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: Mar 24, 2022
Dear staff; I purchased my 2021 Ford F-250 new July 25th, 2021. I noticed my undercarriage was covered in great portions of rust. The front driveshaft to the outer ends and the rear housing, including the rear driveshaft u-joint has a significant amount of rust. What’s surprising is I have only 5400 miles and the truck appears to look 20 years old. I have a neighbor who is a GM of another c... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2013) - SUSPENSION
Mar 24, 2022
Incident date: Mar 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated on the instrument panel. Upon taking the vehicle to the dealer, they discovered corrosion underneath the rear subframe. The corrosion caused 2-inch sized holes to be formed on the passenger’s side of the rear subframe. The dealer also discovered corrosion on the wire of one of the seats ... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2012) - SUSPENSION
Mar 24, 2022
Incident date: Mar 24, 2022
From the mechanics notes: Four-wheel alignment could not be completed. Attempts to align the rear axle were unsuccessful due to flexing/movement in the rear suspension. A brief road test revealed occasional suspension “clunking” coming from the rear of the vehicle. Close examination of every suspension component mount revealed heavy cracking on the passenger side lower drag link subframe moun... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2022
Rt passenger side wheel clunks when turning, loud noise when moving took to dealer they found nothing wrong. I returned to dealer again a couple weeks later to confirm my a arm needs repairs, safety issues airbag’s light remaining lit told repairs not available for year and make iwas told to deal with it by dealer even if it was a safety issue, driving car doesn’t matter what speed my back end... Read more
Incident date: Mar 22, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Flex. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH the steering wheel felt like it slipped. There were also unknown noises from the steering wheel when turned left. The brake warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and diagnosed with NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V072000 (Suspension). The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufact... Read more
Incident date: Mar 12, 2022
The entire frame is rusted. It's been welded back together on 2 different occasions. The last time it happened I was pulling out of driveway and the vehicle cannot be steered at all. I live in east TN and should not have a rusted frame. This is not an isolated problem. This is a problem with the 4runners and should be recalled. There are literally 1,000's of 4runners with Rusty frames. I don't und... Read more
Incident date: Jun 29, 2021
Major rust problems that effect the safety of driving the vehicle. Vehicle will not pass PA State Inspection. Hood latch rusted. possibility of hood opening. Rust holes in rocker panels. FRAME cross supports. No enough space to explain. Please see attached PDF.
CHEVROLET
TRAILBLAZER
(2006) - SUSPENSION
Mar 23, 2022
Incident date: Mar 17, 2022
Brakes failed for no apparent reason around 8:00 am that morning. My friend and I was driving to my home in his 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer after many stops that morning. We was on the interstate doing 65 MPH. I noticed the traffic ahead approaching and I said "cars" indicating to my friend to slow down. He said "I have no brakes!" We narrowly missed the first cars and while readjusting we came in... Read more
Crash
5 injured
Incident date: Mar 21, 2022
I pulled out of my bank's parking lot driveway making a right turn and the lower left ball joint failed and broke off causing the left front wheel assembly to collapse. The truck slid to a stop and blocked both the driveway and roadway. Police arrived shortly afterwards and made a report. Truck was not able to move on it's own and had to be towed to a repair shop. Broken ball joint inspected and... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2022
