Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,215,138 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA — including 138,663 crashes, 56,255 fires, and 8,561 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 2,215,138 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 133,534 complaints — component: POWER TRAIN
Incident date: Aug 10, 2025
see attached documents: Subject: Ongoing Unresolved Recall Issues and Safety Concerns with My Ford Vehicle I am writing to formally express my deep concern and frustration regarding my Ford vehicle, which currently has 15 open recalls that have gone unresolved for nearly two years. During this time, I have contacted every Ford dealership within a 50-mile radius of my home in repeated attempts to ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Oct 12, 2025
My battery died while the vehicle was parked. I needed to physically move the vehicle but could not because the electronic button shifter would not allow me to put the transmission in Neutral. The only way to move it out of Park is a lengthy process requiring tools, engine component removals and a manual shifting of the linkage using a long wrench. My solution, was I had to leave the vehicle un... Read more
TOYOTA
GRAND HIGHLANDER
(2024) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Apr 30, 2024
I am writing to formally file a complaint for gross negligence, excessive delays, and repeated mechanical failures regarding my RAM 2020 ProMaster1500 HR; VIN: [XXX] at the authorized dealership Bomnin-Doral in Miami, FL. The vehicle remained at the dealership for 1 year, 4 months, and 18 days due to transmission damage and other mechanical issues. Five days after final delivery, the transmissio... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2025
For no apparent reason my vehicle is shifting itself into Neutral while driving. The car will suddenly completely slow down to a stop and in order to restart the car, I have to put it in park. It doesn't matter what speed or the road condition, it simply comes to a slow stop because it is no longer in driving mode, it has shifted itself into Neutral. The recall has been serviced and after more tha... Read more
Incident date: Aug 25, 2025
After fueling car the starting continue turning over after you release button. Now while drivering it hesitate sometime loose power steering. And when stopped and the car dies when it does it’s stop /start now there a delay in continuing on and now brake light come on when it start back. Sometimes lose power and if you disconnect cable to let car reset light goes off until the start/stop and re... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
Component/System Involved: The shift-to-park sensor in my 2020 Chevy Blazer is malfunctioning. After shifting into park, the vehicle does not detect it and displays a “Shift to Park” message. The issue is ongoing, and the component is available for inspection if needed. Safety Risk: The vehicle cannot be fully shut off or locked, increasing the risk of battery drain or unintended movement. Th... Read more
Incident date: Oct 9, 2025
Received Error code P0021 "A" camshaft position timing is over-advanced in Bank 2 of the engine" Occured 3 times before taking it into dealer. Chevrolet dealership agreed and it was covered under powertrain warranty.
Incident date: Oct 16, 2025
I took my 2020ford eco sport to fix the recall at Grapevine Texas Ford dealership. They took about 10 days to work on my car and said that the recall fix is complete. I was able to pick up the car from dealership and drive home, however when I started the car again, it had the Check engine light on. I called the dealership right away and they asked me to bring back the car right away. While I was ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
Vehicle is stalling out. While driving down the road any accelaration is fine but when stopped at a stop sign/light and you give the vehicle throttle from a dead stop or rolling stop it will either stall out and die or it will stall, surge, and come back. This is a serious issue as we drive this vehicle on busy road ways and could cause or will cause us to have an accident. I have had it the deale... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
at low speeds on bumpy surfaces the entire front end, (brakes and suspension), sometimes shakes heavily when brakes are applied. Shaking is so severe that brakes have to be released then reapplied. When dealer was advised during a normal service the advisers claimed to have no knowledge of the issue. I had advised before visiting for the service however no action was taken by them. I shall visit... Read more
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
*front cv axle. Both sides, yes inspection available and ford inspection report available. *unsafe to drive. When accelerating above 40 truck shakes badly. *yes problem confirmed by dealership. *has been inspected by dealers mechanic. *no warning lights, noticed at 50k miles, no warnings. I drive a lot of miles but freeway driving mainly, east to west in l.a. I heard from dealer rep that they... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ID. BUZZ
(2025) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Oct 15, 2025
Truck shudders when you try to maintain speed. The service engine light is on all the time. RPMs bounce up and down constantly. GMC dealership said it needs a new torque converter. It was $100 just to diagnose it!
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2019) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Dec 18, 2022
The transmission failed at 100,000 miles and the engine failed at 130,000 miles. Available for inspection. Yes the dealer confirmed both failures. No warnings. Immediate failure with engine light. Barely made it home with the transmission and the engine just stopped out of nowhere due to the dynamic fuel management system and oil consumption starvation.
Incident date: Oct 13, 2025
The throttle body and valve body failed at 90,500 miles. When this occurred it went into limp mode and I could not travel ov 20 mph. Also would not go in reverse. This was very dangerous for me since most travel need to be done at high speed. Also not being able auto go in reverse has significant potential for danger. This failure has been confirmed at a Chevrolet Dealer.The dealer diagnosed th... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2025
Transmission slipping when accelerating, also shudder when between gears
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2023) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Sep 2, 2025
The contact owns a 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V576000 (Electrical System). The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the recall repair was performed. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brakes independently engaged. The contact stated that the failure had occurred twice. In addition, the contact stated that w... Read more
Incident date: Sep 29, 2025
MY TRANSMISSION QUIT WORKING AND MY PARKING BRAKE TURNED ON WHILE DRIVING!!!!! This is the same problem that was recalled on jeep Cherokee years from 2017-2019, but my 2020 is not covered in the recall and my neighbor has the same exact car and year and has had to replace his put twice!!!!!! MY MODEL YEAR SHOULD BE INCLUDED!!!!!!!
