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 49,040 complaints — component: STRUCTURE:BODY
TIFFIN
ALLEGRO BREEZE
(2017) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 21, 2023
Incident date: Jun 15, 2022
Driving down the highway and the passenger side windshield trim broke and detached from car, scraping down the side of my car and hitting the car behind us.
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
FLTRU
(2019) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 20, 2023
Incident date: Jun 30, 2022
Vehicle is in the shop at 191,000mi for Rear Shocks, Front Struts, an alignment and oil change as of Wednesday (07/19/2023), at approximately 16:14 EDT, the shop contacted me and notified me that the mechanic, when he was installing the new driver-side shocks, went to secure the shock, only for the entire sub-frame assembly that holds the exhaust manifold, fuel tank and shock in place, "shattered"... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2023
Noticed the roof seems to be separating from the body and rusting.
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2008) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 20, 2023
Incident date: Jul 20, 2023
Drivers door check stop is creaking and snapping and exibiting all the behavior being investgated by your department as reported in the Reuters article https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/us-investigates-346000-ford-escape-suvs-over-door-issues-2023-07-11/
Incident date: Jun 15, 2023
Windshield trim piece (passenger side) detached from vehicle while travelling at 40 mph.
Incident date: Apr 4, 2023
The door started popping when it was opened and closed. After one day the weld completely busted loose and the window no longer rolls down either.
Incident date: May 18, 2023
When door assembly went out the door was stuck in the locked position the drivers door couldn’t be opened from inside or outside with or without the key. even if you manually opened the lock from the inside you couldn’t get out
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
My car is displaying similar symptom found on a fleet version of the car - SSM 50150 - 2020-2021 Escape - Cracked Or Broken Spot Welds In The Left Front Door At The Check Arm Attachment Points In The Door Assembly.
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
In February 2023, we noticed a popping/ snapping sound coming from the driver's door and it would not stay open on its own. Over the next couple weeks the power window began having trouble staying up and then it simply would not stay up at all. In March I took it to the dealership it was purchased from and had it looked it. After a couple hours I was told that the spot welds had failed and that th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2023
The contact owns a 2012 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that the vehicle was making a loud bang sound towards the rear of the vehicle while driving over bumps in the roadway. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was informed that the rear subframe and the rear brake line were severely rusted. The subframe was replaced under an extended warranty coverage; however, the brake line wa... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2023
My 2017 Dodge Grand caravan gt left sliding door has a faulty door actuator. Had the van for 6 years, I read that the 2016 had the same problem. I hear the funny sound when locking the door. It has started May 2023.
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
The door check bracket on front driver door failed completely. The anchor point in the door broke off the door frame internally. All 6 tack welds failed. The door was stuck open with the check arm fully extended into the door. DeLong Ford of Dwight got me back on the road after removing the check arm. I drilled out the six failed tack welds and riveted the anchor to the door frame at the six point... Read more
Incident date: Jan 27, 2023
The black weather striping under the windshield trim molding is coming off / detaching while driving
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
Drivers door began popping when opened or being closed. Looked at door and the spot welds on door check attachment point were broken out. We had our local dealer inspect and were told that they were aware of several that were broken in our local area. They also stated one of the cars was sent to a local body shop and repaired. New door and door check. All was paid by Ford. A second came in not lon... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2023
Windshield Trim Panel Detachment. Driver side panel detached while driving app 60 mph on the highway. Began with rubber underneath plastic panel breaking off and flying away followed by the panel flying off in two pieces and hitting the vehicle behind me before shattering on the roadway.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2023
The hood flutters and bounces up and down the entire time I'm driving making me too anxious to drive the car at all. I just bought the car used with 21,000 miles yesterday and noticed it after leaving the dealership to drive home. I have an appt for weatherstripping on 7/24.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2023
Both ( Left and Right ) front door check strap attachment points have broken welds. This causes difficulty closing the doors and causes a loud auditable creaking noise when opening or closing the doors. Dealer attempted to fix issue by replacing the actual check strap on each side a total of 3 times before deciding it was a broken weld. By that time car was out of warranty and Ford declined to rep... Read more
Incident date: May 15, 2023
It was looked at by a subaru dealer but claims fault isnt on subaru. The paint is chipping around the trunk and other areas and has been getting progressively worse over the last several years. Paint ahould not chip at all unless its damaged and due to this now rust is starting to form i continually have to touch up new spots and try to slow the spread of paint flaking off for no reason at all. M... Read more
NISSAN
ROGUE SPORT
(2018) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 18, 2023
Incident date: Jul 4, 2018
On 7/11/2023, I opened my driver's side door and heard some strange popping sounds I had not heard before, my window would not work correctly either. I got into my Ford 2020 Escape and proceeded to drive home while driving approx 35 miles an hour while making a left turn the driver's side door flew open. The weld on the driver's side door has failed along it exhibits cracks and/or broken spot weld... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2023
On June 5th, 2023 my mother received a recall notice in the mail from Honda stating my, [XXX] ’s, car was recalled due to a chemical reaction causing aggressive rust to form under cars owned in the salt states. My car was manufactured and driven in New York prior to my ownership falling into the recalls category. I had previously had to pay out of pocket for a new catalytic converter and an oil ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2023
The door weld on the door is causing it to pop when you open and close the door.