Driving the truck, 2019 F350 with 9935 miles, at over 60 MPH on a highway and striking two or more small bumps, like on a bridge entry. The whole steering wheel shakes violently and I cannot hold it. The front end of the vehicle shakes as well and feels like it is coming apart. I have to slow down to 20 MPH or less to get the shaking to stop. I am an ASE mechanic and I have never seen something l... Read more
Incident date: Jan 12, 2022
Vehicle randomly throws Stabilitrak, Traction control and ABS codes. Engine derates to limp mode. Transmission goes to full line pressure shifts. A cycle of the ignition system will reset the system a majority of the time. There is no "recall" but the general consensus in the mechanical world is two things cause this issue. Throttle body is bad and/or the steering position sensor fails cau... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2022
I started having noise problems with my car and also had inspection due so I brought it into a mechanic and he was horrified to see that my front cross member was so rusted that my sway bar came out and he said lucky my wheels didn’t come off and that a car accident would be horrible as it is that rusted , and he also stayed the back cross member is the same . This is a huge safety concern speci... Read more
Incident date: Mar 10, 2022
My blind spot warning light and signal doesnt work all the time. for example, if a pass a car, or a car passes me at a speed of more than 5 miles per hour, there is no notification from the blind spot warning light in the mirror, or an audalble signale either. i have taken the car to the GMC dealership 3 times and i was told that is normal, and nothing is wrong. I own other GMC models and i hav... Read more
Incident date: Feb 24, 2022
Air suspension system fails intermittently. If it fails while driving, the vehicle has virtually no suspension and is unsafe to handle. It has failed at highway speeds, and rapidly deflated. When hitting bumps or anything in the road that is normally easily traversed, the vehicle will bounce and or skid, sometimes uncontrollably. The vehicle has been at the dealer multiple times for this issu... Read more
Incident date: Jan 22, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V435000 (Suspension) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2022
The vehicle was repaired under recall 20V-072. This was for the rear suspension toe link. The replacement rear suspension toe link on the right side has cracked. This was discovered when the right rear wheel was removed for tire replacement. I have a photo of the failed toe link part.
Incident date: Jan 15, 2021
The contact owns a 2010 Honda Accord. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 25 MPH, the front driver’s side wheel detached from the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the nuts and bolts were not tightened to specs on the vehicle. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred 8-months later on the front passenger’s si... Read more
Incident date: Dec 18, 2021
Premature sub-frame corrosion front and rear due to road salt and poor part finishing affecting most underbody components. All exposed stamped structural sub-frame components rusting at weld locations. Critical parts with severe rust and imminent failure: Lower Rear Control Arms (Left & Right), Rear Stabilizer Links (Left & Right). Potentially hazardous corrosion on Front Lower Control Arms. Rear ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 17, 2022
RECEIVED LETTER FROM AUDI REGARDING NHTSA:22V034. LETTER INDICATED THERE WAS A DEFECT WITH THE REAR AXLE SUSPENSION ALIGNMENT WHICH COULD LEAD TO PREMATURE AND EXCESSIVE TIRE WEAR AND, POTENTIAL TIRE FAILURE. AFTER INSPECTION, DEALER (FLETCHER JONE AUDI, COSTA MESA, CA) SAID THERE WERE NO ISSUES DESPITE PRESENCE OF EXCESSIVE TIRE WEAR. TIRES ONLY HAD 18,000 MILES ON THEM AND HAD BEEN ROTATED AT 1... Read more
Incident date: Mar 22, 2022
The under body frame and oil container rotted and the frame came apart. Problem was noticed with oil change. I noticed that all of these models years were recalled except 2005 ... why not? They were virtually the same car. I want a repair or a rebate for this manufacturer problem since I have less then 100000 miles on this 15 year old car.