Incident date: Sep 29, 2025
UnknownOn my dash my AWD fault warning has showed up followed by hill assist not available and traction control not available. I have looked for in formation online about it and it seems that it’s a recurring issue with 2020 Ford Escape and many others. I’ve seen that there was a customer satisfaction effective on April 9,2021 through April 30, 2022 but I have just gotten this car last year an... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2024) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Oct 15, 2025
PTU has failed. Recal needs to include 2017 limited models. Driving while came on. Didn't know exactly if I was going to get home, out me at rush for an accident. Light it on dash, SVC 4x4.
Incident date: Aug 19, 2025
Engine coolant issue, known problem for this model year of ford edge. Total engine failure at less than 60k miles. Engine light would come on and go off. Mild hesitation at start up. Went to leave one day and found vehicle would no longer start. Towed away and diagnosed with complete engine failure and coolant intrusion. Called Ford and was informed that while there was a service bulletin that dir... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2025
While driving one day, several warning messages appeared on the dashboard, but would then disappear. The next day, the car engine would not start and the vehicle dashboard would not turn on. The car was inoperable and had to be towed to a dealer service center. Dealer confirmed that the issue was caused by liquid entering the gateway control module. A safety fix had been applied before during a 90... Read more
Incident date: Sep 17, 2025
Passenger side axle half shaft has separated. There is a recall (Safety Recall S32) currently on 2016 Ram 1500 4WD manufactured between February 19, 2016, and March 3, 2016. This vehicle was manufactured March 8, 2016. It is too coincidental that I am having the same issue as described in the recall information. I have contacted FCA via phone and was told their was nothing that could be done be... Read more
Incident date: Oct 11, 2025
The contact owns a 2023 Ford F-150. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V512000 (Power Train). The contact was concerned about operating the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where the vehicle was inspected. The vehicle was not repaired due to parts not being available. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The contact had not e... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2025
The contact owns a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal burning odor entering the cabin of the vehicle, and the rear windshield shattered, with white smoke entering the vehicle. The transmission and engine warning lights were illuminated. In addition, several unknown messages were displayed on the instrument panel. The ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 20, 2025
Check engine light l, shift to park message with multiple warning lights occurrence after an OTA update. Vehicle had limited throttle and went into limp mode while driving. Received diagnostic trouble codes p0a45 p1e1d u0594. Jeep said there was an update but codes still persist a week after the “fix”. The codes are not archived . The are listed confirmed .
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
My wife's 2021 Ford Bronco Sport has had a complete transmission failure and the vehicle has less than 75,000 miles on it. We're told by Ford that the Powertrain warranty ends after 60,000 miles. This has been a disaster for us as we're paying a note on a vehicle that we cannot drive because it will cost $10-11K to repair. I've never owned a vehicle that has had so many problems in my life.
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that upon placing the gear shifter in park(P) and turning off the vehicle, the message "Transmission Not in Park" was flashing on the instrument panel. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start up after several attempts. The contact called an independent mechanic, and the vehicle was towed to the shop. The mechanic discovered that... Read more
Incident date: Sep 27, 2025
The Dealer sold me the car which is on recalls he sold this car to me on Saturday October 11th till date he didn’t give me my car there is active recall on it it is parking Rod something he is not giving update. If Ford customer care they are not sharing proper time line . When they will give back my car the Ford is not fallowing proper timeline to give my car Till date they didn’t tell me w... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 GMC Terrain. The contact stated while driving approximately 5-10 MPH, the vehicle stopped independently, and the gear shifter failed to shift to neutral(N). A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it diagnosed and determined that the fuel pump power control module needed to be replaced. The fuel pump power control module was replaced, and the vehic... Read more
Incident date: Aug 12, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted from 3rd to 2nd gear as indicated on the console shift indicator. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with th... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2020) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Aug 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was shaking and vibrating abnormally. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated the failure was a recurring failure. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer and the contact was informed that the oil level was low, and oil was added. The dealer had not diagnosed the veh... Read more
Incident date: Sep 27, 2022
The Transmission in the Ford Fusion 1.5 L engine just stop working. The car will go and then the transmission would just stop working. The you could turn the car off and it would drive again and stop working again. It took me turning the car off about 12 times to get it home. This was just a test drive after my daughter had it towed home after being stranded. This is a safety issue for not only yo... Read more
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
The transmission in my 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe has failed multiple times. The first failure occurred within the first two years of owning the vehicle. The car began jerking, hesitating, and struggling to accelerate, and the check engine light came on. The dealership confirmed a transmission issue and replaced the transmission under warranty. After that replacement, the same symptoms returned, and t... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
The rear differential is separating. If it fails, the car will suddenly cease operation, which may result in a collision. The part was inspected and the defect confirmed by the dealer. No warning lights are active yet.
