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
Incident date: Jun 25, 2022
Low beam headlights have become progressively dimmer to the point that the vehicle is unsafe to drive at night
Incident date: Jan 10, 2021
Tail lights keep going out and have been replaced
Incident date: Jun 23, 2022
When driving at night, the front lights of the vehicle turn off randomly. Been driving on an highway at going at 75mph and randomly the headlights shuts off. Happened 4 times in the past year.
Incident date: Dec 1, 2017
The contact owns a 2009 Cadillac STS. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the Service TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) sensor message and TPMS warning light was illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to an independent mechanic where the sensor was replaced and reprogrammed on multiple occasions; however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the... Read more
Incident date: Feb 21, 2022
Both taillights and brake lights have gone out within 4 months of each other.
Incident date: May 22, 2020
Number one vibration while driving when cold car has had 24 tires put on in 19,000 miles Michelin has now paid for somebody else’s tires to be put on the car number two Engine misfire dealer verified replaced coil pack same condition still exists no check engine light Number three excessive ticking noise when engine started cold in a.m. multiple electrical problems wipers going off intermittentl... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Light is dim, tried to replace bulb several time. Please see Suarez vs. Nissan North America
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
The front drivers door latch. When the door is shut their is an alarm stating that the door is ajar. Per Ford their is a Customer Satisfaction Program 19N09 for it. I bought this vechicle Monday June 20, 2022. Per Ford they notified me of this issue as well but they will not fix it as it is past the 84,000 miles/7 years as well as the 120,000 miles and July 31, 2020. This vechile per the records h... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 GMC Terrain. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V165000 (Visibility) and 22V137000 (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 manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experi... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2008) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Jun 23, 2022
Incident date: Jan 1, 2018
The tail left bulb mount carrier part Number 204-820-15-00-64, one of the terminal in the back, is corroded. Also, one of the cable is burnt. In short, the tail lamp doesn’t work. It is a hazard problem since it affects the brake signaling, turning signaling and all other tail lamps signaling. For many years, I have read many incidents like this reported from owners like me and Mercedes has d... Read more
Incident date: Jun 23, 2022
My vehicle has experienced ecm/ throttle body issues, lights flickering hard to drive vehicle at night because the lights aren't working properly. Transmission and motor problems. Why isn't the electrical issues on recall? I've been on several forums with hundreds of electrical issue complaints. This is not fair
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
Left headlight goes on and off. Dealer can’t find the problem. Has offered different very expensive options to see if it would work. One part that was told may be needed is the body control module which Lincoln and Ford has discontinued. Told they can try replacing the entire assembly but would not guarantee a fix. This repair is costly. Was then told I may need to purchase a new car instead of ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2022
Third brake light cracks on left side, resulting in damage to the brake light and letting water leak in through the roof damaging the car's interior, including the rear curtain airbags.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
My car was purchased new in December 2018. It now has 119,231 miles on it. My problem is that my headlight warning lamps go on the minute I start my car, because moisture has somehow gotten into both headlight assemblies, which causes my headlights to stop working intermittently. I took my car to Keeler Honda in Latham New York to get it fixed, and they gave me a quote to replace two headlights in... Read more
Incident date: Mar 16, 2022
Nissan Altima headlights do not work effectively and barely illuminate the roadway. Recall was issued for headlight replacements months ago. Car was brought to dealership months ago for headlight inspection and approved for headlight replacements. Multiple phone calls have been made to find out when the actual headlight replacement will occur but still have not received an answer to if/when headli... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
Auto dimming and bright headlights do not dim for oncoming traffic consistently. Unsafe for other travelers at night. I’ve owned two Tesla’s model 3 and model y over the last 4 years. Both had issues with the Auto Bright/Auto dimming headlights. The automatic feature takes too long to turn on the high beams and takes too long to dim for oncoming traffic. The auto dimming function also reacts t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
I have replaced my front driver door actuator, the back driver and front passenger side 3x and it’s still having issues. I replaced all fuses an wiring harness. Front headlights keep blowing out after about a week of putting in new ones.
