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 137,132 complaints - component: POWER TRAIN
Incident date: Feb 11, 2025
Vehicle had hard and sudden shifting and grinding noise coming form gears. Sudden shifting would result in abrupt change in speed. Two repairs were made by a Ford dealership totaling just over $10,000 including replacing transfer case and transmission. There was no vehicle warning indicators that notified me of this problem.
Incident date: Jun 26, 2026
The truck has done this four times since 01/22/2026. While still moving slowly the truck will do this while going down the highway. One other safety issue was when I merged into traffic on the highway (You have to merge into the fast lane at this location) the truck wouldn't go past 4th gear approximately 40 mph with cars coming up on me at 70. All of these problems correct when I can get the truc... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2020) - POWER TRAIN
Aug 11, 2026
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
My F150 10R80 transmission is throwing a P076F code. And the shifting has become very harsh and eratic all across the 10 gears. Hesitations, high revs, hard shifts, etc. This is a known issue by Ford and they have issued TSBs on the issue. They acknowledge that it is a design flaw within the transmission and have issued fixes. But if you are outside of the 60,000mi warranty, the burden of th... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2026
The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled unexpectedly. No warning lights were illuminated. The failure was a recurring failure. The contact associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 26V290000 (Power Train). The vehicle was towed to a certified mechanic and was repaired; however, the failure persisted. The dea... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving 57 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, there was an abnormal grinding sound coming from the vehicle. There was an abnormal burning odor inside the vehicle. No warning light was illuminated. An independent mechanic or dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not taken a dealer or an independent mechanic to be diagno... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
The contact's son owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated that after her son shifted from park(P) to drive(D), the vehicle failed to respond as needed. Several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact's son was able to drive to the residence nearby after several attempts. While at the residence, the failure recurred after shifting to drive(D), and the vehicle made an abnormal grindi... Read more
Incident date: May 20, 2026
transmission shift hard and slipping. When step on gas to go faster transmission shifts really hard like going drop on ground. Sometimes wont shift at all only goes up to 69 till left off gas and then transmission will shift. Start happening with about 10000 miles on truck and GMC said this is normal. Now need a torque converter and shift module in it.
LAND ROVER
DEFENDER
(2024) - POWER TRAIN
Aug 11, 2026
Incident date: Jun 6, 2026
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-350 SD. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact became aware that the transmission was slipping. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with torque converter failure. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was in the proc... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
My transmission slips from 3rd to 4th gear and sometimes when on the highway from 7th to 8th or it will get stuck in 7th gear when going 75mph. The check engine light went on once and has been off ever since.
Incident date: Aug 9, 2026
Failed engine due to class action recall
ALLIANCE RV
PARADIGM
(2024) - POWER TRAIN
Aug 11, 2026
Incident date: Aug 11, 2026
At low speed, the transmission does not shift smoothly. Upon further acceleration past 40 mph, it continues to operate in normal fashion
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
MY PICKUP HAS THE 10R80 TRANSMISSION. IT CURRENTLY SLIPS IN LOWER GEARS AND SOMETIMES NO 10TH GEAR
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
I am reporting a safety-related transmission problem I experienced with my 2018 Ford F-150 XLT equipped with the 10R80 automatic transmission. While driving normally, the transmission suddenly lost power and failed to engage into gear causing hesitation in the middle of driving. This occurred while in stop and go traffic, creating a potentially dangerous situation because the truck did not respon... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2020
Twice in the past year, the vehicle stalled after coming to a stop at a red light. The morning after the most recent incident, the car would not start. I had it towed to the dealership. That was Luther Brookdale Dodge, Jeep and Ram in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Two weeks ago, I began to intermittently see the message '4WD Unavailable - Service Required'. I brought it yesterday, and was told ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
While driving my car stalled at 2 different times only weeks after purchasing this used car. I took it back only for them to replace the battery with an aftermarket battery then having to get it replaced again at another location; following a parasitic draw, the PTU was noted as requiring replacement. Looking back at the recalls I’m not sure why my car isn’t included in this recall.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2026
Cylinder head gaskets failure with coolant migrating into the cylinders, available for inspection upon request; Dahl Honda Sheboygan took videos of inspection and liquid in the cylinders. Upon starting the car, the engine sounded strange and sluggish. As I started to drive, engine sounded like it was misfiring. I was able to drive only 10-25 mph (safety issue) from residence to the Dahl dealership... Read more
Incident date: May 14, 2026
I am filing a safety complaint regarding the transmission in my 2019 Ford F-150 equipped with the 5.0L V8 and 10-speed automatic transmission. My vehicle currently has approximately 88,000 miles. The transmission began experiencing abnormal shifting, including skipping/hesitating between gears, harsh shifting, shuddering, and delayed engagement. At times it would appear to skip 2nd gear and go dir... Read more
Incident date: Apr 25, 2022
Driving on a public road with a 50 phone speed limit, I received an error message on my dash stating electrical failure, and then the car shut down and began to coast, I had use all my strength to turn the car towards the curb and coasted to a stop. I received an error message from multiple components and then the dash went blank.
