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 49,170 complaints - component: SUSPENSION
Incident date: Sep 8, 2023
2011 Jeep Compass with 62,000 miles on it the subframes rod about the wheel almost fell off the arm that holds the wheel fell off the rear frame and that could have caused the real big accident accident would have lost control of the vehicle and they told and dealership told me that the warranty expired 2 years ago it was a 10-year extension on it so they did not do it it's because they used cheap... Read more
Incident date: Aug 17, 2023
The right side started clicking out of no where when I turn the steering wheel
MERCEDES-BENZ
S 500
(2022) - SUSPENSION
Sep 8, 2023
Incident date: Jul 20, 2023
Out of no where the right side makes a clicking noise when I turn
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that while turning the steering wheel, there was an abnormal sound coming from the front end near the tires and wheel wells. There was a vibration in the front end of the vehicle while driving. The Autopilot feature became inoperable. The "Autopilot camera unavailable" message was displayed. While driving, the instrument cluster went dark. ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
We are trying to sell our 2007 Honda Element and have found there is extensive rust under the car, likely due to the NY road salt. We have older cars in the family / area without this problem. We found out Canada has issued a recall over this matter. I have lost confidence that our car is safe to drive, well before the expected end of serviceable life. Can you have Honda remedy this situation
Incident date: Sep 8, 2023
Driver's side rear coil spring was broken and both rear spring mounts were corroded. Vehicle did not pass Pennsylvania state inspection. I was not aware of these issue until the inspection - there were no obvious warning signs. Vehicle only has 30,236 miles on it. The vehicle has not been modified, does no towing, does not transport heavy loads, and does not traverse rough terrain or go off-road... Read more
HYUNDAI
SONATA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2019) - SUSPENSION
Sep 7, 2023
Incident date: Sep 6, 2023
Right rear control arm broke while driving down the road causing the car to lose control. Appears to only have very small contact points to the bushing.
Incident date: Jan 8, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Taurus. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed over a dip in the roadway, there was an abnormally loud sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. Upon inspection, the contact discovered that the rear passenger’s side wheel had shifted inward. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the rear passenger’s side suspension toe link... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2023
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Windstar. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, there was an abnormal sound coming from the vehicle. The contact pulled over on the side of the road and had the vehicle towed. The vehicle was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the rear driver’s side axle had fractured. The axle was replaced. On another occasion while driving 20 MPH over railroad tracks, ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Ford Ranger. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front tires were rubbing while turning. The contact also stated that the front windshield was delaminating. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with misaligned front tires and front windshield delamination. The contact was informed that the vehicle needed an alignment and the ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 27, 2023
I had driven to a shopping center for buy a new backpack for my daughter who was starting school. After shopping, as I reversed my car, I felt as if I had gone over a bump. I came out to see if there was a bump or something else in the parking lot but found nothing that my car could have gone over. I got back in the car and started my drive and immediately, started hearing loud and griding nois... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2023
Truck began to shake violently and did not stop shaking until I slowed to 20 mph. Safety risk of not being able to control the vehicle and having to slow on busy highway. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer. The components have not been inspected by manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. No warnings or other symptoms.
Incident date: Jun 21, 2023
Broken drivers side rear control arm due to corrosion.
Incident date: Aug 26, 2023
There is extreme vibration in this vehicle and it gets worse daily. I believe there is something terribly wrong with this Jeep and it's not due to poor alignment. I also experience very hard / stiff bounce back when on bumpy roads. Something that should not be so bad with this type of Jeep. I recently met a woman with a 2022 Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve who said she is experiencing the same exac... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
The rear suspension toe link fractured while driving. The vehicle became uncontrollable and we nearly had a crash. When I ordered a new suspension toe link, it was different from the original one. I became suspicious and went to investigate, because the local dealer had no information and kept saying that I have ordered a wrong part. I saw this recall from Ford: [XXX] When I search on your websit... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2019) - SUSPENSION
Sep 6, 2023
Incident date: Jul 4, 2023
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Tundra. The contact stated while driving 25 MPH, the front driver's side lower ball joint detached, causing the driver's side wheel to separate from the vehicle, and the vehicle lowered to the ground. The vehicle was towed to the residence, where it was diagnosed by an independent mechanic. The mechanic determined that the front driver's side lower ball joint needed ... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2017) - SUSPENSION
Sep 6, 2023
Incident date: Jun 15, 2023
SRS AIR BAG MLFUNCTION
FORD
F-150 HYBRID
(2022) - SUSPENSION
Sep 6, 2023
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
Frame rusted through with potential of cracking while driving. Both sides of frame
Incident date: Aug 3, 2023
The contact owns a 2009 Jeep Patriot. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the rear end of the vehicle was swaying from side to side. The contact was able to continue driving. The vehicle was taken to a tire repair shop for alignment and tire rotation services; however, the contact was informed that the services could not be performed because the rear crossmember was severely corroded and frac... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2023
Today 9/6/23 at 9:20pm I was driving 65mph on the highway and hit a medium sized pot hole. This caused my front end to violently shake back and forth over a prolonged period of time causing me to loose control of my vehicle. I was able to brake and the shaking stopped around 20mph while I was on the highway. This has happened to me once before almost causing an accident. Neither time was I spe... Read more
Incident date: Jun 7, 2023
The driver's side rear axle bolt sheared off over the course of normal driving. Ford is aware of this problem, advises to not use/drive the vehicle, yet no recall has been issued. Without a recall, getting this issue fixed will take weeks/months and Ford should pay for a rental vehicle since this is clearly a manufacturing defect.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2022
Vehicle developed a death wabble at 98,000 miles and is getting worse. hit a bump and started to wobble violently and had to hit brakes and pull to side of road and stop to get to quit wobbling. happened two more times on the way home. thought i was going to loose control of vehicle.
