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 78,884 complaints - component: SERVICE BRAKES
NISSAN
PATHFINDER
(2024) - SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 20, 2025
Incident date: Jun 20, 2025
This vehicle is subject to NHTSA Recall #25V236 (Ford Recall #25S37) for a defective brake master cylinder that can leak into the brake booster, reducing braking effectiveness and creating a serious crash risk. The recall was issued on April 11, 2025. As of today, Ford has not provided any remedy. My local dealership confirmed that no fix is available, and Ford Corporate has refused to provide a l... Read more
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2021) - SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 20, 2025
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
Four weeks after purchasing the vehicle the anti-lock brakes light, traction control and forward collision lights all came on. I took it to the dealership and was told this is a known issue with the master cylinder. My car was there for 13 weeks.
KTM
390 ADVENTURE R
(2025) - SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 20, 2025
Incident date: Jul 3, 2025
The vehicle has grade assist braking, which cannot be disabled. At speeds below 35mph this braking is too strong and cannot be properly controlled with throttle input. The effect is that, when going downhill, if you release pressure from the gas pedal, the vehicle will abruptly decelerate by several mph with no illumination of the brake light. In traffic, in hilly areas, this is extremely dangero... Read more
Incident date: Aug 18, 2025
Around May 2025, the brake booster and pump in the car stopped working. There was no clear warning lamp or indicator prior to it failing. While driving on the highway, the part stopped working and significantly changed the car's braking power. Rather than smoothly braking as it did before, the car's brakes have significantly less braking power. The defective part also affects the car's ABS sys... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2024
On August 20, 2025, my 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie was taken to the dealership for diagnosis after showing the warning “Electronic Stability Control system needs service,” along with a flashing check engine light. The dealer pulled diagnostic codes and documented U0403-00 (“Invalid Data Received from Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS) Control Module A”) as well as other communication errors. This is ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 20, 2025
The brake actuator failed, it can be available for inspection anytime. My ABS light, brake light, and traction control lights all came on to indicate the failure. Since the hybrid engine requires the breaking system to recharge, failure of this part will eventually lead you to be stranded if it isn’t functional. Additionally, the responsiveness of the breaks makes driving at higher speeds a l... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2025
there are eight recalls on my car I do not trust dealerships I do not trust mechanics I work on my own car I have very bad experience with mechanics I would rather return my car to the dealership I want to sell my car do the dealership eight different recalls is too much
Incident date: Mar 11, 2023
My vehicle displayed numerous brake failure codes and limited my speed to 43mph. When taken into my local GMC dealer the diagnostics I was given were a bad/leaking master cylinder. This vehicle has 16,200 miles on it and was never used for towing or hauling. The brakes are hard and brake assist has clearly failed. I’ve found numerous recalls and issues with other year vehicles from GMC, yet they... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2025
Getting off the highway and brake pedal is just hard can barely push it. It stopped but barely.
