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: Jan 9, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Mazda CX-5. The contact stated that the center display was malfunctioning. The contact stated that the rearview camera turned off inadvertently or failed to operate as intended while reversing the vehicle. The contact also stated that the screen display brightness would decrease independently. Additionally, the contact stated that the exterior lights would malfunction due t... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2022
Electrical issue affecting the headlights, radio, clock, gauges. Headlights constantly flicker/dimming, also causes the bulbs to burn out rapidly. Radio constantly losing power Clock/miles left in tank display resets occasionally The the speedometer and tachometer display loses power dropping all the needles to 0 for a second before popping back. These issues got worse after the last recall was... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2018) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
May 9, 2022
Incident date: May 9, 2022
The left rear tail light assembly is subject to direct wheel spray resulting in premature corrosion and failure of the lightbulb and wiring harness. Failure first occurred Within 18 months of ownership. I cleaned the contacts and packed the connection with dielectric grease. However after three years the bulb connection is now totally corroded and the circuit has failed requiring harness replaceme... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 GMC Terrain. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the windshield wipers became inoperable. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V165000 (Visibility) and 22V137000 (Exterior Lighting) however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The local dealer was not contac... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2022
Battery drained by approx 50 % in a 12 hour period preventing car from starting. No lights, radio or other electrical feature could be activated. This is the 3rd occurrence of this feature since I purchased the vehicle on 9-28-2020. Supposedly Subaru dealer, Patrick Motors, Worcester, MA replaced the battery in 2020 at that time.
Incident date: Dec 1, 2011
Brake lights have been needed to be replaced multiple times a year, since I purchased the car. Now this past year I have had to replace my break lights more often and noticed the port that holds the light appears to be burnt. So after I noticed the situation, I googled to see if there were any recalls and there have been, but my dealership advised me that my car had no recall for the break lights... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2022
Water in the rear light seems to be a common problem in them and mine has a lot of water in.
Incident date: May 6, 2022
The brake light switch assembly failed. The car's brake light will not go off. Other drivers do not know if you are braking. The dealer can not fix it until next week, meanwhile, it is dangerous to drive. This brake switch assembly is under recall for 2014 MKZ and 2015 MKZ. It looks to be the same assembly on the 2016 MKZ. There was no warning. The brake lights come on while parked in the driveway... Read more
Incident date: May 7, 2022
The headlights are very, very dim when driving the vehicle at night. They are getting progressively worse. Before I took ownership of the vehicle, it was owned by my elderly parents, (82 and 88), both recently deceased. In the years prior to their deaths, they drove much less and hardly ever at night. It wasn't until I took ownership that my wife and I began to notice just how dim the lights were ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2021
Hazard Light switch is not functional. Hazard lights that are inoperable causes high risk for vehicle occupants and others on the road when traffic flow is altered. The issue has been reproduced by the dealer and another repair shop. The main symptom is the ability to not turn on the hazard lights. The issue first appeared Nov 2021
Incident date: May 7, 2022
Water has leaked into the center "racetrack" tail light lens on the rear of the vehicle, and pooled in the bottom portion of said lens. This has caused the LED lighting to begin burning out, causing a safety issue. The only fix is a very expensive ($1200-$1500) replacement of the entire tail light lens assembly. This is an extremely common issue among Durango owners and Dodge should be held liable... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 2022
Automatic high beam headlights turn on and off sporadically causing flashing lights for oncoming traffic.
Incident date: May 2, 2022
Brakes- rear calipers wear uneven on the inside pad 5mm outer and 1mm on inner. This is a safety hazard because seeing the outer pad still was in specifications that I did not need to replace them just yet. Got my car completely inspected due to grinding noise and found that the inner pad was metal to metal ruined my rotor costing me more money as well as if I hadn’t gotten it inspected could ha... Read more
Incident date: Apr 27, 2022
When parked, the car begins to try to turn on. The interior lights flash, systems fire and the battery drains. Twice I was left stranded having to rely on tow trucks, replacing batteries that were still functional and running car continuously in order to not drain it since it is my only car and I needed reliable vehicle to get to my kids. I could have been stranded in unsafe areas, thus impacting ... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2022
Both headlights have condensation and are not working.
