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: Oct 3, 2024
Rear view camera doesn’t display an image in reverse at night. Many reported issues online with Chevrolet and GMC vehicles, model years 2024 and 2025.
Incident date: Jul 3, 2024
fuel leak on driver side tank elbow on gas pump is cracked. Low beam headlights do not work, high beams are ok.
Incident date: Nov 5, 2024
Daylight Running Lights (LED stripe) went out but in order to replace it, the whole headlight chassis need to be replaced because it’s embedded as part of the head light chassis instead of by replacing the LED running stripe alone. This needs to be part of recall to as it’s a safety issue without daylight running lights
Incident date: Aug 30, 2024
High beams will not activate while car is in "Auto Headlamp" mode. If you toggle the high beam stalk nothing happens. I have to physically hold the high beam stalk down for the lamps to work while in "auto" mode. If I want to use the high beams without holding the stalk down I have to switch the Headlamps to the "on" position using the headlamp control switch. Using my hand to hold down the stalk ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2024
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The low-beam headlight system has failed due to severe, progressive dimming that has rendered it nearly unusable at night. This component poses a clear safety hazard and is available for immediate inspection upon request. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? The dim headlights ma... Read more
Incident date: Nov 3, 2024
After 10 years, the low beam headlights have become very dim to the point that it’s difficult and unsafe for myself and other drivers for me to drive this car at night, especially in the fog or rain. Apparently this won’t be fixed by simply replacing the bulbs and will be a costly repair at no fault of the owners. I agree with many others that this needs to be a recall fix.
Incident date: Oct 1, 2024
The headlamps are so dim, you can't even see the road at night. This is a well known issue to Nissan that the headlamps for this make and model are defective. The headlamp assemblies need to be replaced and this should be a recall. There was a civil lawsuit and I, like many others, tried getting the headlamps replaced during the acceptable time period, but my Nissan dealership was not able to g... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
The Low Beam Lights are extremely Dim, Had to drive with Hight Beam ON all the time, which would make it dangerous for the on comers, During rain or fog, high beam should not be used and Low beam is of no help at all, its a prevalent with 2015 RDX base model at least, Apparently Honda does not want to care about that.
Incident date: Oct 18, 2024
When headlights are on auto they can spontaneously turn off. This is accompanied by the headlight selector display in the middle of the instrument panel changing to the parking light symbol. The lights typically switch back to auto and come back on within a few seconds but it can be longer. Most often, but not always this seems to be associated with using the turn signal and being in the middle o... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
HEADLIGHTS!!! The headlights are so dim that other drivers flash me, honk at me or yell at me to turn my lights on when driving at night. When driving at night It is the same as driving without my headlights on. I have to use the high beams to drive at night. I changed the fuses, changed 1 of the bulbs and still no difference. The whole headlight housing needs to be changed. Here is a link to a ge... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2020
Bought an electric truck in May of 2023 that is frequently malfunctioning while on the road. Turn signals and hazard lights becoming unusable. Gauges w/ speed are turning off and on while driving. All safety features become disabled. Video of multiple occurrences are available and have been submitted to ford. Would someone please help me and atleast reach out to see the videos of what this truck i... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2024
All Vehicles with Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) that are configured in a manner to illuminate the primary low beam or high beam headlamps, or a significant output of an LED source are a danger to other vehicles at night if they are too bright. Vehicles with the above characteristics put drivers at risk as the operator of that vehicle assumes they have their lights on due to the amount of light t... Read more
Incident date: Feb 13, 2024
In the general design of the Kia Carnival, among other vehicles from the same manufacture (i.e. Kia Sportage) and different manufacturers (i.e. Chevy Bolt), the false taillight cluster has created a safety issue when signaling. With specific mention of the turn signals being in the lower third of the vehicle height, and not in the taillamp cluster, drivers may not ever see the turn signals from th... Read more
DODGE
GRAND CARAVAN
(2014) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Nov 1, 2024
Incident date: Oct 16, 2024
Same recall on 2024 grand cherokee. When auto lights are on brights will not turn on with the wheel lever.
