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
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2022) - SUSPENSION
Jun 4, 2023
Incident date: Jun 4, 2023
Failure of rear subframe causes car to lose control. Only found out about the problem after I received a Mercedes extended Warranty in mail March 2023, roughly 6 months after OEM Undercarriage failed and forced me to purchase another Undercarriage in cash/no insurance involved because part back ordered for many months. Car thus inoperable for roughly 4 months. At moment of the OEM failure, total ... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2023
When driving over 50mph or above at highway speeds. When vehicle hits uneven or rough roadway. Violent shaking happens immediately Jeep websites call it the Death Wobble where, everything shakes really bad and is very stressful and scary. When the vehicle slows down to under 30mph the violent shaking stops. We brought the vehicle to the Cocoa Fl, Boniface Hiers Chrysler and Jeep dealership to hav... Read more
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
I was driving at 55 miles per hr and heard a snap.. pulled over and noticed that rear bushing were hanging on each side. 2 bolts that hold the bushings were broken on rear front
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
5/31/23, while driving uphill, car shuttered as I was slowing down at stop sign and displayed "Service Stabilitrak" & "Engine power reduced" which caused the car engine power to drop drastically. I was barely able to make it home safely with my children. On 6/1/23 tried to crank it, first time it wouldn't turn over, second time it started up. Check engine lights and messages still on, radio scree... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2023
Repeated alert to service electronic braking system. Had code read it said right front wheel erratic response from wheel speed sensor. Had sensor changed no change to error code, now the traction control light and passenger seat airbag light has come on. This is a 2017 ram tradesmen with approximately 70k mileage
Incident date: Nov 19, 2021
front and rearsubframe extremely rusted, making it dangerous to drive. fuse box under front hood in front of driver side rusting out wiring. Not main fuse box but the one with relays.
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
Car has 60,000 miles and the lower front bushings are cracked! They should not be cracked with such low miles for a 2016 car. Now Nissan is telling me to replace the bushing and the lower front control arms will be $2,100. Thats not right, when Nissan knows they have been having issues with the lower control arms and bushings.
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2021) - SUSPENSION
Jun 2, 2023
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Inconsistent Death wobble when traveling at speeds 50+mph. The vehicle will begin to shake violently. I will have to come to stop to resolve issue. A licensed mechanic has diagnosed this issue and replaced most of the front end suspension parts. The inconsistent death wobble continues and the vehicle shakes violently and is difficult to maintain control. This is a huge safety issue.
Incident date: May 26, 2023
Passenger side rear spring broke near the base on a 2018 Q7 with 66k miles. From looking online, this is a common problem with this model/year. VWofA issued a recall for rear springs for the same year of the VW Atlas, a car that shares the same platform with the Q7, so they know there's a problem. Looking online, many people are having this issue, and it costs, $2400 to replace the springs.
FORD
ESCAPE HYBRID
(2023) - SUSPENSION
Jun 2, 2023
Incident date: May 26, 2023
The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Tucson. The contact stated that a section of the rear sub frame was extremely corroded. The contact believed that a welding failure might have caused the severe corrosion on the subframe. The contact had taken the vehicle to an independent mechanic where he was informed that he had approximately a year before the suspension would fail and the render the vehicle undr... Read more
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
When driving over 50 mph, or while driving on a bumpy surface, the entire truck aggressively shakes until you either slow extremely down or stop. This has occurred appropriately 8-10 times.
Incident date: May 28, 2023
Rear suspension coil spring was broken, with only 62,000 miles. This sounds similar to the problem with this car's cousin, the 2018-19 VW Tiguan, which had a recall. (https://www.consumerreports.org/car-recalls-defects/volkswagen-recalls-cars-suvs-springs-could-break/)
CONTINENTAL
CONTINENTAL
(9999) - SUSPENSION
Jun 1, 2023
Incident date: May 31, 2023
Was told by service center that car was not safe to drive
Incident date: Aug 18, 2021
Rear control arm mounts have rusted out and are unrepairable. This should not happen to a 10 year old vehicle and seems to be a common issue with this chassis style and numerous models.
Incident date: Apr 10, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Jeep Gladiator. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle drove over a pothole and the steering wheel started to shake violently and vehicle swayed from side to side before regaining control. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the front dampers. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure r... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2022
Vehicle is 12 years old with 105,000 miles and frame has multiple cracks/ holes. I was told by the dealer that the truck is basically junk.
