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 42,929 complaints - component: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
MERCEDES-BENZ
SPRINTER 2500
(2021) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 14, 2023
Incident date: Jan 5, 2023
My high beam lights do not work. My low beams are all that I have. It is a safety hazard at night due to not having adequate lighting to drive in dark areas. I have had no warning lamps or notifications come on but it has been going on for at least 1-2 months. I have been thinking my lights weren’t bright when switching between bright and dim but just put it to the text on 3/13/2023 and realized... Read more
Incident date: Mar 12, 2018
Headlights will shut off while driving. This sometimes will occur on its own, other times, it appears to be caused when using the turn signal lever. The lights will come back on by touching/moving the lever. This is dangerous and could lead to an accident.
Incident date: Mar 7, 2023
The connector for the Trailer is located in a location that in the wrong place, the cable from all RVs and trailers is located at the left side of the hitch, so in order to attach the cable you need to stretch the cable and got loose when you turn, you need to get out and reconnect. Since the cable got disconnected the emergency brake of the camper got activated and after that things go to the wr... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Impreza. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V624000 (Exterior Lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer and manufacturer were not yet contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 10, 2023
Blinkers hyper flash with head lights off, get stuck on one direction. dont work when head lights are on. THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM with this car and it is known but nothing has ever been done.
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated while driving at night, the headlights failed to provide adequate lighting. The contact stated that the headlights were extremely dim while driving on dimly lit streets. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the headlight assemblies... Read more
Incident date: Jan 8, 2023
Vehicle headlights work intermittently. Either will go out unexpectedly. Car has been to dealership. Problem not solved. Relays have been replaced, etc. There is a lengthy forum on this topic with this Jeep model; many others have this issue. This is a profound safety issue. When lights do not work, my daughter has been forced to pull off of road, exacerbating the safety issue. Please urge a re... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2001 Honda Civic. The contact stated while driving at approximately 70 MPH, the high-beam headlights failed to function as needed. The contact stated that the running lights and low-beam headlights were operable. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that they needed to take the vehicle apart in order to get the correct part n... Read more
Incident date: Mar 12, 2023
As I was driving vehicle it shut down. Dashboard went haywire as did the front panel, radio, windows. Could not turn on car at all, not even put it on neutral. Hazard lights did not work either.
Incident date: Oct 15, 2020
I bought my car used from a private party in March of 2022 with around 132,000miles. In a year's time I have replaced the rear passenger side tail light bulbs 3 to 4 times, the whole light assembly, and the wiring harness twice due to the bulb getting to hot and the plastic caught on fire the first time and melting the second. Noticed the smoke when I pulled into a gas station that day and opened ... Read more
Fire
Incident date: May 14, 2022
I have a 2015 Nissan Altima with the headlight delamination recall warranty. The dealership found that my vehicle was affected by faulty headlights. Diagnosed in May of 2022 and was told new headlights would be ordered. It is now March of 2023 and I still cannot drive my vehicle at night due to poor illumination on roadway. This concerns me as a sfety issue that they refuse to expedite, also that ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
GOLF SPORTWAGEN
(2015) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 12, 2023
Incident date: Mar 12, 2023
The low beam lights are almost none existent. We bought he car used two days ago (3/10/23) and we drove for the first time at night and had not light visible. Car's behind were casting more light. We had to use our high beams to get home. I checked and all lights are working, high, low, running, turn, fog, etc. No bulbs are burned out. I have replaced the bulbs with OEM. No change.
Incident date: Mar 12, 2023
Reverse lights won’t go on, and rear camera won’t turn on in reverse. While in reverse it says I’m in first.
FORD
F-150 HYBRID
(2022) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 12, 2023
Incident date: Mar 12, 2023
Cannot see at night, headlights are too dim even after being replaced. After looking into it, this seems to be a major problem for everyone that owes these vehicles. I just bought this vehicle used in December 2021 and did not test drive it at night, so did not know it was an issue when purchased.
Incident date: Mar 11, 2023
I was traveling with my family and while driving on a dark road, I turned in my high beam lights on, but nothing happened. I tried several times but they still did not work. Just a few weeks ago there were working. I do not have any indications on my dashboard of any issues. I do use the Kia app and the last healthy alert indicated no issues. I did a little research online and found a forum wit... Read more
Incident date: Aug 21, 2022
Dash instruments, radio, compass, overhead console, all blank and inoperable. Was told by for service that many vehicles 2017 to 2019 are having same problem. Told the instrument cluster module powers multiple areas of truck and will need a new module. Was told there is a glitch in the design.