Incident date: May 5, 2022
Engine had loud rattling and seized, was suppose to have long block and short block replaced. Only short block replaced paid $7,441.53. After three months of it being in the dealership, I got my car back. Less than twenty four hours later the check engine light came on. Brought it back, it is the same issues. component in engine that was suppose to be new part failed. It is back at the dealership.... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2022
2013 GMC Acadia left brake light, tail light, turn signal bulb is burned out. There is no way to purchase another bulb. Retail stores don't have it. General Motors Corporation discontinued it. 2013 to 2017 GMC Acadia all affected. I've tried GM direct,GM parts online no one has it. GMC customer service was no help, Chevrolet customer service was no help. No left brake light. No left turn signal. A... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2006) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
May 6, 2022
Incident date: May 4, 2022
The vehicle's gauges will turn off while driving randomly. The speedometer, odometer, tachometer, fuel gauge will all zero out for unspecified amounts of time. Sometimes 10 seconds, other times until the vehicle is started back up. This occurs when the vehicle is in motion. So, is very dangerous. Sometimes it causes the car to completely shut off and come back on. While shut off, the car sounds li... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2022
Car lights come on when the car is not in use. Car sporadically does not start. New battery installed in February and car wont start in May.
Incident date: Apr 28, 2022
Shortly after 3 yrs of ownership, problem lights on the dashboard for the entire system turned on (Road Departure Mitigation System Problem, Brake Hold System Problem, Vehicle Stability Assist Problem, Hill Start Assist Problem, Adaptive Cruise Control Problem, Brake System Problem, Emergency Brakes, Emission System Problem, Tire Pressure Monitor Problem, Lane Assist, etc). That was in August 2021... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2021
The contact owns a 2015 GMC Terrain. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH at night, the headlights became inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number 22V137000 (Exte... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2022
The high beams stopped working.
Incident date: Apr 16, 2018
4/16/2018) Codes pulled 16188 Brake Lamp Malfunction, 13036D, and 13036C. Code 16188 was repaired and replaced by the Chevrolet dealership. A warning code would show on the dashboard then brake lights would show that the brakes are being applied at all times while driving or not show when braking.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
No matter what bulbs you put in the headlights they do not shine bright enough or far enough for you to drive safely at night. We have stopped driving the suv at night because the only way to have enough light to see the road is if they are on bright then they bright light oncoming traffic.
Incident date: Apr 26, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 GMC Terrain. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an unknown speed, the windshield wiper failed to operate as needed without warning. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V165000 (Visibility) and 22V137000 (Exterior Lighting) however, the parts for the recall repairs were unavailable. The dealer had not been notified of the recall. ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
I purchased the car for my mother on 10/20/2015 from Mike Savoie Chevrolet in Troy, MI. At the time I had a concern because there was a message being displayed on the car “Service ESC”, I was informed by the dealer that it was a false message and there was no issue with the car, we should just disregard but if we had any problems to let him know moving forward. At that time we did not have i... Read more
Incident date: May 3, 2022
The brake pedal stopper pad deteriorated, allowing the brake light switch plunger to remain extended when the brake pedal was released. This kept my break lights on even when the car was turned off, which lead to issues with my accelerator randomly giving out while I was on the road, and my traction control forced off.
Incident date: Apr 3, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 GMC Terrain. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH his vehicle inadvertently and unknowingly crashed into the vehicle in front. The contact was unable to see the vehicle in front of him due to the glare of headlights. The air bags did deploy. There were no warning lights. The vehicle was damaged in the front, but drivable. The vehicle was not diagnosed with ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
There is a known issue with Altima headlamps that causes dimming of the lights. This resulted in a class action lawsuit. Though Nissan is making a test available to confirm eligibility for replacement, they are not providing a time frame for when they will provide dealers with parts to correct the issue. This is resulting in a severe inability to see well when driving at night especially if weathe... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The low beam headights are extremely dim. The outer headlight cover is not degraded. It appears to be the inner light cover that is fogged over (just for the low beam light). The lights are aimed appropriately, but you can barely see the road and obstacles at night. It is even worse when raining. The high beam headlights are functioning normally. The low beam lights are significantly dimmer than w... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2018) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
May 3, 2022
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
The center 8.5" Information/Entertainment touch screen is delaminating. The delamination is creating "ghosting" of the system causing cycling through various screens and applications. This is VERY distracting and dangerous by removing eyes off the road to see what is happening. If navigating with built-in Nav or via external (Apple Play), the ghosting changes destinations, cancels navigation a... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2022
Hazard lights flashing, flashes faster at higher speeds. Hazard button useless. Mechanic not sure what is the problem; reset codes. Problem went away for a few days and then came back.
Incident date: Apr 29, 2022
My headlights are so dim i cannot use my car at night. It started a while ago I have replaced the lights but they become dim and the moisture in the headlights is terrible it is so dangerous to drive my car at night i cannot move it once it is dark. I have searched and found that this is an ongoing issue not only in my 2011 model but all Cadillac and is a known issue that Cadillac refuses to tak... Read more
Incident date: May 2, 2022
The headlights do not illuminate down the road. Visibility at night is greatly impaired. Taken to dealers twice. First dealer in NM said it was just the way they were. Second dealer in Texas did realign the lights. Better but still very poor. I have installed the brightest bulbs allowed by law,
Incident date: Aug 1, 2017
Rear racetrack lighting fills with water. Could short out causing fire or no lights. Have had replaced in 2017. Now water leaking again. Common issue when searched for. Called dealers said dodge warranty has not been covering issue now. Have max care coverage.
