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: Mar 31, 2024
Vehicle touch screen has aggressive and persistent “ghost touch” during vehicle operation (while in drive), which should not be possible while in drive at all. This causes any setting or feature accessible through the vehicle “infotainment” system to be activated at random leading to distracting, undesired operation. There is no setting within the “infotainment” system that allows you ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
When the auto headlight feature is on, the headlights keep flashing even when it is sunny outside. The intellibeam sensor seems to be too sensitive to any deviations in lighting. This could cause issues while driving if people think you are intentionally flashing your lights at them.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
One afternoon, in the Summer of 23, I entered my Toyota Prius to run some errands. Once I proceeded to power on the car, none of the dashboard lights illuminated. This included the gas gauge, speedometer & transmission indicator. Fortunately, I was only driving a few blocks down the road from my residence as I live in a small rural town with little congestion, little traffic and mostly two-lane ro... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2024
The rear tailgate bar has been going out due to water leaks. Whenever it rains, water is pooled up inside the light and is causing the light bar to dim.
Incident date: Mar 28, 2024
Not related to my vehicle: Even in my truck, the frequency of oncoming and rear vehicle headlight blinding is of great concern. I have noticed that the problem occurs more often with modified pickups of heavy duty pickups. One simple correction could be to limit the absolute height of any driving headlamps. Additionally, in an effort to improve driver visibility by focusing the beams to a concen... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2024
Warning light comes on stating front left side marker light is not working. However, light is on. Warning continues to come and ding non-stop despite the light working correctly. Searching the internet shows that this has happened to thousands of people. Audi is trying to charge over $5K for a known defect. Dangerous to have these lights not connected properly to the car's system.
Incident date: Mar 22, 2024
Passenger air bag fault randomly causes warning light. TIPM causing headlights to randomly shut off and flicker when driving at night. Both high and low beams. Randomly affects passenger and drivers headlights at different times, sometimes shutting off all lighting completely for a couple of seconds.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
Headlight lowbeams going bad every 4 or so months. Always divers side first. My electrical auto guy said he couldn't locate a problem with the bulb being burnt out.
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2020) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 28, 2024
Incident date: Jan 31, 2024
Water is getting into the tail lights which is starting to burn the lights out. It's a safety concern especially at night time. They're should be a recall on this issue as fixing it is costly. A lot of people are being affected by this.
Incident date: Mar 20, 2024
this car has been worked on twice with negative results, now the dealer has told me Jeep does not want to try to repair it until further investigation.it does not comeply with FMVSS No.108 recall repair 12B Wich was performed twice with negative results.I think they are avoiding the lemon law by not trying to repair it a third time.No loaner or compensation offered.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2016
The radio/ my link is way to bright and there is no option to dim it. This makes an eye distraction and hard to see the road at night. there are many post about this concern online.
GOODYEAR
ASSURANCE MAXLIFE
(9999) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 27, 2024
Incident date: Mar 26, 2024
Back up camera not working due to infotainment system not working. Dealer is aware, says they are waiting for a software update.
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
Tail lamp assembly both sides, allowing moisture within the lighting assembly potentially resulting in short circuit or fire if water comes in contact with electrical connections.
Incident date: Apr 21, 2022
The "3rd" brake light on Range Rovers, which are mounted under/on the SUV's rear spoiler, can detach and fly off at highway speeds, especially if any level of vibration is encountered. This high, center-mounted brake light is merely held in place with smooth clips that rely on friction to fasten them; there are no bolts, screws, pins, or even adhesive to securely fasten it. It can easily be remove... Read more
Incident date: Mar 27, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Dodge Challenger. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the headlights became inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the electrical box was melted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified about the failure. The failure mileage was approximate... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2014) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 27, 2024
Incident date: Mar 26, 2024
On [XXX], mileage was 47,744 I took Mini for service, and told them that the front right headlight didn't work, they replaced the light bulb and they found out that the headlight was still inoperable, and internally shorted. They didn't want to include it in the extended warranty. The mini has electrical issues (FRM). The headlight wires are damaged inside the light housing and are bare-striped ev... Read more
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
Anytime the vehicle goes over a bump the vehicle lunges forward even if the operator is pressing the brakes. Collison warning does not work properly and lane departure warning is spotty. Interior lights randomly come on and off without any operator control. Fisker has not done anything since November 5, 2023 when I took delivery of the car.
