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 49,687 complaints - component: STRUCTURE:BODY
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
The vehicle's A/C system was not working as intended, noticing air is blowing very weak. The vehicle was took to tesla service center and was told that rodents had gotten into the vehicle (not sure how) and chewed wire systems and air filters. Tesla reports the damages affected a/c systems and electrical control for the vehicle including auto pilot assistant. Cost of repair was $2020.17, not co... Read more
Incident date: Sep 13, 2022
My Escape has just over 41,000 miles. Very well taken care of and after sitting in a personal garage, while on vacation, I opened drivers side door and LOUD popping noise began when opening or closing. I took to dealership where I lease from and was informed door stop is broken and only way to fixe is total door replacement. This would need to be at my own cost, I REFUSE TO PAY SINCE I DID NOTHING... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2023
The spot welds on the driver's door broke. This causes the door to grind when opening/closing. If left for too long, this could lead to the entire door being unusable. No one has looked at this issue other than myself.
Incident date: Jul 3, 2023
Was driving on the highway at normal speed and the windshield trim on the drivers side flew off.
Incident date: Apr 24, 2023
There has been no accident- the vehicle is my mother in laws vehicle- my concern is while at work she has at times loaded our daughter into the vehicle- I inspected the vehicle one day while as an employee of Les Schwab- the driver cvc axle vibrates so bad from the boot being torn and having no lubrication- these axles power the vehicle forward and if not maintained can snap and cause damage- the ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2023
I purchased this car in January of 2021 and in April of 2022 the passenger side front window A pillar trim flew off while driving down the highway. Since then, the same thing has happened to my driver’s side A pillar exterior trim, and just this week (August 2023) the B pillar trim that also held my keyless entry keypad has also flown off while driving down the highway. I’ve joined a “5th G... Read more
Incident date: Apr 4, 2023
The middle Console on the car has aluminum trim, the trim starts peeling off right at the button where you can open the console and I just hurt my finger as it’s very sharp and cuts the skin right away I will provide also pictures of the problem .
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 11, 2023
The driver's side sliding door became inoperable suddenly. The locking mechanism was stuck in the locked position and would not release via key, manual, fob, or buttons. A buzzing noise occurred when trying to lock or unlock. This exit door being inoperable caused a safety concern to be able to exit the vehicle on the driver's side. It does now allow for quick, easy escape from the vehicle. If th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2023
The frame of the vehicle rust just as same as the 03-09 Tacoma and there is nothing I can do the fix it and if I get new parts it ruins my Parts after a short period of time
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
July 2023 Jaguar LandRover of Sarasota serviced LandRover Discovery 2018 and checked for defect described in campaign no. 23V393 recall no. N 798. I was told my Discovery did not have the defect. One week later I was driving 40mph with my 12 year old autistic son in the back passenger seat when the door flew open. Fortunately, my son did not fall out of the car and we were not hit by oncoming tra... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2023
The passenger side door has become unusable. When opening it seems to fall of some sort of hinge and is hard to close so we aren’t able to use the driver side door. We took it to Ford BEFORE our warranty expired and they said it wasn’t covered. Now we see that hundreds of people has also had this happen so we know for a fact it was a “lemon” but they refuse to fix it and will cost us thous... Read more
Incident date: Jun 26, 2023
I have 3 major recalls on this vehicle. I received recall from Kia but dealership will not fix the problem
Incident date: Aug 12, 2023
The driver's side window trim blew off, striking the side of my car and hitting a car passing me. Also - the piece that holds the keypad on the driver's side has come off once, tried to come off a 2nd time and is currently being held in place by a binder clip.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
The door hinge bracket is over extending and popping when the door is opened all the way.
Incident date: Aug 11, 2023
Door welds associated with the door check stop failed. Problem is the same as SSM-50150. Ford is telling me that it’s 1800$ to repair and I am on the hook for the repair.
Incident date: Jul 27, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model X. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, he noticed the rear fender had detached and fallen onto the ground. The contact stated that the driver's side front wheel well had also detached from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the parts were put back in place using adhesive. The contact stated that the front fender had detached pre... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
As I was driving down a local highway my rear liftgate spoiler broke off my van, hit the road and flew into a field or ditch. Luckily no one was close enough behind me to get hit by the debris. I tried to find the spoiler but was unable to safely find it due to the busy highway. I have not filed a claim with my insurance yet or taken it into a dealer service dept. Just before the spoiler flew off ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ID.4
(2021) - STRUCTURE:BODY
Aug 11, 2023
Incident date: Aug 7, 2023
I was driving down the street from my home and I slowed down turned right and my car was out of control I steered to the curb. I got out and saw that the tire had blown-up and a large piece of the tire which was cut in half was on the ground. I couldn’t drive the car I called a tow truck driver who was there within 30 min he towed my car to BMW. It hasn’t been fully inspected I am waiting for... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TAOS
(2023) - STRUCTURE:BODY
Aug 11, 2023
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
Trim piece on the front of the vehicle beside the windshield flew off while driving on the interstate. It smacked my windshield and flew off behind me. Very big safety concern considering there were other vehicles driving behind me and it could have hit them. I did not see where it went as I was confused as I did not know what the sound/item was at first.