Incident date: Aug 8, 2023
I was driving by myself with my two small dogs on the interstate at approximately 70 mph when I ran over uneven pavement. Without any warning my truck began to shake so violently the dogs became terrified and hid under the seats and I briefly lost control of the vehicle. I was certain I had blown a tire. I decelerated quickly and looked for an opportunity to move out of traffic and pull over. I a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2023
I crunk my 2023 Ford Expedition up yesterday so the AC would run and it wouldn’t be so hot. I pressed the break, and the start button and simply crunk it up, I then got the keys out of the vehicle so I could unlock my house. When I walked back outside My truck had rolled backwards and hit my house. The vehicle was in park. Now I have to fix my house and my truck and all of this is something ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 2, 2023
It appears that my car started itself, went into gear and drove into my garage. At 9:00 PM om Thursday my dog was barking and growling, I suspected someone was outside. I went to investigate and saw my car running and lodged against my garage and garage door. It would stop and start again and try to move forward but it was stuck against the wall and door. The car moved approximately 6 feet ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 3, 2023
Excessive rust has caused a separation of the lower control arm from the rear sub frame. From Google searches this appears to be a common safety defect in the manufacturing of these vehicles. Control arm separation causes drive ability and stability issues that can lead to loss of control of said vehicle leading to accidents that can cause serious bodily injuries including death. Why hasn't Merce... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2023
Vehicle at 700 miles is having suspension issues causing bumping and shaking during the ride making it unsafe.
Incident date: Aug 30, 2023
Rear toe link and bushing issues. I have the same car as my sister. She has a 2016 with the same rear toe link as my 2019 and her car is covered under the recall and mine isn't.
Incident date: Aug 31, 2023
Mr. And Mrs. [XXX] / [XXX] [XXX] 90717 [XXX] Not been inspected since left Carnac in aTorrance,Ca Hollow doors , WiFi hacking, Bluetooth to wide spread caused unwanted criminals to follow my gps and satellite INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2019) - SUSPENSION
Sep 2, 2023
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
This is in addition to safety report #11540112. While further inspecting the trailer, the right rear shackle bolt was also found to be broken in half. The spring was still on, but it was probably working its way out, which would have cause the same failure as the left side, in the original report.
Incident date: Apr 27, 2023
ENGINE CRADLE RUSTED OUT! Safety risk. Had replaced. NEVER TOLD BY CHRYSLER THAT IT WOULD RUST OUT. NOW THE STEERING WHEEL WON’T MOVE! Power steering fluid full. CANNOT DRIVE IT. I’M A 72YO WOMAN WITH CANCER, NO FAMILY, CANNOT AFFORD EXPENSIVE REPAIRS. I NEED MY CAR REPAIRED.