Incident date: Aug 31, 2025
The transmission would randomly shift into first regardless of speed. several times this occurred at highway speeds causing a sudden decrease on speed nearly leading to a rear end collision. The problem worsened to the point it would suddenly hunt for a gear. Fortunately this did not occur on the highway as it probably would have led to a serious accident. The problem was confirmed and repaired... Read more
Incident date: Oct 9, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted and the rear wheels locked up. No warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was repaired under NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V444000 (Power Train); however, the recall repair failed to prevent the failure from occurring. The contact stated that ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2006 Jeep Commander. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 MPH in a parking lot the vehicle stalled. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated the failure was intermittent but a recurring failure. The contact stated that the failure occurred at various speeds. The contact stated that the 12-Volt battery had been replaced approximately 2 years ago due... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2017) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Mar 7, 2025
Driving in town going 20mph and the truck shut down not allowing for braking or gas and the steering locked up. Placed the vehicle in neutral, shut the truck off and turned it back. Was able to continue driving. Attempted to have the dealership we bought it from run a diagnostic and the battery was replaced but it continues to shut down at random times. Took the truck to a local auto shop after t... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Subaru WRX. The contact stated that while the transmission was shifted into neutral (N), the instrument panel displayed that the transmission was shifted in reverse (R), and the rearview camera image was displayed. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact shifted the transmission to drive (D), but the instrument panel displayed that the transmission was s... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ID. BUZZ
(2025) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Oct 15, 2025
The vehicle begins to vibrate in the front end when accelerating and reaching 80 km/h. It becomes extremely unstable. The dealership was unable to find the cause of the problem.
Incident date: Oct 5, 2025
While driving on the highway at normal operating speeds, the vehicle suddenly lost power, and the accelerator pedal became completely unresponsive, preventing me from maintaining speed or safely exiting the roadway. This created a severe safety hazard, as I was unable to maneuver or pull off to avoid fast-moving traffic. Immediately after, I attempted to shift the vehicle into “Park,” but rece... Read more
Incident date: Oct 6, 2025
Vehicle failed to accelerate multiple times. Reduced engine power (limp mode) activated. It is available for inspection. This is a a safety risk as merging and suddenly not able to accelerate puts lives in danger. The problem was reproduced by the dealership and after the dealership thought they fixed the issue with knock sensors and fresh fuel. The only symptom prior to to system failure was a "p... Read more
Incident date: Oct 12, 2025
I have a jeep cherokee 2019. A lot on people including myself have reported online that the PTU and it's wiring of the above-mentioned VIN has a problem of failing and start to flash message to service 4wheel drive system. This should be rectified with no fault of myself and others customers.
Incident date: Oct 12, 2025
NHTSA Vehicle Safety Complaint Vehicle Information: Year: 2023 Make: Hyundai Model: Ioniq 5 VIN: [XXX] Mileage: Over 137,000 miles 15 States Driven: AZ, TX, GA, CA, MI (with damage here primarily) Complaint: My 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 has experienced persistent and severe safety failures since delivery in January 2023, including: Complete power and control loss at highway speeds Repeated BMS/... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2025
It updated the software then after that while I was driving the car suddenly died. Lost power. Almost got hit from behind but I was lucky to be able to get on the shoulder.
Incident date: Oct 16, 2025
As I was attempting to accelerate at a stop light, once I got to 10mph I lost all power and the vehicle appeared to be in neutral, even though it was in gear. The engine just revved and would not go any faster. It appeared that the transmission just completely slipped out of gear. I had to figure out a way to exit the road as I was in full rush hour traffic. When I re-entered traffic to try again... Read more
Incident date: Oct 12, 2025
Driving on our way to a JEEP INVASION (local). We had our 3 children in the back seat. The jeep was traveling about 45 mph and the accelerator stopped working. Thankfully we were not on a freeway and no one was behind us. We had to pull over and turn the jeep off and then back on. It happened 3 times on the way there. We took it into the local dealership and they ran a test on it. We were told it ... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2025) — POWER TRAIN
Oct 16, 2025
Incident date: Oct 16, 2025
I bought a Hyundai Tucson Hybrid 2025 on Aug. 7, 2025. My car has 1541 miles on Oct. 8. I tried to drive my car out of the garage, and the engine would start, but it wouldn't move forward or backward. There were three warnings on the dashboard: Powertrain, hybrid, and something. Hyundai headquarters called and said there was a problem with my car. They will send a tow truck. It has been one week s... Read more
Incident date: Apr 30, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to accelerate after a stop, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. In addition, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted before slamming into gear. The contact stated that when the vehicle slammed into gear, the contact was violently ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 31, 1969
My 2022 Nissan Altima has been experiencing transmission issues for about a month. The car hesitates, lunges, and shudders when accelerating from a stop. At around 60,000 miles, I had the transmission fluid flushed, and the shop confirmed the transmission fluid was clean with no metal debris. Despite that, the symptoms continued getting increasingly dangerous in high traffic areas. Today 10/16/25... Read more