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
The taillamp housing failed, and taillamp fell out of the vehicle. Online research shows that this is a design defect that Porsche learned of early in the "991.1" generation cars, as it is reported by multiple owners at multiple sites online. Well, happened to my early 991.1 also. Porsche recognized the fatigue-failure within a year or so of launch, and instituted a fairly simple fix, by adding... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2024
This vehicle has severe CVT problems. It shifts back and forth with a clunk on level roads at a steady speed. I have a 2015 Murano with over 80,000 miles that does not display this type of behavior. I am driving a loaner which is a 2023 Subaru with the same engine and transmission as mine and it has none of my safety problems. The additional safety problems are: very poor resolution on backup cam... Read more
Incident date: Mar 27, 2024
"front right" "side marker light defective. Headlights work fine, just the error message that come up at night.
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2022) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 26, 2024
Incident date: Dec 14, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated while driving at night at approximately 35 MPH, the low-beam headlights appeared to shine directly into the eyes of drivers in the opposite lane. The contact stated that other drivers would flash their high-beam headlights. The contact stated that he had checked at night by observing the low beam lights aiming point and he saw that they... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2018
Drivers side back brake light kept going out and now sometimes the whole tail light goes out.
Incident date: May 10, 2023
While driving at night, my headlights will randomly aim down. Can’t see the road ahead. When high beams are activated, they blast the front of the car. Cannot see anything down the road.
Incident date: Mar 26, 2024
I received a recall letter dated [XXX] with NHTSA Recall #: [XXX] for 2015 Kia Cadenza Vin# [XXX] . I contacted Kia's customer care number on or around January 17, 2024 as I had started having more and more electrical problems associated with this recall. My compass direction on my rear view mirror has not worked for well over a year and a half. I cannot lock my car with my key fob going on a ... Read more
CHRYSLER
PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2022) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 25, 2024
Incident date: Mar 24, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Dodge Durango. The contact stated that the driver’s side tailgate LED light had become inoperable. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was confirmed that water had gotten inside the lighting enclosure. The dealer stated that the area where the tailgate racetrack light was located needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not m... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
The third brake light intermittently stops working. Being that it is intermittent, it tells me the led and circuitry are working. Also, a warning alert will illuminate on my dash instrument cluster and not when the light is working again. Upon further searching on-line, there is an issue with a solder joint cracking. I believe this is the case because when i jiggle the connector, the light will il... Read more
Incident date: Feb 25, 2024
When I start the vehicle I get an error message that the rear lights are not working properly, but they are functioning well. This message is random and it can show up at anytime. I have contacted Porsche about this and they said that this is due to a faulty part that can be replaced, but requires 5000 USD. This problem was there when the vehicle was under warranty, but they never pursued or inves... Read more
Incident date: Mar 24, 2024
My car has a recall, and the dealership is unable to fix it. There is also an issue with the oem control module that they are unable to get the part and unable to fix this because they do not have the correct software.
Incident date: Jan 4, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the headlights inadvertently flashed on and off. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the BCM and battery junction box were replaced; however, the failure recurred, and the horn inadvertently activated while driving. The vehicle was taken back to ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 21, 2024
I purchased a 2017 MB GLE 350 in 2022. But it’s only recently where I’ve noticed that my halogen headlights do not provide enough light on the road during night time driving. Especially in the rain. I’ve researched a bit and see that MANY consumers have complained about the headlights, but there is no solution as MB does not offer an aftermarket upgrade. I either have to drive with my high b... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 2500
(2022) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 25, 2024
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
Turn signal buttons do not work for short periods of time while driving. It is available for inspection upon request. I am unable to signal for merging and turning which is unsafe. The problem was not reproduced, but was confirmed. Yes the vehicle has been inspected by the manufacturer and corrective action was taken. However the issue has not been fixed. No other warning lights, symptoms, or... Read more
Incident date: Mar 24, 2024
The headlights of the vehicle are extremely dim. It is dangerous to drive at night or in the rain because of how dim the headlights are. The headlights have been restored, but they are still dim
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
The instrument panel in front of the driver is black. I’m unable to see the speed limit, warnings, safety or collision warnings, etc. The vehicle is not making any noise or beeping to allude to the fact that there might be an issue but the Kia app is stating that there is an issue. I have used the vehicle yesterday 3/23/24 with no issues and when I went to drive this morning (3/24/24) it’s not... Read more
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2022) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 24, 2024
Incident date: Mar 22, 2024
My issue with the vehicle is that the reverse lights do not project enough and when backing up at night you can not see it or even with the back up camera. It’s poor placement of the light and does not provide adequate light when backing up. I have not had any incidents with it but I feel like it is a huge potential problem
Incident date: Mar 24, 2024
Both front headlights cast a tabbed rectangular shadow into driver's field-of-view creating two potentially dangerous disruptive shadows/dead spots at certain longer distances and in open flat terrain areas. These tabbed rectangular shadow/dead spots often tricks the driver into falsely responding/over-reacting unnecessarily. The dead spots in the driver's field-of-view can be potentially danger... Read more
HYUNDAI
IONIQ HYBRID
(2022) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 23, 2024
Incident date: Jan 3, 2022
There is an electrical / turn signal and trailering issue. Not towing- the right turn signal gives a rapid flash when the automatic headlights are activated or in off position. The rapid flash goes away when manual headlights are used both running lights and on. Although the light still works with a rapid blink, there is a dash error message and it’s impossible to know while driving if the erro... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
The cars left front and right front side headlight reflectors do not properly provide adequate reflected light, which lowers the visibility to other road users, almost causing a recent crash. Also, the left front halogen low beam reflector does not properly illuminate the roadway for the driver, substantially reducing driving visibility.
