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: Feb 8, 2022
Brakes inspected, back frame rusting out severe holes, mechanic stated you need another vehicle within a year
Incident date: Jan 19, 2022
We purchased our 2010 Nissan Armada in April of 2020. We recently took it in for an alignment and was told by the tech that the rear suspension is frozen. He said this is costly to get fixed and that he has done one but would not do another. He suggested we search for recalls as this is not the first one he has seen.
Incident date: Feb 11, 2022
If I incur a bump while traveling 60 mph, the front end will violently shake and rattle. The only way to stop this condition is to come to a stop. The vehicle feels totally out of control when this occurs. It is also very dangerous coming to a stop on a highway or interstate.
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS CROSS SPORT
(2020) - SUSPENSION
Feb 11, 2022
Incident date: Dec 1, 2021
2020 Atlas Cross Sport SE 4 MOTION. At 15,000, vehicle exhibited unusual and dangerous transmission behavior that compromises the safety and longevity of the vehicle. The vehicle demonstrated severe acceleration lag from stop, revving at high RPM's before moving, harsh grinding gear shifts, "start/stop errors", and bucking at lower gears. Car was taken to service center for the first time and dia... Read more
Incident date: Feb 11, 2022
The 2003 Subaru Forester Sub Frame is rusted. I live in Illinois.
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
My vehicle is suffering form the defect described in this recall notice - https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10169208-9999.pdf However, my vin doesn't show as being recalled in the NHTSA lookup tool. This week the same experience was observed while driving over 50mph and hitting normal bumps in the road. A wild vibration/oscillation takes over the vehicle and presents a safety concern fo... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH, the steering wheel suddenly jerked to the left causing the vehicle to fishtail and cross the median line. After regaining control of the steering, the driver was able to safely park on the side of the road. While inspecting the vehicle, it was discovered that the rear driver’s side wheel was angled out... Read more
Incident date: Feb 11, 2019
I have changed tires 2 times but I did not know that my sequoia has a recalled from the suspension and it seems to me that all the suspension is out eventhough that I replaced the struts upper and lower balljoint side arm rod tide even the racquet pinion may be out please help with the nesessary repair driving it like that I’m putting my family at having a accident cause the tire do not wear pro... Read more
Incident date: Dec 23, 2021
I bought this vehicle in nov of 2021 took it to local mechanic who quoted me 1000 to fix it completely so I did a little at a time the suspension control arms and rockers completely bad! Now the vehicle only has130000 miles on it and the CVT worst transmission ever is going out which is 5000 to fix I can’t believe there is no recall knowing these vehicles have and are know for bad transmissions ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 10, 2022
When driving over 50 miles per hour, on highways especially, the front end of the truck and steering wheel starts to shake uncontrollably and I have to immediately slow down and/or pull off the road. This is very dangerous considering there are numerous tractor trailers and other vehicles on the highway. It's often impossible to pull over when needed and I am fearful for my life. It has been happe... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2022
Front Right lower control arm w/o police right front wheel. Tpms system. This will be the second time I’ve had to replace the front lower control arm the tea PMS system does not work ABS traction control are off totally the same year of car make model everything was recalled to have this fixed but it was only with the police cars what makes you think that the ones that weren’t police cars didn... Read more
Incident date: Dec 15, 2021
I was driving on an interstate at 80mph when I hit a bump in the road. This happened on December 15, 2021. The front end of my truck went into a horrendous death wobble. I immediately slowed down and pulled to the side and stopped. When I started back on the interstate the front end was fine. I purchased this as a used truck on November 9, 2021. I then was driving on a county road at 50mph, ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2021
A clunking noise started in the rear of my Murano. Upon inspection I found that the rear suspension subframe crossmember has completely rusted through and the car is now unsafe to drive.
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLB 250
(2020) - SUSPENSION
Feb 10, 2022
Incident date: Feb 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2020 Mercedes Benz GLB250. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at approximately 45 mph and merged to the left, the driver was losing control of the steering and crashed into the meridian. The contact noticed that the front axle fractured and detached from the vehicle. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a towing lot. The dealer was not contacted... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 10, 2022
It is known as the Death Wobble. Truck starts vibrating uncontrollably without any warning. Pulling a trailer when this happens causes a dangerous situation. Unless you have experienced it, no words can describe the violent nature of this suspension breakdown. There is no telling what other damage these episodes cause. Ford is not willing to fix this design flaw.