Incident date: Aug 20, 2025
The engine bay of my car caught fire due to the abs pump and module not turning off. I bought a part but never opened the box because I received a piece of mail stating the recall of that exact issue that they would replace all parts damaged. Which they didn't just installed their relay After Hyundai recall 188 was completed, my ABS pump failed. I believe it was caused by continuous power being a... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Aug 20, 2023
I bought my 2024 Hyundai Palisade new in May of 2024 because of the safety features and impeccable safety ratings. Since purchasing this vehicle, I’ve had multiple instances of the brakes not engaging when I’m driving on uneven terrain, the most recent event was today while my young daughter was in the car. I live in a fairly rural area and frequently drive over railroad tracks as part of my d... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2025
When I’ve hit a pothole or hit the breaks to hard by ABS, and traction control lights would come on and then turn off. The other day they all turned on and stayed on with the break light on as well. Breaks all seemed to work fine, just a little spongy. I brought it in to a shop and they estimated 3k to repair Remove, replace, calibrate, and bleed ABS accumulator assembly and brake master cylinde... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2025
As your braking coming to a stop, the vehicle surges forward, feels like you lost your brakes and then it stops. If the car in front of you were to stop suddenly, you would hit them from behind. It had been going on for a while, but since it was my wife’s car she said she just stayed way back from the car ahead of her. I came within inches of hitting someone in early June 2025. I took the car to... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2025
Sudden brake failure while driving at speeds around 40 mph, where both the accelerator and brakes became unresponsive, forcing me to coast before regaining limited braking ability after repeated pumping or having to "restart" the car completely. During these events, loud grinding or dragging noises and vibrations were present. Despite adequate brake fluid levels and pad condition, the brake pedal ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2024
Toyota issued a Customer Support Program ZJB for extended coverage of the brake booster and actuator assembly (this notice was not sent to the correct address the car was registered to with the dmv in 2019 so I never received the notice for this program) The Toyota program length was for 10 years or 150k miles. My car’s part just failed at 129k which is far below the 150k threshold. Despite bei... Read more
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2022) - SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 20, 2025
Incident date: Aug 14, 2025
the car loss power and shut completely off and ran into the wall with my sister and my child in there on the interstate can I please get help about this matter it could've been worse where i could've lost them forever. I don't want this to happen to nobody else they cars know about these malfunctions and still but these cars on the market for accidents to happen. Please something needs to be done ... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Jul 18, 2025
On August 11, 2025, at about 2:52pm, my vehicle was at a complete stop at an intersection awaiting the traffic light to turn green. There was a slight downgrade slope towards the intersection. The vehicle one-pedal driving was enabled. Weather was sunny with no wind or rain. Suddenly, the vehicle started vibrating violently and started rolling into the intersection. I pressed on the brake pedal b... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2025
There was a recall in 2019 (NHTSA Recall No. 19V645000) on certain GM vehicles for vacuum pump failure, which could affect braking and engine performance. The fix usually involved reprogramming the ECM to improve how the brake assist system operates - not necessarily replacing the vacuum pump unless it had already failed. My local dealership did the reprogramming but in 2025 the vacuum pump totall... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2025
After the recall at Hyundai, my car wouldn't run and there were many lights on the dashboard. It was later checked and the instability light problem persisted. They fixed on the same time, and say something problem with the update. They later informed me that I have a problem with the brake switch, and the brake lights don't work because of it. I replaced and doesn’t work, I went back to the sto... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
I recently paid out of pocket for replacement of Hydraulic Electronic Control Unit and I see that it was a recall on my make model and year, but my Vin number was not included in the recall
Incident date: Aug 15, 2025
I have a 2.7l V6 Bronco with an automatic transmission. There is a steep downhill road (22% grade) a couple blocks from my house that ends at a stop sign for a major cross street. I apply the brake pedal to slow down for the stop sign and the Bronco behaves normally and comes to a full stop, but then with no change in brake pedal pressure by me nor any pedal feedback, i notice the Bronco starts cr... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2025
I have a 2024 Palisade, and any small bump, pothole, or lane bump causes my steering wheel to shake uncontrollably. If I go over a speed bump or come down an incline, the brakes make a rumbling sound, and if I try to brake, the brakes stutter and just shake. I’ve almost hit a car in front of me a few times because it didn’t want to stop. This is a very expensive SUV to be having these issues,... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2025
On August 17th, 2025, my wife was driving our 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV at low speed, pulling into a parking spot. The vehicle suddenly accelerated forward with enough force to cause significant damage to a fixed barrier. She does not recall pressing the accelerator at that moment. The degree of acceleration was disproportionate for a brief accidental press. Immediately after impact, smoke or dust ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 28, 2025
While driving Kia Optima, unable to turn steering wheel. No notice when first starting vehicle. While driving, a traction and steering wheel light turns on without a sound(ding) to notify driver. Then once driver attempts to turn, unable due to steering wheel locked. Unsafe to drive on the road. Dangerous for all passengers. Our safety is put at risk due to unable to turn steering wheel while driv... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2019) - SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 19, 2025
Incident date: Aug 6, 2025
Dealer and corporate is refusing to do a Safety recall without a paid diagnostic first.