Incident date: Mar 10, 2023
The Infotainment System screen is black and doesn't work. This poses a safety hazard as the navigation is inoperable; handsfree calls cannot be made while driving, which is required by law, since bluetooth is inoperable; and the back-up camera works intermittently and a person or another car could be hit while I'm backing up the vehicle.. The problem appeared quickly without warning in late Jan... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2020
The one headlight is very dim and it makes seeing on the road not as visible.
Incident date: Mar 9, 2023
The NHTSA has filed a Consent Order (RQ17-004) for a Engine Replacement due to safety concerns while driving the vehicle on the road, Vehicle may stall and cause / be involved in a accident. Please make this recall public so the affected vehicles can be properly repaired as the Consent Order states I have reviewed the Consent Order and I will not continue to drive this vehicle, I will not ris... Read more
TOYOTA
COROLLA CROSS
(2023) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 11, 2023
Incident date: Mar 11, 2023
The rear liner had water indications, with an odor of mildew in the car. I couldn't drive around with mildew in my car. I notuved shortly after i purchased yhe vehicle that the brake light was cracked. I didmt think much of it, thought it was just a cosmetic thing. It was taken to my dealership and they confirmed the water was getting in through the cracked brake light. I did a little research and... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
The headlights on this vehicle are so dim it is unsafe to drive at night. Was told by the dealership that it’s a common problem with this vehicle where the inner film oxidizes and degrades the coating. This issue happened on another model and was recalled and fixed. It is terrifying to drive at night, especially with my child in the car. I live in an area with deer and the lights are so dim yo... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2021) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 10, 2023
Incident date: Mar 10, 2023
The automatic high beams will occasionally fail to operate and are stuck in low beams until about 2 minutes have passed, or until the automatic high beams switch is turned off to disable the system. This seems to be a software issue, as it seems to occur when an approaching vehicle passes by with bright lights. When this happens, all high beams are disabled for a couple of minutes, even if the h... Read more
Incident date: Mar 10, 2023
Brights not working even though dash indicates they are on. Took car back to where I purchased and they told me there was a recall on the headlight shutter. They said to take car to Kia. I contacted Kia and was told by service department that there is NO recall on bights although they are getting many complains on this issue
Incident date: Feb 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Impreza. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number 22V624000 (Exterior Lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 17, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that the passenger’s side headlamp suddenly failed to illuminate as needed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who replaced the headlamp and the relay on separate occasions. After the replacement the driver’s side headlamp operated intermittently. The contact had taken the vehicle to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the cause of th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 28, 2022
High beam lights on both sides stopped functioning
Incident date: Jul 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Ford F-150. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V686000 (Exterior Lighting) 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. The contact had no... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2023
When using i-Pedal (one-pedal driving) mode in this vehicle, it can decelerate at a very fast rate but does not illuminate the brake lights unless the driver’s foot is completely off the pedal. For example, I can be driving 60mph and decelerate to ~2mph as quickly as other drivers coming to a complete stop, but my brake lights will not illuminate until my foot is **completely** removed from the... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2023
Rear cabin lights do not come on when doors are opened. When manually turned on, at times, rear cabin lights will turn on and not be able to be turned off. This created a hazard while driving at night/early morning. We had to cover interior lighting to be able to drive safely. I feel this is a product issue. Dealer said it’s normal working order.
Incident date: Mar 9, 2023
UNKNOWN I'm not sure, I'm only scared what happens if this recalls isn't fixed sooner than expected so I can avoid unexpected issues or expensive repairs...
Incident date: Jan 17, 2023
3 days after purchase, headlights would not work, car towed to service center, both front headlight assemblies were replaced. 3 weeks after purchase, fault detected on passenger restraint, service center states passenger seat needs to be replaced to make airbag operational. I live 90 miles from service center, making these repairs quite difficult
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2021) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 9, 2023
Incident date: Mar 9, 2023
High beam function does not work. Went out completely with no warning or indication.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
Headlights malfunctioned - they would turn on but lighting was very dim. The headlights were so dim while driving that driving in the evening became dangerous because they did not sufficiently illuminate the road so I could not see well. There was almost no difference in terms of improving visibility at night while driving between having the headlights on or off. That’s obviously a hazard for m... Read more
TOYOTA
COROLLA CROSS
(2023) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 9, 2023
Incident date: Feb 27, 2023
I had taken my vehicle to the dealer because I was having a very difficult time at night seeing with my headlights. The dealer determined that both of my font headlights assemblies were extremely dim and needed to be replaced. I found the dealer to be very irresponsible and i informed them that this was a major accident waiting to happen since my driving was impaired by the dim headlights.