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2019) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Nov 1, 2024
Incident date: Jan 15, 2022
I’ve owned this car since it was new-have had almost all service work performed by local Acura dealership (Gary Force Acura). Some weeks ago, I noticed I was having difficulty seeing in front of my car when driving at night. I replaced a headlight bulb but it did not help at all. The only way I could see to drive at night was with my bright lights on. I contacted a local Acura repair shop and th... Read more
Incident date: Oct 29, 2024
Delamination of headlight units has left low beam use unsafe. Seeing more than 20-25ft ahead of vehicle is impossible at night. There was a class action suit for this issue but I was not notified and now the window for replacement had passed. This seems like it should have been a safety recall. I attempted to get relief from Nissan but was stonewalled. Not even a discount on replacing the uni... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2019) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Nov 1, 2024
Incident date: Nov 1, 2024
Brake lights dont completely light up. High chance of rearend accident at night.
Incident date: Jun 8, 2024
The headlights are very dim and it's very hard to see when it's dark outside
Incident date: Oct 3, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Ram 1500. The contact had received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 24V653000 (SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC, ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) and 24V729000 (STEERING, EXTERIOR LIGHTING); however, the parts 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 ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 5, 2024
While driving at night with the lights on, the rear taillights are bright all the time. when you press the brake pedal, the rear taillights go dim or completely dark. brake lights are working opposite what they should be doing. Fixed once with local mechanic. Fixed second time at dealership with a 'technical service bulletin' and now it is having the same problem for third time.
Incident date: Oct 31, 2024
I’m reporting an ongoing issue with the turn signal button on my 2024 Model 3, purchased a few weeks ago. From day one, the button has intermittently failed to activate. Initially, we thought we were not pressing it correctly, but after continued issues, it’s clear this is a malfunction. Last night, while driving on a busy road, the right turn signal failed repeatedly, forcing me to miss a hi... Read more
Incident date: Oct 31, 2024
I just bought a Used 2006 Suzuki Reno from a private seller 3 months ago. It has less then 53,000 miles on it so I thought I was getting a great deal. While driving it at night 3 weeks ago, I had my lights on high beam. A car was coming towards me so I flipped the light switch on my steering column. Which is also the blinker switch. And we almost wrecked head on with each other because when I fli... Read more
Incident date: Oct 29, 2024
WE WERE DRIVING THE CAR AND ALL OF A SUDDEN A ERROR CAME THAT SAID "FRONT RIGHT SIDE MARKER LIGHT DEFECTIVE" MY LIGHTS ARE WORKING PERFECTLY FINE.THERE IS NO ISSUE WITH THE LIGHTS AT ALL. THIS IS A FALSE SENSOR ISSUE THAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED AND RECALLED.
Incident date: Oct 1, 2024
I use the right turn signal to make a right turn at an intersection. I proceed with the turn and begin to accelerate out of the turn, as the steering wheel unturns the right turn signal is supposed to cancel as the steering wheel straightens out. Instead of cancelling the signal, straightening the wheel when accelerating out of a right turn cause the left turn signal to be triggered and in gives... Read more
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
RA1250S
(2021) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Oct 30, 2024
Incident date: Oct 23, 2024
I went in to the burlington, wa kia dealership for this recall fix. And after waiting an hour they tell me they don't have the right part. It's now been about a month later and I'm still waiting to hear when the part will be available. I don't think this is ok for a safety issue.