Incident date: Dec 30, 2021
The SRX is known to have issues with the headlight assemblies. I even received a letter from Cadillac that informed me that moisture may get into the assemblies, which causes them to fail. The moisture shorts out the assembly which greatly dims the bulb. On one particular night in Michigan, I had to drive with my high beams on just to be able to see the road. I had just replaced the bulbs so t... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2022
Internal failure of catalytic converter and body control module
Incident date: Apr 11, 2022
The low beam LED light has gone out which consists of replacing the whole headlight assembly. The dealership wants $2000 to replace this unit. Looking online at car forums this is a known issue on these explorers. Our explorer is from 2017 with only 31000 miles on it which means at most the headlight has been on for only 516 hours. LED lights should be lasting for 30000-40000 hours. This is a safe... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2010
1. The weakness (dimness) of the low beams is a DANGEROUS situation. The assemblies are not dirty or oxidized; the low beam height was properly adjusted; Tested the power going to each light and it showed 14 volts; Bought some high power LED bulbs which didn't help. I am very hesitant to spend up to $400 for new assemblies hoping that maybe it will fix the problem. I have adjusted the high beam le... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2022
Electrical system failure on multiple components. Upon start entertainment system (radio, nav, etc.) is inoperable, A/C does not function, windows will not roll down. Has happened on multiple occasions.
Incident date: Apr 29, 2022
Drivers seat, seat belt at the lap tightens while driving to the point it is brusing hip bones. Even if someone loosens it, the seat belt automatically tightens up to the point it is dangerous in a collision because it can cause internal injuries or more severe injuries. The seat belt design is flawed in that it pulls extra belt from only from the top, so the bottom of the lap belt is fixed and th... Read more
Incident date: Jan 21, 2022
Vehicle is equipped with automatic high-beam headlights. The feature has not worked properly since I bought the truck new in April 2021. Hi-beam lights will activate for a few seconds and then turn off for about 10 seconds and continually repeat the sequence regardless of road specifics. A few times, the headlights have flashed oncoming vehicles less than 100 feet away. I have taken the vehicle i... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2013) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Jun 17, 2022
Incident date: Mar 30, 2022
My 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan has had an airbag light on the instruments display since early March of 2022. At the same time lights on the steering wheel no longer illuminate and the horn does not function. I had earlier received a recall notice and took the car to my dealer for analysis on March 14. The service technician determined that the clock spring was defective and on and ordered the part... Read more
Incident date: Jun 12, 2022
The third brake light stays lit even when key is off and gets extremely hot. rear brake lights come on when key is turned on making them indistinguishable from running lights. This happens even if brake pedal switch is removed!
MERCEDES-BENZ
AMG EQS
(2022) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Jun 17, 2022
Incident date: May 25, 2022
left side driver and right side passenger airbag light indicated on need for service appear on 5/25/2022 at merccedez benz dealership. Test drove this car on 5/25/2022 from the dealership knowingly aware on thier part with the light indicator on and did not disclose to customer placing customer safety in danger. Not inspected until until 6/7/2022 . Mercedes benz service maintenance changed driv... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE 4XE
(2022) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Jun 17, 2022
Incident date: Jun 15, 2022
The Adaptive High Beams have stopped working on my Grand Jeep Cherokee L. When you push the lever forward, it should engage the high beams, but it does not. The only way to use the high beams is to pull the lever back (flicker action) and hold it. This is a dangerous way to drive without having high beams.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 GMC Terrain. The contact was notified through a ridesharing app that the VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V137000 (Exterior Lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the manufactu... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
The driver side headlamp assembly has a faulty seal which allows water to leak inside the housing under normal daily conditions. When this happens the water leaks down through the assembly where the headlight ballast is mounted, causing water to collect in the ballast, and killing it (making the headlight go out) as well as the electrical components that power the L.E.D. daytime running lights als... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2022
There was a class action lawsuit for the highlights on my Nissan. The first week of April 2022 we had the highlights check by a Nissan Dealer. We were told that it is included in the Lawsuit and that they would replace the highlights. They had to order them and would call when the came in. It has been two months and they keep saying the replacement highlights has not come in. I call the parts depa... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 GMC Terrain. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V137000 (Exterior Lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of tim... Read more
Incident date: Jan 20, 2022
In May 2021 I leases a brand new car. In Jan 2021 I was driving my car and at a busy intersection, my car stalled. I just got a full tank of gas but the low fuel tank light came on. The car would not turn off, the clutch was stuck and I could not shift out of any gear. I brought my car in to the service center where I bought my car and let them know that I think electrical issues were causing p... Read more
ASTON MARTIN
V8 VANTAGE
(2015) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Jun 15, 2022
Incident date: Jun 10, 2022
Tailights allow water into them, a very common problem from factory causing them to malfunction. Brake lights will stop working this is a serious safety issue and one Aston Martin knows about. A recall should be issued on these lights.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
Started with driver side heated seat randomly turning on and off. Going from high, medium, low. No way to turn it off just comes back on. Can hear clicking coming from under dash. Lift gate wiring that goes into body, ground wire burnt. (Replaced) but ground wire has power. (Wiring issue) so rear wiper doesn’t work. “Reading” Lamps only work when door is open. After replacing life gate conne... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2022
Radio, hands free calling, and light on mirror shorting out. None of them work. It’s like it has a short in the wiring.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
The headlamp actuator inside the headlight assembly that flips to reveal high beams or low beams is made of a cheap, flimsy plastic that wears down quickly. When it is worn down, the rod can no longer control whether high beams or low beams are shown. Because of this, this car is stuck with either high beams or no headlights at all. This is extremely unsafe for nighttime driving as you are stuck b... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2022
while driving a chevy impala at night you can barley see and i drove even new models it’s still the same
Incident date: Jun 6, 2022
Purchase the vehicle less than a month ago, drove it for the first time at night and the headlight visibility was horrible.it was so horrible it scared the s*** out of me!! I had to pull over and wait till day light. I was afraid I was gone get hit or I was gone hit some one.what a scary situation. I am so disappointed in GMC and Cadillac!! People lives are in DANGER!!!! Please HELP!!!!