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2011) - SUSPENSION
Jun 1, 2023
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
Under 50,000 miles all 4 wheel bearings needed to be replaced. Under 50,000 miles all 4 struts needed to be replaced. The door key would not work , the dealer had to fix the mechanism. The passenger window stops working suddenly, the dealer has to reset it all the time. The car braked in the middle of highway two time, I was lucky that no one hit me in the back. Under 65,000 miles control arm brok... Read more
Incident date: Feb 3, 2021
Frame of truck is completely rusted out, truck has only 88,000 miles. The body of the truck is in perfect condition with no rust but the frame is shot! This will be over 4,500 dollars to repair, this seems to be a common issue in the Chevy and GMC trucks. I did see on a web site GM had issues on application of a wax sealer on the frames that was thought to be discoverd in 2020. I contacted Chevy a... Read more
Incident date: May 15, 2023
My car has started making squeaky noise in the front of the vehicle. Upon getting it inspected I was told the suspension links will have to be replaced. I told the rep at Tesla that 2018 model 3 Tesla is under recall for suspension. Links as this problem is a common found problem amount this model of the Tesla. And therefore it’s under recall. But they refused and said my car is not flagged for... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The car for the longest time makes a screech at first start and sometimes at other times. Also the steering is off center and wheel turns left and right when brakes applied and when going over bumps. I had steering and shocks and struts replaced and adjusted as well as alignments done problems still there. I had those parts replaced due to originally having problems with handling. I took car b... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
Both front springs broke at 30k miles.
FORD
F-150 HYBRID
(2021) - SUSPENSION
Jun 1, 2023
Incident date: May 14, 2023
Vehicle shakes violently on Highway at about 65mph. Has happened multiple times.
Incident date: Apr 10, 2023
Not sure what causes this failure in the Kicks but if there is any wind at all when driving over 45 mph and/or traveling on a Highway, Interstate the steering becomes super sloppy and the car is difficult to control and maintain lanes in moderate wind conditions. You have to grip the steering wheel hard and fight to maintain your lane in the wind or pull off until the wind is under 10 mph. It is a... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2023
I HAD JUST RETURNED TO MY WORK. CUSTOMER CAME IN SAID MY TRUCK MADE A NOISE AND RIGHT SIDE DROPPED. AFTER TOWING TO DEALER THEY SAID SPRING FAILED. IF I HAD BEEN DRIVING O WHAT AN ACCIDENT. OTHERS HAVE REPORTED THIS ONLINE BUT I BELEIVE A RECALL SHOULD BE LOOKED AT. WHAT IF MY OTHER SPRINGS FAIL WHILE DRIVING? WHAT IF I DIDNT HAVE EXTENDED WARRANTY THIS IS A SERIOUS CONCERN PS I DRIVE 2 MILES TO... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2023
My 2021 Jeep Wrangler shakes uncontrollably if I hit any small bump at higher speed. It’s vibrates the entire vehicle making it impossible to steer or control. It only stops when I come to a complete stop. This is a safety issue and dangerous to drive. The vehicle has been inspected by a service department to replace steering damper, but have read this only temporary fixes the issue. There needs... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2023
Front end wobbles, shakes and shimmies at speeds over 50mph.
Incident date: May 31, 2023
Rear control arm weld broke drivers side. 18 year old lost control on interstate at 70 miles per hour. Was spinning around and avoiding hitting a steal fence, steal beam and wall. I have pictures of the broken weld. If no recall yet their needs to be before it kills someone!! [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Incident date: May 31, 2023
Left rear lower control arm frame rusted. Lower control arm detached from the vehicle. Appears to be a recall in Canada on element and CRV but only CRV in USA.
Incident date: Aug 3, 2021
Unknown. But upon googling I’ve discovered a recall for ball joint separating from steering column due to bolt not tightened properly which explains the noise I’ve heard since I got It which has now progressed to popping even up exiting the vehicle and shutting the door. Yet, “0 unrepaired recalls” according to you.
Incident date: May 29, 2023
My 2006 Toyota has holes rusted through the frame in more than one location
Incident date: Mar 20, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-59. The contact stated that upon inspecting the vehicle, he noticed that the upper bolt had detached from the chassis and bent the bracket. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed, and the bracket and missing bolts were replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact then received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V731000 (Suspe... Read more
Incident date: May 3, 2023
The part that failed is the power steering rack Yes it is available for inspection The part failed while I were driving Yes I report it to the dealer an were told they had a recall on this part but were expired in 2021 on the 2017 camaro I took my car to the dealer they wanted to charge me 2600 hundred to change the part I have 37890 miles on this camaro No one drives this car but me This i... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2023
Driving about 60MPH hit a small bump on the Freeway and the death Wobble happened. Almost lost control of the truck and trailer. slowed down and it stopped, checked for a blow out and nothing, continued down the freeway again small bump and the wobble started again.