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
Harsh shifting in between gears. Jerky shifting and shudders while shifting as well
Incident date: Aug 1, 2026
The vehicle just shut off. There are 23 alerts codes.
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
First incident. 71 mph, 101 degrees out traveling along a straight highway, I hit the seat cooler button and when I did, my car lost power. I could not get any response when I hit the accelerator. I tried several times. This was on XXX with around 500 miles on the car in the odometer. I had it less than a week. Second incident on XXX 25 mph, 105 degrees outside with 1300 miles in the odometer, I a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
When driving slowly throught a parking lot, the dashboard warned to put the car in park. I could not steer, speed up, or slow down. I managed to park the car diagonally, and went into park. The vehicle then shut off and I had to turn it back on. Both of my kids where in the car
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
I got the Recall 26S28 done on my truck, and immediately after getting my truck back the transmission is shifting super bad. Really early up shifts, aggressive engagement into drive… truck has 190,000 miles on it and shifted perfectly before the recall was done.
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
While driving the trucks transmission gets stuck on a gear and then eventually shifts making the car jerk so hard that it cause some serious head banging. Scared to drive from horror stories of truck down shifting while on the highway. 10r80 problems.
Incident date: Aug 3, 2026
Shifted into 1st gear from 10th while driving 70mph
Incident date: Jun 26, 2026
My 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee suffers from an intermittent but severe 2-to-3-second acceleration lag as well as lunging when attempting to accelerate. This occurs specifically during low-speed or rolling left-hand turns, or when accelerating from a complete stop to execute a left turn across traffic. When the accelerator pedal is depressed to clear the intersection, the engine and transmission momen... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2026
When I accelerate from a complete stop. It makes a roaring noise that dies down once the car is in full swing. Toyota dealership is saying that it is a common problem for Toyota CHR and needs to be replaced. Replacement cost from my pocket is $12k
Incident date: Jun 14, 2026
I am reporting a safety concern involving the transmission in my 2022 Ford Bronco Sport equipped with the 1.5L engine and 8-speed automatic transmission (8F35). I purchased this vehicle new in May 2022 with approximately 6 miles on it. At approximately 83,000 miles, the vehicle displayed a “Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power” warning through FordPass. The notification stated that a transmis... Read more
Incident date: Jun 17, 2026
When I shut off the engine, it says “Shift to park” and the car will not turn off. To get it to turn off, I have to turn the car back on (usually multiple times), until it recognizes that it IS in park.
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
The transmission was repaired at 48k and I am now at 76k having severe issues with jerking, shuddering, and so forth. The car has undergone excellent maintenance for the CARFAX proves this. I bought this car with the very last of my inheritance money thinking I was getting a reliable product and come to find out, I got screwed and am on the hook for EVERY foregoing transmission repair.
Incident date: Aug 9, 2026
The 10 speed transmission will downshift unexpectedly at unsafe speeds. The CDF drum issues make this vehicle unsafe.
Incident date: Jul 7, 2026
On 8th of June 2026, exiting I35W onto Convery Dr. I notice my dash gauges failed in proving any information. I immediately pulled over turned off the vehicle and turn it on. Gauges did not work, but vehicle did start and was running normal. I utilize the Waze app to monitor my speed and arrived home safely while putting no one at risk. I had to take a different vehicle to Hopps automotive for rep... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
When driving, especially from a low gear (2-5), the transmission will downshift to 1, high revving, and then slam back into 4 or 5th, depending on where it downshifted. Sometimes the rapid acceleration causes the back of the truck to start to break lose. I notice this alot when trying to get up to speed, and can usually take my foot off pedal and it will slow the vehicle and upshift.