Incident date: Dec 27, 2021
The steering column does not operate properly. The column no longer adjusts positions and more importantly, the turn signals work ad-hoc. When you start the vehicle, the turn signals tend to operate properly; however, after driving for approximately 15 minutes, the turn signals operate sporadically. THIS IS A SAFETY CONCERN as it's impossible to know when the turn signal will operate correctly ... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
ML350
(2012) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 9, 2023
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The vehicle headlights are dangerously low for night driving regardless of how new the bulbs are.
Incident date: Mar 8, 2023
Both low beam headlights are very dim. Replacing the bulb does not increase brightness. Reports from internet are saying it’s because the reflective material oxidizes and no longer reflects. Extremely dangerous to drive at night.
COOPER
DISCOVERER H/T
(9999) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 9, 2023
Incident date: Mar 7, 2023
Headlamp mechanism defect. Running headlights are so dim, I can barely see the road at night. My car only has 37,000 miles on it. However, I did notice that the headlights seemed very dim the past few months and was trying to figure out if it was a setting issue (automatic/manual/etc.) or actual headlamp issue. Nothing worked. I decided to checked online for headlamp issues, I see that there has b... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2023
Brake lights and headlights randomly go off mainly the brake light thats in the back window!
Incident date: Mar 3, 2023
Myself along with thousands of other owners are having moisture build up issues inside the headlight that eventually create puddles of water that short out the headlights which is $5000 for each headlight replacement.
Incident date: Feb 22, 2023
Rear outer TAIL LAMP combination assemblies (NOT the inner lights on the trunk lid) have failed Virginia State SAFETY Inspection due to accumulation of moisture and standing water in BOTH left and right outer tail lamps, causing LEDs in the tail lamp assembly to burn out and not illuminate. There have already been multiple Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) on the matter (i.e. KIA TSB PS364, KIA T... Read more
Incident date: Feb 26, 2023
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? I reported that my display screen would often appear corrupted when navigating. The screen will either go blank or appear grainy, preventing me from accessing the navigation or music features. Restarting my phone or turning off the display does not help. I missed a turn on a highway with heavy tr... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2023
2023 corolla is having some issue with headlights [Low Beams]. I understood from Toyota that this is an safety feature which is designed as per the rules. This is an good idea and i am not denying it. The issue which i have is the person who is driving this car is not having clear view on the Road. The shadow's is completely hiding the left lane. If we are driving in full dark road, and towards le... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2023
The brake lights are 28” approx from the ground but they sue very difficult to see from behind with other cars especially large vans trucks and SUV’s. The blinkers also appear to be red and don’t stand out. The combination make it appear like a reflector not a brake light and blinker. I’ve had the car for 5 days and have almost been hit from behind 3 times. This us a safety issue. Gm shoul... Read more
Incident date: Mar 6, 2023
Was traveling down the road, had an electrical burning smell coming from my dash and around steering wheel. Low beams then shut off going down road pulled over but still had high beams but no low beams.
Incident date: Mar 7, 2022
IM SEEING WATER IN MY LEFT HEAD LAMP . AND IM FINDING OUT THAT A LOT OFF PEOPLE ARE HAVING THIS SAME PROBLEM .. NISSAN IS AWARE OF THIS ISSUSE AND NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THERE ISSUE . BECAUSE OF THE WATER ISSUEMY BULBS CONTINUE TO BURN OUT
KAWASAKI
NINJA ZX-6R
(2011) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 7, 2023
Incident date: Jan 3, 2023
My 2018 Dodge Durango leaked water into the taillight assembly. I initially removed the bottom taillight screw located inside the liftgate so water would drain. Later I had to remove the light itself and run a bead of silicone caulking along the top edge where the water leaked into the light assembly. Generation 3 Dodge Durangos are notorious for leaking water into the "race track" shaped taill... Read more
Incident date: Feb 28, 2023
The Radio/Display is in a never-ending updating loop and the screen becomes very bright at the start of the update loop. In which cause temporary blindness at night while driving.
FORD
BRONCO SPORT
(2021) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 7, 2023
Incident date: Dec 22, 2022
My headlights have become dangerously dim once my car hit 100K miles. Despite cleaning the lens and changing the bulbs, I still can hardly see at night time. I regularly have to use my brights to be able to see the lines or curbs. Dealership wants to charge close to $3,000 for repairs and cannot seem to provide a plausible reason why my car after having no accidents and is well kept and maintained... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
COMPONENETS FAILING: Passenger side headlight and blinker keep failing. Driver side running light keeps failing to illuminate. Driver side rear brake lights keep failing. Rear passenger side reverse light and blinker failing to illuminate. SAFETY: I have no way to safely drive in the dark or daylight because the blinkers and headlight are failing to work properly. INSPECTION and CONFIRMATION: ... Read more