MERCEDES-BENZ
CLA250
(2016) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 18, 2023
Incident date: May 3, 2023
While driving in the rain on July 11, 2023 and for the first time I encountered rain dropping into the inside of my vehicle from several different places in the front windshield of my vehicle. The rain was falling profusely onto the gearshift area which caused me to multitask and try to cover the area to prevent any damage. I was able to get off the expressway and make it to the gas station where ... Read more
Incident date: May 25, 2023
The welds on my door snapped, which is causing a grinding noise and preventing the window from opening. The dealership has told me that I need a new door for my vehicle. My vehicle has less than 30,000 miles.
Incident date: Jul 5, 2023
Windshield panel pillar and moldings are missing and flying off vehicle.
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2022) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 18, 2023
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
I am having issues with water coming in on the driver side. Every time it rains it drips right where my break pedal is and makes is really slippery and completely floods the floor where the driver seat is. This is a safety issue if I am trying to break and the break is so slippery because water is constantly on the break pedal.
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
Vehicle inspection catalytic converter fumes coming inside vents causing fire an frame issues
Fire
Incident date: Jun 15, 2023
The sunroof track assembly broke when the sunroof was opened. Causing the sunroof to be stuck in the open position
Incident date: Jul 18, 2023
The drivers door when opening looks like it’s going to rip off at the hinges.
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
Some 2020-2021 Escape vehicles may exhibit cracks or broken spot welds in the left front door at the check arm attachment point in the door assembly. My door started making a lot of noise when opening it and closing it. Now I can only open my door to a certain degree and and cannot open it all of the way. My window now is not working properly so I can't open it without it getting stuck halfway ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2023
While driving on highway a load noise was heard pulled off the road to see what it was and the part of the sunroof that meets the windshield had raised up so we tried to push it down and continue towards home the car had to be driven at around 40 miles per hour to keep it from elevating and in fear that it might come off and hit someone's car or cause an accident
Incident date: Jul 16, 2023
I purchased this Toyota 3 years ago in Rochester NY, an incredibly snowy city that uses a lot of salt in the winter. I was living in Texas when I got informed about a recall about frame damage due to rust and corrosion. When I tried to get this taken care of I was told the dealership couldn’t do anything about it because it’s not in a cold climate state anymore. The frame is very rusted and se... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA CRUZ
(2022) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 17, 2023
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
At a little over 4,000 miles and less then a year in to owning my car the transmission went out. Now at at little over 36,000 and now the driver door isn't opening easily, and is making a popping noise. This shouldn't be happening with a car this new
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
I have an open safety recall on my 2021 Dodge Durango R/T. Upon receiving the paperwork in the mail I brought my car to a dealer to get it assessed. During that appointment, it was decided that I did need the recall part to be ordered and replaced. The dealer sent me on my way. I called back today to get an idea of when this would be performed and unfortunately, they said Chrysler did not have any... Read more
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2020) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 17, 2023
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
I was sent a recall notice fora SAFETY DEFECT that the rear frame that can deteriorate and trailing arm can fall off. I called the Honda of ILLINOIS dealer In Springfield Illinois to schedule an appointment for the recall and was told I would be put on a Waiting list and they only schedule 2 of these recalls per week. This vehicle is the only mode of transportation, and is driven on the highway t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2023
Right passenger sliding door has trouble latching when the weather is hot. For the past three years, every time the weather turns hot the sliding door acts up. It will close but won't completely latch unless you push hard on the back of the door, and even that doesn't last. I'll be driving down the road and randomly it'll unlatch and try to relatch with the door ajar alarm on the dash. I fear that... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2022
Back window glass of the soft top, became unglued and is leaking into the vehicle when it rains. Seems like a fault to me as the top itself is still in great condition.