Incident date: Nov 8, 2023
I took my truck into the dealership Ford of Upland for recalls on [XXX] (136923 miles) outstanding field service actions [XXX], [XXX] , [XXX] , 21M05, [XXX] . I called to make an appointment and confirm if parts are needed for these recalls that they had them and nothing was on backorder. Cabral Lillian let me know they had everything the truck would be done in 1.5 days at most. About 2hours befo... Read more
Incident date: Jan 9, 2024
My car has been stalling shortly after purchasing when slowing down and turning. Then it started stalling on the freeway which is a safety big time issue multiple times. Dealership spoke of maintenance they said it needed. They changed a part and parts on my car has been changed multiple times it doesn’t make since.
Incident date: Sep 20, 2023
The car has a factory fault with the Windshield Wiper or Turn Signal contact switch, which is causing the inability to use the left/right signal and the wipers. The entire part is factory faulty, rendering the vehicle unable to operate safely. This affects visibility during wet conditions because the wipers cannot be activated due to the malfunctioning switch, which can lead to serious accidents. ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
Component or system failure: headlights and interior lighting Safety risk: Complete failure of the headlight system and all interior lighting, including the dashboard during active driving. System failed during nighttime driving while in motion. Reproduced?: No Inspected?: No Warning lights/system messages: None present at time of failure
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2023) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 22, 2024
Incident date: Jan 12, 2024
Component or system failure: Complete failure of the headlights and interior lighting, including the dashboard after post remote start - ignition on. Safety risk: Headlights and other interior lighting would not activate leaving the vehicle completely dark. The only remedy was to completely restart the vehicle. Reproduced?: No. The vehicle is brand new with less than 100 miles. Inspected?: No ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated after the vehicle was taken to the dealer for an unknown recall repair, the air bag warning light remained illuminated. The contact also became aware that the driver’s side headlight was inoperable. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a detached headlamp wiring harness. The dealer recommended that dri... Read more
Incident date: Jan 18, 2024
The headlights are ineffective. It is like driving without headlights at night. Had bulbs replaced but did not improve lighting. Moisture on inside of windshield. On cold evenings the inside of the windshield is frozen. March 21, 2024 the tailgate will not open. It appears this is a common complaint with this vehicle caused by drainage from the sunroof leaking onto the module that powers the t... Read more
Incident date: Jan 18, 2024
returned car for recall on [XXX], [XXX],dealer performed Chrysler recall [XXX],negative results. returned to dealer on 3-20-2024,they had car from 9:30 until 5:00 pm negative results, fault still there. complaint [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Incident date: Mar 4, 2024
Service Antilock Brake System & Service Electronic Brake System on 2017 Ram 6.4 hemi
Incident date: Mar 20, 2024
Front Left Side Marker Light Defective. This is a known issue with Audi's vehicles. There was a recall for some vehicles but apparently not the Audi Q7. The lack of these lights put the driver and those around them at risk due to limited visibility. People are choosing to completely DISABLE the light rather than pay the exorbitant fees to ensure a simple bulb is working. [XXX] INFORMATION REDAC... Read more
Incident date: Nov 20, 2023
Odometer section of dashboard failed to light up/turn on. Continued to happen after restarting the car. Eventually after running the car for ~20 minutes it started flashing and turned on. If this continues to occur or fails completely/indefinitely, there is a risk of stalling on the road or highway if unable to monitor the gas gauge.
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2019) - EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Mar 21, 2024
Incident date: Dec 31, 2020
The halogen headlights are totally useless, especially if it’s raining. They’re incredibly dim and unsafe.
Incident date: Mar 7, 2024
The rear turn signals are too low and small in the vehicle and people are unable to notice it. Almost ended up in crash few times.