Incident date: Mar 18, 2022
The Sway bar/Control Arm broke up near the engine without cause. It appears metal fatigue or manufacture defect caused same. It's failure led to CV Joint and other damage. This was discovered during a changing of tires. I don't know how long it had been broken as no obvious signs were readily apparent and my wife said it drove normal. There was no accident or other impact that would have cause... Read more
Incident date: Feb 28, 2022
When traveling at about 55 mph I hit a rough patch in the road on Missouri Hwy 30. The truck started shaking, shimming, bouncing, and wobbling severely, and kept on doing so for an extended period of time and distance traveled. I'm guessing another 100 yards or so. I was able to keep control, but had to slow down and pull over to get it stopped and to get my self calmed down too. It has not happ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2022
DEATH WOBBLE. I experienced the death wobble for the first time a few days ago on a road that I drive twice a day. This road has bumps in the road when you are heading west, but I was heading east and have never experienced any kind of steering issue when traveling that direction. The truck started shaking as the front springs and shock absorbers were fighting against each other. The steering whee... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2022
We had previously experienced severe shaking when driving at freeway speeds. We took the pickup to a dealership and the replaced the drag link at no cost and we paid to have tie rod ends replaced which they said would fix the issue. We took our first road trip in the vehicle this weekend and the problem is rven more frequent and severe. We almost had 3 accidents because the truck is very diffic... Read more
Incident date: Nov 7, 2021
Vehicles air suspension freezes in colder weather causing the suspension to lock up. Just purchased this vehicle in August (warm weather) first time it happen was the first below 35° weather and almost bounced us off the road on the highway. Many complaints about this on line for 4th generation 1500's. We talked to dodge and they gaslighted the issue and told me is a recall comes up they will re... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle drove over a bump in the roadway and experienced the death wobble. After slowing down, the shaking stopped and the vehicle drove as designed. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the fail... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2011) - SUSPENSION
Mar 21, 2022
Incident date: Mar 17, 2022
While traveling on the interstate @ 60 MPH, I loud knock was heard in the right rear. When brakes were applied, the vehicle pulled to the left, severely. Vehicle was taken to a mechanic on this date after making an appointment. Photos included show the issue as to why this occurred. The 'cradle' of the rear suspension on both, the left and right sides were completely rusted through. The vehicle is... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2022
My 4 runner only has 147,000 miles and is a great running vehicle but my frame is rotted badly. I have large holes throughout, the front crossmember under radiator with tow hooks has completely rusted off, and now I found where my rear lower drag link bolts to frame is about to come off. I have had to repair rusty brake lines multiple times. My rear axle carrier just sheds large flakes of rust. I ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2022
The component that failed was the front driver's side spring, and the piece that broke off is available for inspection upon request. The part failed while trying to leave my driveway to go to work on the morning of Fri, 3/18/22. Had the part failed while driving on the highway, I could have had an accident and worse. The vehicle was serviced by an independent service station, and verified that ... Read more
OLDSMOBILE
BRAVADA
(2002) - SUSPENSION
Mar 21, 2022
Incident date: Mar 18, 2022
Front Control arm broke at the frame. There is a recall for this control arm issue for a 2002 Bravada but, my vin was not included. 01V126000 is the NHTSA. The control arms fractured causing separation from the frame. Bravada is at service shop and they have confirmed the frame separation from control arm. This is very dangerous and has caused it to be unsafe and deadly.
MERCEDES-BENZ
CLA 250
(2021) - SUSPENSION
Mar 20, 2022
Incident date: Feb 14, 2022
On Monday 02/14/2022, after 2-3 minutes driving towards work, at about 25-30mph speed, the front right ball joint broke on the vehicle putting me in danger of losing my life. Due to this ball joint failure, the right front wheel disassembled from the vehicle and it slid-crashed on the car parked on the right side of the street. If it would happen on the highway I would kill myself and put others... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 21, 2016
Since purchasing the car the power steering has been bad. The dealership where I purchased the car and Mercedes refused to fix the issue. There is electrical issues and the gas tank gauge and gas tank have been replaced 3 times. Please do not purchase a Smart Car thecmakers do not stand behind their product. I took it to Mercedes Hampton VA Auto Mall and they are so rude. I have almost died 4 time... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 23, 2022
Vehicle is visibly lower or has a lean on the rear driver side bed. Was brought to ford and measured to be lower on right rear side by .5”inch from the left, fuel tank was at less than a 1/4 tank.
Incident date: Mar 12, 2022
I took my car to my repair man he was trying to see why my tires had the steel treads showing and the car shaking. Once up on the lift he found the subframe was rusted out. He ordered a new frame which took all my savings. He was surprised I made it off the expressway without an accident.
Incident date: Aug 20, 2020
At about 86,000 miles I began getting a grinding noise from the left front side the wheel seems to lock up associated with a grabbing that I can feel when turning the steering wheel to the left. When this happens the Service Stability Trac and Service Trac Control indicators sometime appear but not always. I took my car to a GM Dealer locally a diagnostic performed said it was wheel hub assembly (... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2022
Received the vehicle less than a week ago, rear right damper/shocks need replacement.
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The frame is rusted thru in many places that hold the rearend in the frame and along the side rails of this 4 Runner Toyota 2000, the suspionsion arm rusted and broke free from the frame.