Incident date: Jan 25, 2023
The hitch side of the roof began to collapse where the roof met the front curved panel. We experienced water and leaking issues despite our regular maintenance of seals. We finally took it into a repair business to have the roof opened up to determine the cause. The roof panel was not secured to the framing. Due to this the roof panel had completely separated and pulled apart, leaving a large cavi... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
In the fall of 2022, the driver door on my 2021 Ford Escape would not close properly and I took to the Ford Dealership as I told them it felt unsafe as I felt the door wanted to fall off when driving as the door was physically moving in and out. They laughed at me and said that would never happen. After two visits, they realized the weld had broken on the door and said they would order a new one. ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
On FRI 30JUN23 while driving across country in out 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe with a panoramic sun roof with our daughter, who was on her first trip after battling brain cancer, experienced the unthinkable. Wile driving down the highway states away from home we heard a deafening explosion with glass raining inside the vehicle almost causing us to veer off the road. Upon expecting the source of the glas... Read more
Incident date: Oct 17, 2014
Body, Brakes, and Electrical concern me. My family owned a 1999 same model vehicle, and the brakes failed us in an accident from its’ left driver seal being punctured. Here is what’s going on with the 2003 aside from the latter mentioned. Exhaust from manifold to catalytic converter followed by muffler rusted out by 175,ØØØ miles and now broke apart. Frame and rocker panels are rusted o... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 9, 2023
Debra J. Westfall—neighbour—loves controversy, and won’t back down from expressing her anger or bafflement exhibited from half–assed parenting. Funny how she hates us snowflakes for sharing her entitled, materialistic narcissism. Five porch monkeys were using electric scooters on our street when one of them vandalised our driver side taillight. Turnpike commissions can confirm that la... Read more
Incident date: Apr 26, 2023
I opened my power lift gate to load groceries in the trunk. It opened without issue. As I loaded the groceries the lift gate came crashing down on my head. This happened in the festival foods parking lot around 5:05 pm today (7/16/23). Once I moved out from under it I saw the left arm was popped off. I popped it back in , there is a metal piece that was messed up. It came/ happened out of nowhere.... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 16, 2023
The passenger sliding rear door does not completely latch and close. It will not lock. Many forums discuss the problem with no resolution https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-c24554_ds914749
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2013) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 16, 2023
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
The driver's side door stopped latching today. Obviously, driving a car with a door that does not latch is a serious issue!
Incident date: Jul 16, 2023
Driving 35-45 mph, heard a loud pop from the top of the vehicle. The glass from the sun roof popped and shattered. It put myself at risk because if the shade slide, that separates the inside of the car and the sunroof glass, was pulled back, the glass would have came in & injured everyone in the car. It also puts others near the vehicle at risk as the glass could have hit someone or another vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
Pressed the button on the electronic liftgate to have it raise. Half way through raising, it beeped 3 times and started closing. Had 3 dogs in the back of the vehicle and the lift gate started to close on one of them. I put my left arm underneath to stop it from closing where the lift gate put a lot of pressure on my forearm. The lift gate stopped and I was able to push it back up. Injury seems ... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
All the paint and clear coats pealing no other car we own do not have this problem and are much older... this car is not even paid for and the paint is destroyed... the car only has 55000 miles
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2020) — STRUCTURE:BODY
Jul 15, 2023
Incident date: Jun 29, 2023
All the paint and clear coats pealing no other car we own do not have this problem and are much older... this car is not even paid for and the paint is destroyed... the car only has 55000 miles
Incident date: Jun 12, 2023
On Saturday July 15, 2023, at between about 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. CDST the vehicle was parked overnight in a garage, spontaneously caught fire and burned and was a total loss. There was a smell I would associate with an electrical fire. People reported hearing a car alarm and a "popping sound" before the fire. The fire department extinguished the fire and had the car towed out of the garage of a cond... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Nov 23, 2022
We was on Highway and a Buck jumped out , my passenger was freaked out knowing no Air Bags deployed. I was escorted home by police and Contacted Toyota ,they sent a [XXX] to come take my sensors off the car and Never contacted me again, told me to sign into Toyota page and they'd get back to me. Now my car just sits Smashed in Garage, it was in great shape before and I was gonna trade it in. INF... Read more
Crash