additionally, the contact stated that after turning o... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2024
See attached document for complaint.
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2019) — ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 19, 2024
Incident date: Aug 16, 2024
See attached document for complaint.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Tucson. The contact stated that there was a knocking sound coming from the engine compartment. The contact stated that the low oil and check engine warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle had been taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the engine oil had been totally consumed. The contact was made aware of coolant intrusion into the ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2024
See attached document for complaint.
Incident date: Aug 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the engine temperature gauge indicated that the engine had overheated. While inspecting under the hood the contact discovered that the coolant reservoir was empty. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the engine coolant had leaked into cylinders #1 and #4, causing severe damage to the ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2024
See attached document for complaint.
Incident date: May 2, 2024
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 her daughter was driving approximately 65 MPH, the “Low Oil Pressure” message was displayed. Additionally, the contact stated that there was a rattling sound coming from the engine compartment. The vehicle was steered to the sid... Read more
CHRYSLER
PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2022) — ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 16, 2024
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Lincoln MKC. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, there was a slight hesitation in the response of the vehicle. The vehicle had been taken to the dealer and was diagnosed and determined that the coolant level was low and that there was coolant intrusion into cylinder #3, causing a misfire. The... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power, decelerated, and stalled. The vehicle was later towed to the local mechanic who diagnosed that the water pump was faulty and needed to be replaced. The water pump was replaced, and the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure, but ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH, the coolant temperature warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated while driving approximately 45-50 MPH, the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that there was coolant intrusion in the oil, on the spark pl... Read more
Incident date: Aug 9, 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 while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with a misfire in the engine. The message of cylinder #2 misfire was displayed. The contact stated that there was smoke coming from the engine compartment. The vehicle was restarted; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the vehicle wa... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving approximately 15 MPH, the vehicle stalled occasionally and returned to normal operation once the contact had turned off and restarted the vehicle. In addition, there was smoke coming from the tailpipes. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was drivable and was driven to an independent mechanic where it was... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the engine started to overheat, and there was smoke coming from underneath the hood. The message "Vehicle Temperature Overheating" was displayed. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and allowed the vehicle to cool down. The contact was able to continue driving; however, the failure recurred several times whil... Read more
Incident date: Aug 6, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Acura MDX. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle continuously jolted and jerked, prompting him to pull to the shoulder of the roadway to turn off the vehicle. After restarting the vehicle, the failure persisted. Several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed failures with the crankshaft position sensor and ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Edge. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine misfired with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to restart; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed as coolant intrusion leaking into the cylinders. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. Th... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Tundra. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 24V381000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) and 23V566000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the low oil pressure warning light illuminated, and an alarm sounded. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where an oil change was performed; however, the failure recurred within 15 minutes and the engine made an abnormal knocking sound. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 9, 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 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 h... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH the vehicle began to loose automotive power and stalled. During the incident, several warning messages were activated which included the check engine light and the ABS warning. While inspecting the vehicle smoke and fire began to stream from under the engine hood and moments later the frontend of ... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jun 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 BMW X5. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle failed to start. Additionally, there was a burning odor on the inside and outside of the vehicle while the vehicle was occupied. The contact stated that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V576000 (Electrical System, Engine and Engine Cooling). No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 Cadillac XT4. The contact stated that while stopped at a traffic signal, the signal turned green; however, when the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle hesitated before responding as needed. The contact stated that the vehicle lunged into motion. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent at first but became a recurring failure. The contact stated there w... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, a message to “Have Vehicle Checked Immediately" was displayed on the instrument panel. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was notified of coolant intrusion into the engine and that the engine needed to be replaced. The contac... Read more
Incident date: Feb 27, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Edge. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle almost stalled. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a certified mechanic who diagnosed and retrieved DTC code: P0302 and linked the failure to NHTSA ID Number: 10169807 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The mechanic referred the contact to the dealer for assistance. Th... Read more
Incident date: Nov 27, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that the vehicle was leaking coolant. There were no warning lights illuminated. There was an unknown alarm that was turning on and off. The contact stated that the vehicle started rough. The contact stated that the failure was related to Technical Service Bulletin: 19-2208/ 22-2229. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagno... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Tundra. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V381000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manuf... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while parking the vehicle, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a Toyota dealer where the vehicle was purchased. The dealer determined that there was coolant intrusion into the cylinders due to a cracked engine block. The dealer determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact t... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Tundra. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently shutdown. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the messages “Engine Power inoperable” and “Pull over in a Safe Place” were displayed. The contact stated that the failure was due to NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V381000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The vehicle wa... Read more
Incident date: Jul 7, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, a message that the engine was overheating was displayed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the head gasket was cracked. The vehicle was towed to the residence, where a Ford certified mechanic diagnosed the vehicle. The mechanic made the same assessment and dete... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-150. The contact stated that when the vehicle was started, there was a loud rattling sound coming from the engine compartment. Additionally, the contact stated that on several occasions while driving at various speeds, the transmission failed to operate properly. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the cam phasers needed to be replaced. The ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine started to misfire, with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to restart; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed with coolant intrusion into the engine. The contact was informed that the engine... Read more
Incident date: Aug 13, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while the vehicle was started, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine compartment. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the cam phasers needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact believed that the failure was associated with Manufacturer Recall Campaign Number: 21N0... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while operating the vehicle, the message "Turn Engine Off" was displayed, and the engine temperature gauge indicated that the engine had overheated. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who diagnosed that the engine had failed due to coolant intrusion into the cylinders. The contact was advised that the engine short block needed to be ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Expedition. The contact stated while cold starting the vehicle, the vehicle was shaking and vibrating abnormally. The contact stated that after the engine had warmed up, the vehicle was running normally. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent but had become a recurring failure. The contact had tak... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. 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 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 approximately 35 MPH,... Read more
Incident date: Aug 4, 2024
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 unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manu... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 45 MPH, the check engine, check oil, and several other unknown warning lights were illuminated, and the vehicle then stalled. The vehicle was not able to restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the wall in between the coolant and the piston was worn, and coolant was leaking ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2018) — ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Aug 13, 2024
Incident date: Aug 13, 2024
The contact owned a 2015 Kia Rio. The contact stated that while the friend was driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle suddenly began to lose automotive power, and smoke was seen coming from under the hood. The vehicle was parked and the friend exited the vehicle and discovered flames coming from the engine compartment. The fire department was called to the scene and extinguished the flames. The... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Aug 6, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that after refueling the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start. The contact had s... Read more
Incident date: Aug 12, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact stated while driving at approximately... Read more
Incident date: Aug 13, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while having the vehicle inspected, the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was coolant intrusion into engine and the engine could be damaged. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and the contact was informed that there was no wa... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2014
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Edge. The contact stated while reversing out of the garage, the engine started to misfire. The check engine warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle failed to start on another occasion. The contact was able to restart the vehicle after several attempts. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that... Read more
Incident date: Jul 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while cold starting the vehicle, the vehicle was idling roughly. The contact stated that once the engine had warmed up the engine started running normally. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact checked the engine and observed that the coolant level was extremely low. The contact had taken the... Read more