Incident date: Sep 8, 2021
Where to begin... As I bought my first truck, literally within 10 days after buying the GMC Canyon 2024, the car is shaking uncontrollably on the highway... 35 MPH max speed, extremely dangerous situation, 8 AM on a busy Watterson Expressway in Louisville, KY. I was so scared I was going to crash and potentially get hurt or worse. They told me "they had never seen this happen to a Canyon before" ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 9, 2024
Footwell module is bad. My safety is at risk everyday that I drive the vehicle. The high beams don't work, turn signals don't work, inside dash lights don't work,windows don't roll down, side mirror's don't work,inside lights don't work, doors don't lock.My car was in the shop for another issue and the mechanic said my floor boards were wet up front,( Hurricaine Helene) my car was at the shop duri... Read more
CHRYSLER
PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2018) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Oct 29, 2024
Incident date: Jan 15, 2023
Daylight Running Lights (DRLs) burned out, and Tesla charges exorbitant amounts to repair each DRL and headlight assembly, over $3,500 for each side. This is apparently a known issue with all 2017-2021 Tesla Model S vehicles, as it is widely discussed on Tesla owner forums. The DRLs are prone to repeated failures even after being replaced. Tesla will replace the DRL and headlight assembly as long ... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2019) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Oct 29, 2024
Incident date: Oct 14, 2024
I purchased a 2024 TESLA model Y and received delivery of my Tesla vehicle on [XXX], at 4 PM EST. Upon receiving the vehicle, I noticed manufacturing defects on the tail lights, which I reported to Tesla Support immediately and scheduled an appointment on September 29. Unfortunately, no appointments were available at that time, and my service date was postponed to October 28, 2024. On [XXX], whil... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
BEETLE CONVERTIBLE
(2014) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Oct 29, 2024
Incident date: Oct 3, 2024
My headlights have not been working for about 2 years. It’s $1200 to get them fixed and I heard there had been a rebate if you pay for it Nissan will reimburse you but there’s no way I can pay $1200 for headlights. My family elderly and I have spent a lot of nights heading to an hospital with dim lights. I was working where I got off at 10pm but had to quit. I’ve been pulled over for three ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 24, 2024
GM Class Action says Cadillac SRX Headlight failure merits recall. No recall ever received. A lack of adequate illumination. GM, Mastria GMC Cadillac Inc. and 3rd party failed to disclose the defect. Leaving me the owner to pay for the entire cost for replacement headlights.
Incident date: Oct 29, 2024
Driving the vehicle in the dark on the interstate at 75 MPH and vehicle dash and all lights except front day time driving lights turned off. Almost hit a deer that was dead in the road. This is a recall that was already “fixed” in the spring. Local Ford dealer not worried about safety and says they are backed up can’t get the vehicle in to diagnose recall again for another week. I live in Ru... Read more
Incident date: Oct 20, 2024
I have had to replace multiple headlight bulbs every few months. The bulbs and fuses are working fine. Sometimes one side will work and the other side will turn off without warning. I have been stranded on the side of the road multiple times. It is unsafe to drive this way. Finally today both lights just stop working without any warning. This is why I came to this page to see if I was the only... Read more
PONTIAC
GRAND PRIX
(2008) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Oct 28, 2024
Incident date: Oct 21, 2024
The auto highbeam system has an inherent safety issue. When active, it may turn on the highbeams automatically when there are oncoming close vehicles, thus blinding the oncoming drivers with the potential of causing an accident. The system also may not even activate the highbeam lights when there is no oncoming vehicles and the road is dark. I have great safety concerns regarding this system. I ha... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2024
Background: Nothing failed or malfunctioned. There is no incident. This reports describes a design defect that puts the driver at risk. The dealer has acknowledged that the cars performs this way and says it cannot be fixed. Toyota customer service says this is how the car operates and short of a recall will do nothing about it. Problem: When the headlights are turned on, the dash and screen b... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 3500
(2024) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Oct 28, 2024
Incident date: Sep 16, 2024
Turn signal not working properly and GM has not issued a solution to dealerships. Issue: When you use your turn signal to change lanes or turn onto a new street, the turn signal will flash to let drivers know. However, when you turn off your turn signal manually or the truck turns off the turn signal automatically when you turn the corner, instead of the turn signal stopping, it starts flash in... Read more
Incident date: Oct 27, 2024
high beams don’t work . it’s a safety issue because i live in wi and drive on dark roads and there’s deer raccoons etc, running out in the roads everyday. it has been inspected by morries west bend honda and video recorded. it’s a internal issue with the high beam internal flap/mechanism that sopposed to move when high beam commanded on .