Incident date: Aug 21, 2023
Pulled out of a side street Taylor onto a main highway 39 beach Blvd and car jolted and didn’t have much go. Seemed sluggish. Transmission mount bolt had snapped off and I could have been in a major accident because I had oncoming traffic coming at me when I merged into the street and lost power because of the incident.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
Toyota suspension is too weak ,if I loading extra weight to 6960lb ,rear suspension will low 1 and 1/2 inch to 36 and half inch then remove 800lb out from bed ,the rear bed will go back 38 inch .I didn’t max the payload weight yet
Incident date: Sep 2, 2023
When driving (Once going downhill 6% grade, several times driving level on the freeway and once on a 45 MPH road with ruts), the front end began shaking violently to the point I was losing control of the vehicle until I slowed down. The vehicle would be available for inspection upon request. Safety was impacted by the loss of control resulting from the vehicle violently shaking. I took the truc... Read more
Incident date: Sep 29, 2021
The vehicle had a recalled for the rear coil springs, took it in for inspection and they gave me a paper at the dealership saying it was placed correctly. After we took it for the inspection my family and I took a trip 6 hours away from home, 15 minutes to getting to our destination the Right Rear Spring detached from the vehicle while driving 45 mph. When the incident happened we all screamed bec... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2023
The contact owns a 2010 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while attempting to service the vehicle, he discovered corrosion throughout the entire suspension. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 132,000.
Incident date: Jun 30, 2023
Premature internal damage to the front half shafts causes the front end to shudder during acceleration between 0-50 mph. This shuddering is distracting and can be felt through the steering column creating a safety risk to the driver and others in the vehicle. I have had Telsa service "repair" this issue under warranty 3 times. AUG 31, 2021 went into Service Center for the Service Bulletin to ... Read more
FORD
TRANSIT CONNECT
(2016) - SUSPENSION
Sep 1, 2023
Incident date: Aug 22, 2023
Rackin pinion, does not through engine light when issues arise, jerking, Lumbar in drivers set stop working, 120v outlet came out, water in back lumanis lamps, radio and all dash components do things on its own.
Incident date: Aug 30, 2023
Truck started to wobble/shake aggressively. Did some research and read about this situation called the “death wobble”. This is the second time it’s happened
Incident date: Aug 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the rear lateral arms failed to adjust as needed. The contact stated that over time the failure caused the tires wear abnormally. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer but was not yet diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approxi... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
When turning slowly or going over bumps at a lower speed, a thud or pop can be heard from the rear, which could be the shocks or struts in the rear. On a luxury vehicle, with this low of miles, these shouldn't need replacement so quickly. No warning lights or messages.
Incident date: Jun 20, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Impala. The contact stated while turning left, the vehicle skidded before completing the turn. The contact also stated that there was a hole in the muffler. Additionally, the sway bar was fractured on the driver’s side. The bushing, actuator brake, and rotors were inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mecha... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2023
This car is a lemon and the entire car should be a recall. Shortly after having it I had to replace the tires , brakes , suspension. Then just a couple months ago I had a sediment in the coolant that is very rare and the only time the mechanic experienced that was on recall cars where (not sure if I am saying this correctly) dust is left when they cast the engine in production. And it takes yea... Read more
Incident date: Aug 29, 2023
I have had to replace my tires with less than 5K on them because the leaf spring on the right rear of my RV trailer has flattened out and caused my tires to rub the underside of the camper causing smoke. This appears to be a common problem with my RV trailer (2019 Forest River Surveyor), and the company has told me this is a critical component and will not give me any information about part replac... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
E350
(2016) - SUSPENSION
Aug 31, 2023
Incident date: Aug 15, 2023
Subframe is completely rotted. Taken to several mechanics who were unable to diagnose handling problems and severe tire wear. After research this is a common problem, we were never notified this could be an extremely dangerous and hidden issue. Car is unsafe to operate without expensive repairs. Unacceptable.
Incident date: Aug 30, 2023
This is the third lower control arm to fail in this vehicle. Left front, left rear and now front right. All failures are the same, cracked castings at the ball joint or bushing. This vehicle has had to be towed in all three times as the wheel is no longer property connected to the frame and is undrivable without vehicle damage. Seriously, NHTSA needs to stop worrying about FSD and go investigate... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
SPRINTER 2500
(2017) - SUSPENSION
Aug 31, 2023
Incident date: Jun 23, 2023
*What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Replace both front lower ball joints with proper front alignment as advised in TSB: Replace both of the front lower ball joints with updated service parts made to address this specific symptom. If the ball joints were previously replaced, then replace both front knuckle assemblies. *How was your sa... Read more
Incident date: Oct 21, 2021
Experiencing what’s known as the “death wobble.”
Incident date: Aug 27, 2023
1. Component that failed: The leaf springs on the rear axle broke in half. This RV has two rear axles. The leaf springs that broke were both on the rear axle. 2. How was your safety put at risk?: If the springs broke while at highway speeds, control of the Travel Trailer could have been lost. 3. Has the problem been confirmed by a dealer or independent service center?: Yes. Both broken le... Read more