Incident date: Aug 6, 2023
I was pulling into parking lot at REI car suddenly accelerated and jumped pavement and hit a wall.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2023
The 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport's body coating is clearly a hazardous manufacturer defect. The paint warranty for this and other models and model years was extended to 5 years late last year, but did not provide us with any safeguard. As a warranty, correction of the defect would only be approved by Hyundai if there was an observed problem. Within weeks of the end of the vehicle's 5-year warranty ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
Spot welds on driver side door where the "Check Arm" attaches to the door have come loose. Unable to close the door.
Incident date: Aug 6, 2023
2013 Optima SXL with snow white pearl paint. Paint began coming off in areas around the windshield back in 2017. At the time I thought it may have had something to do with the people who replaced my windshield. Had a 50 cent piece size area come off the hood in the car wash shortly after. I have continued to experience paint bubbling and loss ever since. Now I'm considering an upgrade but am worri... Read more
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2022) - STRUCTURE:BODY
Aug 11, 2023
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
Not reported to dealer yet but the driver door hinge welds broke and I believe the door could come off.
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
The hood appears to flex when you reach speeds greater than 40mph. Took it to honda and it appears that the weld joints already broke loose. So were the outside hood is welded to the internal frame of the hood, it has come loose at all 15+ joints and is now rusted. Honda is working with me to determine next steps but I have read online that this appears to be a larger issue. Many users are experie... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
I have been in the motorcycle industry 1988-2000 and the auto industry since 2000 to current, a break for about 10 years in there. I am fairly mechanically knowledgeable. On 8/1/2 was showing a customer a BMW 330I that we had in inventory. The customer sat in the driver's seat, started the engine and popped the primary hood latch. I was at the front on the vehicle. Since I deal with every ma... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
It has been over 5 months since receiving the recall notice of the 2023 tundra tonneau cover (23TA03). Dealer asked me to wait for a toyota fix multiple times and then did not respond to further requests for answers solutions or a refund for the part that I did not want. Additionally the bed rails had defects and rust that accumulated inside of the rails and is all over my bed liner indicating p... Read more
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2017) - STRUCTURE:BODY
Aug 10, 2023
Incident date: Sep 2, 2022
audible loud click/twang noise from drivers door upon full opening.It happens every time door is opened and has become worse since trip to Virginia where when opening door on a hill the door really started popping loudly at full open.The Ford Dealer says its due to a broken/failed door check weld inside door.Dealer also stated Ford is aware of this defect and released an internal directive called... Read more
Incident date: Aug 9, 2023
These cars have severe issues with their frames and they rot. There are TONS of recalls in Canada and I am wondering why the same recalls are not in the US - this is equally dangerous regardless of location - especially upstate NY where the climate is extremely similar to Canada. I have had TWO LIFE THREATENING INCIDENTS recently - one with the front axel completely breaking several months ago, an... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
Purchase with 20 miles listed from dealer 2023 Envision. Approximately 1 month after purchase, a flapping noise noted to the passenger side between front and rear door. Only occurs over 65 mph on highway. Took to dealer for inspection…said it was my car tag… NO IT IS STILL OCCURRING! Need help in finding this problem .
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
Roof molding comes loose and flies off while car is in motion on roads. Imposing risk to other drivers on roads. Once removed area is exposed which can result in increase in deterioration of vehicle.