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
The contact owns a 2021 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the “4WD Service” warning light illuminated, and while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as needed. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, and the contact was informed that the power transfer unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2026
Hello, I have a concern with my trucks transmission. I haven't had it diagnosed by Ford but am an independent tech myself. I believe the cdf drum is failing. Here are the problems I had. The biggest is the safety. I was pulling out on busy street and I accelerated. Truck moved and the transmission delayed in shifting causing truck to slow down and then slamming into gear. Oncoming traffic got very... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2025
While stopped at red light, waiting for the green light, the vehicle suddenly gave the park signal, once in park the vehicle shut down. It had to be restarted. My child was in the back seat.This occurred today 10 August 2026
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2020) - POWER TRAIN
Aug 10, 2026
Incident date: May 28, 2026
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission shifted hard. The failure had occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that a software update was needed. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure persisted. The contact stated that the parking brake engaged each ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
I own a 2022 Ram 1500 Limited 4x4 (5.7L HEMI eTorque, ZF 8-speed automatic), VIN [XXX], approximately 40,000 miles. For roughly two years, the transmission has produced a hard, jarring downshift and lurch during normal low-speed deceleration, consistently when slowing from ~20 mph to a stop. This occurs both when the engine is cold and fully warmed up, ruling out a cold-start explanation. It happ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2026
My truck has routinely been very hard shifting in 3rd to 4th gear. Recently it downshifted from 8th to 4th without warning and made a loud clunking noise. It still runs, but the transmission seems to be getting worse.
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
The car started having engine issues. Car wouldn’t start. Had it towed to the dealership which replaced the engine after the dealership had it for a month. Then one week after the the engine was replaced the vehicle was having issues again. Replaced PCM
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
My 2016 Jeep Cherokee developed severe grinding/scraping noise and vibration associated with the PTU. In 2023, I brought it to Larry H. Miller Jeep 104th for PTU-related Safety Recall 45A and also reported abnormal noise. The noise was not documented and the PTU was not replaced, despite Warranty Extension XJ1 already being in effect. In 2026, after the noise worsened, I returned to an authorized... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE L
(2025) - POWER TRAIN
Aug 10, 2026
Incident date: May 24, 2026
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission overheating warning light illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the road and waited for the engine to cool down. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred. The failure reoccurred every 15–20 miles while driving. In addition, the contact stated that eve... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
My car will randomly go into limp mode and I am unable to accelerate. The auto stop/start light will flash orange on the dashboard. I need to pull over and restart car and it seems to reset. I see there is a recall for a 2021 KIA Sorrento but I don't think it affected my vehicle even though the issue is exactly the same. Recall #22V6000. It happened once a few months ago then didn't reoccur u... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2026
Regarding Nissan Safety Recall 24V-700 / Campaign R24B2. After the recall remedy was performed on my 2020 LEAF in June I experienced the "Service EV System" message during normal highway driving on 8/1/26. I have an invoice from the dealership that documented logged safety recall code P33ED along with EV system codes P317E-97 and P3180-97. The dealership improperly cleared the recall safety codes,... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2026
I just purchased this vehicle on XXX and on XXX, with less than 300 miles on it, we were in a parking garage at the Galleria Mall in [XXX]. While driving slowly uphill in the garage looking for a parking space, the vehicle suddenly went into neutral and the engine shutoff. After verifying all was well, I restarted the truck and continued to drive. It happened two more times with the same situation... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2025
10r80 transmission CDF Failure. Had repair completed though still has issues with 4/5th gear. Truck will lose power while accelerating until it finds the gear it wants to go. Multiple re-learning processes completed with no solution. V6 ecoboost - cam phasers repaired twice. 1st time by initial owner but that was not relayed to me. 2nd time by me after multiple trips to the dealership where they c... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
Transmission issues that are in line with what seems to be a well known 10R80 issue with a poorly engineered CDF drum. Transmission will randomly shift from a high gear down to first generating a ton of noise and impacting the handling. It has not become a permanant failure yet but is an extremely well known issue that always results in a transmission rebuild with updated/correctly engineered comp... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2026
There was no incident. Ford announced the recall in May with no remedy until August. I had to rent a truck to pull a trailer to [XXX] from [XXX]. They said there was no compensation as there was no "stop driving" notice on the recall but it stated the the vehicle could abruptly slow down /downshift increasing the risk of a crash. Wanted to go on record that compensation should be covered by Ford a... Read more
Incident date: Jul 7, 2026
The TCM is faulty. There is a tsb so Toyota is well aware of the issue. They will not take care of it under the power train warranty. The TCM doesn't shift the vehicle correctly. This lag and funny shifting almost caused an accident.
LAND ROVER
DISCOVERY SPORT
(2016) - POWER TRAIN
Aug 10, 2026
Incident date: Aug 7, 2026
Transmission shifting issues. Have taken it to the dealerships and they stated it is "normal". Hard shifting and sometimes stalling out when trying to shift into first. The hard shifting on interstates is hazardous because it feels like the whole truck is about to lock up at highway speeds. Stalling is a hazard as well for my and surrounding traffic when it revs but suddenly wont move. No warning ... Read more