Incident date: May 30, 2023
The front suspension has failed at 124,947 miles and this is unheard of in a 6 year old car. There have been issues with this model S 2016 which Tesla is unwilling to recall and replace. The rear suspension had to be redone in 2021 with less than 100,000 miles
Incident date: May 30, 2023
Rear cross member corrosion making the vehicle unstable. not sure how can this happen on the vehicle that’s only 10 years old.
Incident date: Feb 13, 2022
The car's rear subframe has rusted to the point where the suspension no longer correctly mounts to the frame causing an unstable ride and handling issues. Yes, the car can be inspected. This is a safety issue because other parts of the suspension system or brake system could become loose or break off or otherwise be negatively affected by this corrosion. It could also cause me to be unable to cont... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2016) - SUSPENSION
May 30, 2023
Incident date: May 30, 2023
I have several recalls on my vehicle and the dealership only scrub and they did not replace the crossmember and other parts. I need help to see if this is OK
ALFA ROMEO
GIULIA
(2020) - SUSPENSION
May 29, 2023
Incident date: May 29, 2023
On [XXX], at just 18,624 miles, on my 2022 Mercedes-Benz GLE450 4MATIC, the right rear tire was noted to be essentially bald on most of the tread. All other tires had much much more tread life still remaining and they all appeared to wearing evenly. A 4-wheel alignment was performed by the Mercedes-Benz dealer (M-B of Collierville, Tennessee) which found that the right rear wheel camber was out ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2023
The front right passenger strut knuckle axel suspension was separated. We currently have the car at Tesla's service center. Our safety was put at risk when the tire locked up and we had no control of the steering. Driving at a higher speed could have resulted in a major traffic accident, or a fatality. The car is currently being inspected by the manufacturer (Tesla). There was a clicking/kno... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
While driving down the interstate hi-way, I heard a pop and my truck started to swerve into the adjoining lane. I turned the steering wheel in the opposite direction and the truck started making a rubbing sound and very hard to steer. I finally got it to the side of the hi-way and seen my passenger side front wheel leaning in. The upper balljoint/control arm broke. Luckily no-one was in the l... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2023
My truck has what is known as the death wobble. I am having it repaired again because if I hit a bump while I'm driving down the road, it'll jerk over into other people's lanes almost hitting other cars. It's horrible this is the second or third time I've had to repair this and is a well-known issue between 2007 and 2019. Can something please be done about this? This is starting to get a little ri... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2023
Driving at 60 mph on I-35 North Highway in Kansas City. Hit a bridge seam and the front end began to shake violently. I had to slow down to get the vibration to stop. I definitely experienced the Jeep death wobble in the front suspension.
Incident date: May 26, 2023
I have a 2018 Malibu with a very long list of major issues. The Engine loses power constantly along with a “Engine Reduced Power” warning and check engine light. I get a constant “shift to park” message even after placed in park. All the steering wheel buttons/controls do not work. With the exception of the cruise control. Car almost red lines after the power message displays when you try ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 4, 2023
Break line and break system has been giving issues and failure has occur. To the point of almost causing an accident. Steering issues several times. Pick-up truck suspension since newer truck has had big issues. Please remediate.
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2001) - SUSPENSION
May 27, 2023
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Chevy Blazer has low milage. However, it still has several electrical issues radio at engine start goes to loudest point and car seats move backwards at awkward times which can cause an accident. Suspension very off guard, truck drifts to the sides while driving and makes an awkward sound when turning steering wheel. The complete break / steering system is off and may cause an accident if not prop... Read more
Incident date: Mar 27, 2023
My ball joints on both sides were completely gone, my struts have given out repaired all at the same time, because of those things going out it completely ruined my tires to where they squeak down the road. Both differentials are leaking and my transmission shutters, I also had to replace my water pump that was leaking cooling everywhere
Incident date: May 25, 2023
In Florida, I purchased my 2004 Isuzu Rodeo March 2005 at 134 miles. I've always had issues, but didn't know how to articulate the issues. My truck sits/leans to the right and low in the back. It is uneven as if the shocks or struts are off. Driving one night, the truck slams down/drops low out of no where while driving. When I am driving and need to brake, I have to brake then brake again. I da... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Vehicle body damage. Vehicle car parts damage.
Crash
Incident date: May 25, 2023
Sub frame rusted so bad the sway bar detached from the sub frame nearly causing an accident and breaking the sway bar link in half.
Incident date: May 26, 2023
Front suspension lateral link fell off from subframe while driving. No warning was given. Unable steer vehicle.