Incident date: May 2, 2022
My Hatch has been filling up with lots of water not too long after I began leasing it and it sloshes around, it is in my rear lights, has made the inside light of my hatch no longer work. Now, water is leaking in from both rear windows and somewhere in through the fabric of the inside back roof area creating a growing water stain and mold. Spare Tire well in back also fills up with up to 2 inches... Read more
Incident date: Apr 25, 2022
The brake lights went out. The bulbs were replaced. The fuse was replace and there still no lights. The top led brake light works, but lower lights on each side are out. I don't know if the brake switch is the problem when the upper led works. I have researched the issue and discovered that this is a xommon kia issue with many models. When a Google search is conducted for "kia no brake lights it... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2020
I gotten the head light changed several times even diagnostic tests and they cant tell me why my low beam and high beam light keeps going out
Incident date: Mar 5, 2022
Burning fuses in fuse box under hood causing charing to the yellow mini fuses and making the headlight go out. There's one seperate fuse for the right headlight and one seperate fuse for the left headlight. There are youtube videos on it also. When you try to contact Dodge about it they brush you off and then send you a survey form by email asking you how was ypur service experience. When you tell... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2022
While driving one evening, it was brought to my attention that my passenger brake light was remaining on, when I was not braking. A week later, both sides are on. This happens only if my headlights are on - automatically or if I manually turn my headlights on. The back center light will only come on when I high the brake pedals. Again, back brake lights on driver and passenger side remain on regar... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 2022
Rear turn signal blubs continue to blow out over and over. Last time I went to replace the bulb had fused to housing. I'm afraid it is going to catch fire. Also tired of buying bulbs every few months to replace burned out ones.
Incident date: Jan 6, 2022
After changing the bulbs and fuses . The lights flicker and sometimes don’t come on at all .
JAYCO TRAVEL TRAILER
JAY FLIGHT
(2018) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Apr 29, 2022
Incident date: Apr 23, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Jayco Flight SLX trailered to a 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe. The contact stated while driving approximately 60 MPH, it was discovered the exterior lights were not functioning as designed. The trailer was diagnosed by a local mechanic that the wiring from the junction box of the front trailer was cut by a diamond plate, which caused the lights to be inoperable. The vehicle was repa... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2018
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Cruze. The contact stated while driving various speeds at night, the headlights failed to provide adequate illumination to drive safely. The contact stated that the failure was more evident on dimly lit streets. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the headlight bulbs needed to be replaced. The vehicle was... Read more
Incident date: Apr 29, 2021
Low beam headlights have become continually worse in the past four years. The bulbs are working fine, but the low beam headlights only project light out a few feet from the front of the car. The car is unsafe and undriveable at night using only the low beam headlights. The high beam headlights are fine, but driving with the high beam lights on at all times is also a safety hazard. The dealer ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 28, 2022
Lincoln customer service has been an ultimate nightmare. Previously spent $2,000 just so the car would stop blasting the heat, blasting the radio, locking and unlocking vehicle. In order to get the car stereo working it’s an additional $4,000. From all my research I’m relieved I’m one of many dealing with this recall Lincoln refuses to take responsibility on screwing loyal customers like me.... Read more
Incident date: Apr 27, 2022
Open Safety Recall Check October 25, 2007 07e087000 Exterior Lighting:headlights Certain TYC Halogen Type Headlamp Assemblies P/N 20-6644-00 Sold AS Aftermarket Equipment FOR 2005-2006 Nissan Altima Passenger Vehicles. THE Photometric Were Misaligned Which Does NOT Comply With Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard NO. 108, Lamps, Re
Incident date: Apr 11, 2022
The Left headlight does not work and the airbag compartment is protruding out at a weird angle. This has been like this since delivery.
Incident date: Apr 28, 2022
Running lights on rear keep failing. This is a known issue with these models.
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 2500
(2019) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Apr 27, 2022
Incident date: Jan 1, 2021
Headlights are foggy causing less and less light to drive by. Transmission has a hesitation when going from P-D, P-R, D-R, and R-D. It does this most of the time but not all the time. Transmission makes loud popping noises at times. Seems to be mostly when almost stopped or from almost stopped and then accelerating. Seems to try and shift gears also when truck goes into Regen mode when stopped at ... Read more