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
FXD
(2007) - SUSPENSION
Mar 19, 2022
Incident date: Aug 12, 2020
I was riding on the highway at 60 mph and all of a sudden the back suspension felt very hard. When I stopped I found both rear shock mounting bolts had sheared off causing my frame to collapse onto the tire. The left shock completely separated from the frame at the top rotating down. The right shock stay somewhat in position because the sheared bolt jammed into the seat. The rear fender liter... Read more
Incident date: Mar 14, 2022
2004 Toyota 4Runner, original owner with roughly 210K miles. We took the vehicle to the mechanic concerning a sway bar issue. He informed us that the frame of the vehicle was nearly rusted into and that it's serious safety issue to continue to drive it. It is my understanding the Toyota recalled several other models with this same issue but did not include the 4Runner in this recall.
Incident date: Mar 18, 2022
After coming to a park after driving, a loud bang noise was heard from the rear of the vehicle. It was not an impact with another vehicle. When I got home I took off the rear right wheel and found that the lower part of the coil spring had sheared and broken. It looks like some corrosion was inside the metal. I called my Audi dealer service and he had not heard of anything like that happening.
Incident date: Mar 5, 2022
I have a 2002 lincoln LS v8 the passenger ball joint came loose and broke had it fixed driver side has now came loose and rattling
Incident date: Mar 16, 2022
Truck randomly has the notorious death wobble when going over bumps. It shakes violently and i have to slow down or stop. Tried to have it diagnosed by mechanic several times with no outcome, this is when I researched and found out a lot of ford trucks have this issue. Is it a severe safety issue and with the outrageous price of trucks, I can not buy a new one. Ford should have recalled this a lon... Read more
Incident date: Mar 3, 2022
While driving approx 50 mph, steering wheel began shaking violently. This continued until I came to a complete stop. Approx two weeks later vehicle did it a second time. Also noticed that when turning vehicle into my garage at low speed steering had a popping sound when turned about 3/4 of turn.
Incident date: Feb 23, 2022
On the 24th February, 2022, I was driving my 2014 Ford Taurus taxi cab on the highway to go pick up a client. I saw a dash light indicating slippery road and suddenly, I could not control the steering of the car. All attempts to control the steering proved futile, and the car kept swerving on both sides, till it hit the divider between the roads. This is the second time that this incident is happe... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Mar 17, 2022
The contact owns a 2020 Forest River RV built on a 2020 Ford F53 chassis. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V202000 (Suspension, Power Train) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact was unsure wheth... Read more
MITSUBISHI
LANCER
(2006) - SUSPENSION
Mar 17, 2022
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
When doing routine repair on the control arms, it was noted that there is a ginormous rust hole in the subframe where the control arm connects to aforementioned subframe
Incident date: Mar 15, 2022
On 03/15/2022 if just had my first experience with the "Ford Death Wobble" at 70mph on interstate 64 in Virginia, I was able to control this with out damage to other cars on the interstate and was able to pull the truck onto the shoulder and stop. After researching last night online I was able to find this has been an on going problem for Ford. I purchased this vehicle new in November 2019 and acc... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
Death wobble. Vehicle is very dangerous to drive at speeds above 60 MPH on highway specially when going over a uneven area. I have taken my vehicle to a Ford dealership in the past and it was ok for a few months and now it is worst.
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2012) - SUSPENSION
Mar 16, 2022
Incident date: Mar 15, 2022
I took my vehicle in for a state inspection and was informed the rear subframe was rusted/rotting and on the verge of detaching. Had this happened while driving, the results could have been catastrophic. The vehicle cannot be driven until this $4K dollar repair is completed. Upon speaking with the mechanic, this is a well known issue within Mercedes. Had I not asked for an alignment, this woul... Read more
Incident date: Dec 28, 2021
The computer isn't allowing me to check off the other issues. The brakes were the other thing that couldn't be checked off. The vehicle went off the road and the brakes locked and now the vehicle is totaled. Had I been notified about these recalls this would not have happened.
Crash
1 injured