Incident date: Oct 24, 2024
tHE HIGH BEAMS DOESNT WORK. INSIDE THE CAR IT SHOWS THE BLUE LOGO LIKE IF THE LIGHTS ARE IN HIGHBEAMS BUT OUTSIDE IT DOESN;T CHANGE. THE LOW BEAMS ARE NOT EFFECTIVE AND I CAN HARDLY SEE AT NIGHT. I AM TAKING IT TO THE DEALER TO SEE IF IS NOT TOO EXPENSIVE TO FIX IT BUT MY CAR SHOULD BE PART OF THE RECALL FOR HIGH BEAMS. I DO NOT USE THE CAR OFTEN AND CAN;T USE IT AT NIGHT. I CAN NOT SEE ANYTHING A... Read more
Incident date: Oct 27, 2024
The reverse lights and high-definition camera system are woefully insufficient for backing up this truck safely in the dark. I have experience several near-misses due to the poor nighttime performance of the video system and reverse lights. This has been ongoing since the vehicle was purchased new. It impacts both the video displayed in the main touchscreen and the video rear view mirror. Furthe... Read more
Incident date: Oct 25, 2024
Many Dodge vehicle models experience failure of illumination for instrument clusters. This creates an unsafe condition for the driver since information presented at the instrument cluster, cannot be determined during night time driving conditions. Dodge makes no provision to customers for replacement or repair parts and does not provide any documentation through Dodge dealers on how to address th... Read more
Incident date: Oct 20, 2024
The headlight adjuster failed. As a result, the headlight points straight down creating a safety issue at night. I have read online this is a common problem on suburbans and tahoes. This happened on my car around 60k miles and only ~3 years.
Incident date: Oct 25, 2024
Cyber truck does not have a center high mounted signal lamp and higher than the other 2 rear lamps.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
Couple days ago I notice both my tailights weren’t working also my license plates lights and parking lights weren’t working and also my headlights parking light don’t work anymore they all went bad at the same time. At night time nobody can’t barely see me besides my reflectors so nobody can’t see my at night time. The only thing tht works is mine brake light turn signal and brake light.
Incident date: Oct 20, 2024
I took this vehicle in on 5-19-2020 for recall (19543/NSTSA Recall 19V-839). Local dealership removed skid plate, inspection/pass. Over the next 3 yrs. the p/u was taken in because of battery drainage & then battery replacement. May 2024 it was taken in as all the rear lights stopped working (exactly what was stated in the recall letter would happen). Was told at the time that the topper, which a ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 25, 2023
The contact owns a 2012 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that vehicle was consistently burning out the headlight bulbs. The contact stated that within 3-years he had replaced the driver's and the passenger’s side headlight bulbs 7 times, and following one failure the passenger’s side headlight housing was replaced. The contact stated that the bulb in the new housing was blown. The contact st... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2024
While in auto mode my headlights turn on and off randomly. This is very dangerous at night and has happened several times. When the head lights go off I can not see and no one can see me. There is no warning when this happens. The first occurrence was on August 4, 2024. Kia dealers say it has to be happening when I bring it in but the problem is intermittent. Many other owners have stated they hav... Read more
Incident date: Oct 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Mustang. The contact stated that before making a left turn the contact switched on the left turn light signal; however, upon making the left turn the contact noticed that the left turn signal on the instrument panel was flashing twice as fast as normal. The contact pulled over to inspect the vehicle. The contact became aware that the taillights were inoperable; however... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
The low-beam headlamps on thousands of 2011 Toyota Priuses were burning out very prematurely (a matter of weeks, not months). Toyota Corporate said they created a customer support program to replace the headlight wiring harness free of charge, but this program ended in 2019. I believe that Toyota should be compelled to issue a recall to replace the wiring harnesses on all 2011 Toyota Priuses, beca... Read more
Incident date: Oct 22, 2024
Despite having taken my 2023 Ram 3500 HD truck to the Ram dealer 3 times for the same recall, the issue still persists. The recall in question is B2A/NHTSA 23V-799 related to a malfunctioning SCCM that results in high beams activating with left turn signal activation. Also, left turn signal activates with high beam pass activation. Per Ram's protocol, they performed a software reboot upon the firs... Read more
Incident date: Oct 24, 2024
Hello: this is the 2nd VW TOUAREG this year to repair so far, this one is a 2004 model that I have had to replace complete left & right xenon headlamp assembly Very pricy. Wiring insulation turns brittle, cracks & falls off inside the headlamp assembly, This allows the bare wires to touch & short causing fuses to blow shutting off headlamps while driving at night. This I think should be recalled,... Read more