Incident date: Jul 5, 2023
The contact owns a 2010 Land Rover Range Rover Sport. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, she heard an abnormal sound coming from the rear windshield wiper. The contact became aware that the wiper arm was hitting a part of the spoiler that had started to detach. The contact stated that she pulled off the road and observed that the upper cover of the rear spoiler had detached and... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
The driver door started making a popping/creaking sound when I opened and closed it. The sound was quiet at first, like I wasn't even sure I heard it right, then it got really loud and stopped altogether and my window wouldn't roll down properly. The sound only lasted a week or two fron when it started to when it stopped. I took it to the Ford dealership where I bought it, and they told me the doo... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
Driver door is creaking and not wanting to close all the way
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2019) - STRUCTURE:BODY
Aug 10, 2023
Incident date: Aug 9, 2023
I have a foot operated lift gate and I constantly have to find the exact spot for it to open. Twice it lifted and while I was putting groceries in the back it came back down on me. The first time in smacked the back of my head and left a big knot. The second time it caught my shoulder and then I was able to get out of the way. I thought if the lift gate touched something coming down that it would ... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Jun 29, 2023
While driving in August 2022 some normal road dust or sand hit my car and chipped my windshield in several places. I called my ResistAll company and they sent a guy out in September 2022 and he said he couldn’t repair it because it wasn’t “bad enough” Do not have a good picture. In March 2023, I was passing a vehicle going the same direction on the interstate and a small rock hit my windsh... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
My front passenger door actuator has failed. This door cannot be locked/unlocked with the remote or by pressing any lock/unlock button. This prevents the driver from being able to lock all the doors or the front passenger from being able to quickly exit the cabin unless the manual unlock switch is known and applied. This is the 5th door actuator that has failed on this vehicle. I'm the origina... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2023
When I went to unload groceries from my 2014 Ford Fusion SE, the Driver side Rear door did not latch closed. Despite not latching, the warning that the door was open did not come on. I read that there was a recall back in 2020 for a similar issue in states that were subjected to warmer temperatures. I have not yet gotten the issue inspected but will be taking the car to a mechanic. NHTSA is welcom... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
1. The Explorer spontaneously went on fire while being driven damaging the entire front of the vehicle 2. The vehicle could have exploded affecting other vehicles as well as injured or killed the driver and passenger 3. No. Insurance Company immediately declared vehicle totaled. 4. No. Once again, vehicle was immediately declared a total loss and assigned salvage company to take possession 5. ... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jul 26, 2023
Driver side door not latching. Unable to keep door closed
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
Driver side sideview mirror caught on fire twice. Once 30 min after the car wash with the engine running. Second time immediately after the car wash upon using a power seat button and turning engine off. Mirror replaced after second incident. Wires insulation melted inside of the mirror.
Fire
Incident date: Aug 5, 2023
Passanger side pillar broke off while traveling about 60mph. Hit window and almost hit a motorcycle traveling in adjacent lane. Looking for a replacement online and found several forums requesting it to be reported for a possible recall.
VOLKSWAGEN
GOLF SPORTWAGEN
(2015) - STRUCTURE:BODY
Aug 9, 2023
Incident date: Aug 7, 2023
The mouldings on the side of the windshield have detached multiple times. There is no warning lights, and I have been told by the dealership and outside repair shops that it is a common problem. Detachment of these parts puts other motorists at risk of injury. July 2021 driver side flew off on the highway - parts on backorder from dealership so they never repaired it. May 2022 had both sides repla... Read more
Incident date: Jul 27, 2023
The front driver's side door latch failed. The latch would not secure to keep the door closed. The vehicle is at a dealership and could be inspected on request. My safety was put at risk because the latch could have failed while I was driving it. The dealership said they "didn't know why" my vehicle did not have a recall on the door latch as many 2016 Ford Fusions do have that recall. The vehic... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2022) - STRUCTURE:BODY
Aug 9, 2023
Incident date: Jun 30, 2023
PASSENGER SIDE WINSHIELD TRIM FLEW OFF GOING DOWN THE ROAD
Incident date: May 8, 2023
The 2013 Nissan Pathfinder that we own just had the subframe rust and collapse. The car only has 120,000 miles. This is not even close to the expectancy of how long a subframe should last.
Incident date: Aug 9, 2023
Opened door as usual made loud pop noise and now does not shut properly and flings open. Window will not go down and when I accidentally tried to put it down it made the dash flash and go blank for awhile. Ford said it is a known issue but my car went out of warranty in May and directed me to Ford. Ford said that they may help pay for some of the repairs. But will have to see and investigate. ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2023
My vehicle was recalled because corrosion can form on the rear frame due to accumulation of road de-icing agents mixed with mud and dirt. The fuel tank, which is mounted to the rear frame, can become unsecured as the rear frame deteriorates from corrosion. An unsecured fuel tank may result in a fuel leak and an increased risk of fire in the presence of an ignition source. Loud noises from the r... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2002
Both A-pillar pieces have blown off while driving. The first time this happened I had them replaced at a local windshield repair. And now they have both blown off again.
Incident date: Aug 8, 2023
Driver side door is making a clanking noise when opening and closing. I also had difficulty closing and keeping the door closed. The window will not open more than 6 inches. Door hinge or door stop on the interior of the door has some welding part that my mechanic says has broken within the door's frame. He identifies this as a manufacturing problem, not something my mechanic will attempt to fi... Read more