Incident date: Dec 19, 2023
The automatic cruise control failed and disengage with a sudden braking. After that the following warnings appear: Front assist has limited availability, rear traffic is currently not available, proximity sensors malfunctioning. I took the vehicle to service and diagnostic suggested the replacement of brake booster. Service department recommended a replacement a cost of $2,800 as the vehicle is o... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2025
When my brakes are cold and I stop on a hill...the brakes do not hold and the car moves about a foot forward. Then something kicks in and it jerks the car to a stop (all the while my foot is completely pressed down on the brake. No warning lamps, no lights, nothing...just rolls when brake is completely applied. It only does this when the brakes are cold. After they warm up it doesn't do it anymore... Read more
ENEL X
JUICEBOX LEVEL 2 CHARGER
(9999) - SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 19, 2025
Incident date: Aug 18, 2025
There are reports of Ford Broncos rolling forward under braking, after a full stop. This occurs most often on a hill. To be clear, the brakes are already fully depressed, the vehicle is stopped, and THEN the vehicle suddenly rolls forward while the brakes are depressed, endangering pedestrians and others. This is NOT caused by driver error. Here are some vehicle owner complaints about this iss... Read more
Incident date: Feb 22, 2024
While operating my 2018 Ram 2500, the Hydraulic Control Unit (HCU) failed suddenly and completely, causing the loss of: Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Traction Control This failure occurred without warning, creating an immediate risk of accident. The dashboard illuminated warning lights indicating system failure. The most recent diagnostic, performed on 8/19/2... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2025
Brakes squeak very loudly. This has been an issue since I purchased this new vehicle.
FORD
BRONCO SPORT
(2021) - SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 19, 2025
Incident date: Jul 20, 2025
We have. 2025 Chevy Traverse that we bought 10 days ago and it has 597 miles. I stopped at a location turned off the car. When I got back in to leave and turned it on, The brake light came on, and brake light, collision light, service ESC and service brakes light. Apparently there are 4 or more GM cars in the dealership service department for over a month waiting for the part to fix this issue.... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2025
Normal speed of 25mph on a clear warm day with no road obstructions when the BRAKE System Indicator (Red) illuminated. I pressed on the brake and had severe resistance and was barely able to stop the car. Two more indicators illuminated. One I believe was the Vehicle Stability Assist and the other I don't recall. The screen flashed "Call your Dealer". The Owners Manual states "Have your vehicle re... Read more
Incident date: May 18, 2025
I received notification of a recall in November,2025. However, Ram has still not come up with a resolution. This is almost a year without ABS on my truck. The Traction Control, ABS, and parking brake lights are all illuminated and the cruise control does not work. My wife refuses to drive my truck without ABS, traction control, and cruise control.
Incident date: Aug 8, 2025
While driving, the brake pedal suddenly required extreme pressure to stop the vehicle safely. I pulled over and parked in a parking lot. Upon opening the hood, I heard a hissing sound. During inspection, I found that the brake booster vacuum hose had broken at the check valve connection near the brake fluid reservoir. A temporary fix restored brake assistance. With the resulting significant loss... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2024
As a dominos delivery driver, I am constantly braking in neighborhoods, on main roads, highways, parking lots, you name it. It’s important for me as a safe driver to be able to rely on my vehicle to perform properly. Recently, I’ve had multiple failures to stop as the code “c1391” has come up and has intermittently shut off proper control of my braking system. Upon reading of the faulty br... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2025
Despite multiple backup camera recalls & fixes, the backup camera blurs visibility & engages the backup collision avoidance system when there’s a steady rain thereby preventing me from backing car up my DW & parking in garage. The vehicle repeatedly stops & engages the rear collision avoidance system so much so that I had to turn it off in settings to back my car in. Cleaning the backup camera l... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2025
On 8/11/2025 the brakes failed and the brake petal went all the way down. The check engine light came on as well as the ABS, traction control, front collision lights. The service ESC and service brake assist came on as well. It’s in the shop and needs a new brake master cylinder.