Incident date: Jan 17, 2021
The contact's partner owns a 2009 Saturn Aura. The contact's partner noticed that the brake lights randomly would illuminate. The contact stated that the failure occurred at various speeds and related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V252000 (Electrical System, Exterior Lighting, Vehicle Speed Control, Electronic Stability Control). Additionally, when the contact's partner was coming to sto... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2022
While driving with a fully charged battery, the car dash warned “pull over to safe location. Battery cannot support all functions”. We were unable to fully pull over in the time before the car experienced a critical loss of functionality, as the car shut off in less than 1 minute from flashing the warning. The car lost all functionality, including loss of its flashers, putting us at signific... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2022
The car has dangerously dim headlights. I can barely see ahead of me at night. I live in Florida and was driving in the rain at night (not by choice) and I had to go extremely slow because I could not see a thing. I contacted the dealer but they said I do not qualify for the headlight recall and I recently got the car serviced and my headlights passed inspection. However, I’ve read many compla... Read more
Incident date: Jun 11, 2022
bolts falling out that connect the grounding wire on the passenger and driver side rear frame. causes all lights on both side to not work. No notification is given for this fault. May cause you to drive without know that you have no stop lights turn singles.
Incident date: Jun 11, 2022
Went to drive home at night lights were working then all the sudden went out. Pulled over checked fuses n restarted auto and still no lights, the dash board lights were out as well. Safety of other drivers and my family were affected. Did have to have a friend come and get us. And went to get auto next day n still no lights. When got home checked everything agine and fuses were ok the wirein... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
The tail light bulbs melts plastic and can cause fire. My light indicator came on. When I checked the bulb, the internal structure was melted. I ordered exact model from a junk yard. When I received, I noticed it had the same issue and the internal structure was melting from heat of light bulb. Both Left and Right Tail light structures were melting. Potential fire hazard.
Incident date: Mar 31, 2021
Malfunctions: hazard lights severe malfunction. All Steering wheel control buttons stopped working. Center control buttons stopped working. USB charging port/Auxiliary media port/ right side auxiliary power port lost power. Battery alternator and starter had acceptable readings via multimeter. Suspect ECM failure? Symptoms similar to misfires when A/C is running. Parking break doesn’t always eng... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2021
The contact owns a 2013 Lincoln MKS. The contact stated that water was leaking into the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that water was leaking through the sunroof as the drain had not been cleaned. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated upon starting the vehicle, the front passenger's side headlight failed to illuminate. There was no warning light illumina... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 GMC Terrain. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V165000 (Visibility) and 22V137000 (Exterior Lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The dealer had been notified about the issue; however, the contact was informed that the parts were not yet available. The manufacturer had been notified of the issue. The contact stated ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2020
TAIL LIGHTS/BRAKE LIGHTS /SIGNAL LIGHTS GO ON AND GO OFF DANGER OF BEING HIT FROM THE REAR DEALER AND INDEPENDENT SERVICE HAS CONFIRMED DEFECT AND SAY IT IS COMMON VEHICLE HAS NOT BEEN INSPECTED BE THE POLICE OR INSURANCE THERE WAS NO WARNING LAMPS OR MESSAGES FIRST DISCOVER 2 YEARS AGO WHEN DRIVERS WOULD PULL UP AND SAY THE LIGHTS WERE OUT......WE WOULD STOP AND LOOK THEY WOULD COME BACK ON
Incident date: Mar 8, 2022
no one was hurt. just a finder binder to my car only. the other drivrr had a truck and it didnt do any damage to back bumper.
Crash