Incident date: Jun 15, 2025
There is a known issue for these Jeep Wrangler (in my case a 2011 model) with the ABS module going bad. Unfortunately, the part is unavailable for purchase. None to be found anywhere. If you contact Jeep they tell you they are being produced anymore and basically good luck. On top of that the companies that repair them can no longer do it because they cant get the chips to repair. We need the... Read more
Incident date: Aug 6, 2025
Upon starting the vehicle, brakes were extremely hard to press down and barely responded. A great deal of effort was needed to bring the car to a stop at below 5 miles an hour. If I had been driving instead of pulling out of a parking lot, this could have caused a significant accident.
Incident date: Apr 6, 2025
My vehicle started having a "spongy" pedal feel when I pushed on my brakes going to work and returning home. I was going to be taking my grandchildren to Branson, MO, on Thursday morning, [XXX], and was able to get Marvin Merritt, mechanic, to look at my vehicle before leaving to make sure we would be okay traveling. Marvin notified me that my brake booster needed replace and it was not safe to... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2025
Left rear break calipers are frozen, wearing down the break pad and rotors within 1 day, breaks grinding metal on metal. When brought into Autozone they stated they had 8 other palisades this month alone with the same exact problem. There were no lights, warning or messages to the system. Vehicle was driving fine earlier in the day.
Incident date: Jun 15, 2025
8/4/25 Vehicle was pulling from side road to main highway when lights and warnings came on dash cluster. brakes were very soft and not very responsive, car was slowed down on its own. Was able to pull into a driveway and take photos of some of the messages. One said service traction control, one said service ASC, and one said ‘brake assist fail, press hard to brake, speed reduced. After restar... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2017) - SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 19, 2025
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
The parking brake issue per recall was supposedly done based on information from safetycar. Vehicle can not be shut off unless in park. I'm assuming a safety feature. A few times when I attempted to shut off,even though clearly in park. Truck wouldn't do so. I shifted back into gear and then back into park with foot on brake as required. Unless I have a horse trailer hooked up, I usually don't e... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 18, 2025
I purchased my vehicle approximately 8 months ago, and recently all of the warning lights on my dashboard began coming on randomly while driving. I immediately brought the vehicle back to the dealership where I purchased it. At that visit, I was told the cause was unknown and that it might possibly be related to the battery. Unsatisfied with that explanation, I took the car to a second authorized ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 18, 2025
Antilock brake system module failure. The system controls the anti-locking brake system as well as vehicle stability control, both federally mandated for this year vehicle. The ABS, stability control, and brake lights are illuminated on the dash. The message “service antilock brake system” is displayed on the message center as well as “service electronic braking system” The part is not ava... Read more
Incident date: Dec 31, 1969
I own a 2012 Toyota Prius C with approximately 156,578 miles. The vehicle has been diagnosed with C1391 – Abnormal Leak in Accumulator, which causes the brake actuator to lose hydraulic pressure. This results in frequent buzzing from the actuator pump, illuminated warning lights (BRAKE, ABS, Traction Control), and loss of ABS and stability control. The condition increases stopping distance and c... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2025
When going on uneven terrain then trying to brake the ABS kicks in and makes the brakes unusable. I’ve almost hit the car ahead of me several times now. I have taken the car to the dealership and they cannot duplicate the problem.
Incident date: Aug 6, 2025
This truck was purchased May 2025 and currently has 2600 miles. Without any warning the brake light and ABS warning lights came on along with messages reading Brake Assist,ESC, and Trailer Brake require service. I took my truck in to a Chevrolet dealer on Aug 18, 2025 for inspection of issue. I was informed the Master Cylinder has failed and because this was a “SAFETY” issue I could not take d... Read more