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
When I had to drive with 1 inch of snow on the road it felt like my rear end was going to come out of my car. My rear end was all over the place and has been getting worse when driving in snow and rain. This is putting my children life at risk especially since there's a recall on my vehicle and there's still no parts to fix it. I want a rental car until someone gets this issues fixed! Someone is s... Read more
Incident date: Feb 10, 2022
The hub assembly came apart while driving which disabled the steering of the vehicle. We have replaced the hub assemblies 5 times in the last year, due to faulty design of the parts, and were well aware there could be an issue because the first time it happened it didnt lock up completely while driving and would start making a squealing noise. We bought this truck in 2018 with 49000 miles on it a... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
My 2014 Ford F-250 started developing a Death Wabble when on rough highways doing over 45mph. Three or four times I took it to Ford service Tucson at 22nd street and technician changed steering box, ball joints and generally looked it over. The other day the Death Wabble was every 5 miles on highway 83 which is a little rough but no potholes. Took the truck in yesterday and they couldn’t find a... Read more
Incident date: Sep 24, 2021
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 21V537000 (Suspension) however, the part to do the recall was unavailable. The contact called the local dealer who stated that the parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified of th... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
I was driving the 2019 Ford F-350 XLT ( 027506.7 miles on odometer) on I 94 highway west of Detroit at highway speeds (65-70 mph). Highway had rough/spalling pavement due to winter freeze cycles. Vehicle hit rough patch of highway and vehicle started to violently started to shake and wobble while at the same time steering control of the vehicle was minimal and non responsive. I was able to sl... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2004 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while driving the vehicle, she noticed that her brakes were failing. The contact stated that she drove her vehicle to an independent mechanic who attempted to replace the brakes however, the mechanic informed her that her vehicle had a lot of corrosion on the brakes, and underneath the vehicle, which caused the brakes to fail. The con... Read more
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
The death wobble returned for the 3 time after getting it repaired at the fire dealer 2 other time. Make a appointment to have it look at again. They can’t get me in for two weeks to look and not sure how long to repair. Unsafe to drive
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Bought the car 04/21 had throttle issues the dealer replaced it kept noticing after that i was still having problems with car take it to tire shop entire buttom of car is rusted needs new sub frame sway bar lower arms was very dangerous deiving car want stay straight
Incident date: Feb 9, 2022
Vehicle drove over small pothole in high speed lane at mile marker 22 on nb i-75, north of cincinnati, lost steering control when vehicle shook side to side violently, had to pull off left sholder, slowing down to 10 mph to regain control. traffic had to avoidme, almost rear ending my vehicle. Speed was apx 70 mph at time of incident, i was in fear for my life. I just had vehicle inspected by cert... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
Our 2016 BMW X 5 axle is broken. Can't drive ( very loud noise ) steering and directional control are a safety risk. We purchased new on 9/19/2015 and are the original owners . The car has approximately 60,000. plus miles on it. Living in Ketchum ID we have had all service and Maintenance work done locally because it is 160 miles to Boise ID. We also have a home in Cincinnati OH. where our sec... Read more
Incident date: Dec 31, 2021
One broken strut, one leaking strut and one leaking shock. I noticed an oil leak on my garage floor at right rear wheel.
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLB 250
(2020) - SUSPENSION
Feb 8, 2022
Incident date: Feb 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLB250. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V990000 (Steering, Suspension) however, the dealer informed the contact that parts for the recall repair were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the issue and i... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Ascent. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormally loud sound coming from the vehicle. Upon investigation, the contact self-diagnosed that the front struts were faulty. The dealer was made aware of the failure, and the contact was waiting for a callback from the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an indep... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2018
I was totally aware of the recall for these year models of Tacoma and I brought the truck in several times to have the frame inspected and asked for it to be replaced. The folks at Dorschel Automotive group turned me away saying it did not meet the "rust perforation standard." Lo and behold, when Dorschel was bought by Bob Johnson Auto Group, the first time I took it in they recognized that the fr... Read more
Incident date: Feb 5, 2022
I took my car in for an alignment and the mechanic discovered excessive and sever corrosion on the lower suspension link in the rear, the corrosion is so bad that the entire subframe is holding on by a corroded approximately 1/2 inch section, one bump and the entire rear end of the vehicle will fall off. This car is less than 10 years old, has 80,000 miles on it and is for the most part kept in a... Read more
LAND ROVER
RANGE ROVER
(2015) - SUSPENSION
Feb 8, 2022
Incident date: Feb 8, 2022
The Land Rover dealership inspecting my vehicle for routine service, found that both front spindles (right and left) had significant fatigue cracks in the metal of the front spindle assembly. The dealership stated it was a critical safety issue, and the entire front spindle assembly could break off or detach from the car while driving. The dealership will not allow the car to be driven in this con... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 Buick Lacrosse. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving at 45 MPH with her 10-month-old child in a rear-facing car seat located in the rear driver seat, the rear driver's side toe link detached and she lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle drove off the road and crashed into a ditch. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact's daughter was able to exit th... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
The vehicle becomes uncontrollable on light ice. The rear end will "ghost walk" (seems to steer on its own). I have driven in snow my entire life and have never experienced this issue in any other vehicle. I am also an ASE certified master technician. It only happens if I have passengers in the rear seat or groceries in the cargo area. The car is not even close to its cargo limit. The tires have ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2021
The vehicle failed to pass pa. state inspection due to a severely rusted frame over the rear axles. The estimate to repair the frame was @$3000.
Incident date: Feb 6, 2022
While travel on the highway at 70 mph upon hitting a bump my steering wheel and front end of the truck began to violently shake. I applied my brake and pulled to the side of the highway the shaking stopped. I inspected the vehicle finding nothing visually wrong. I continued my trip having the violent shaking occur twice more before the conclusion of my trip.
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
It has a Death Wobble, it’s back in the shop this week, was in the shop last week as well. Same problem, no fix.Shakes Violently while I’m on the Expressway with small children surrounded by 18 Wheelers on I-75.Very, Very Scary, I can’t control the vehicle at all.Chrysler knows that they have a defective Jeep.No warning, it just appears out of nowhere. I can’t live like this. I’m on auto... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
I was driving like normal and the stability light came on and the car started to swing left to right by it self.
Crash
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
Something broke onthe suspension and I lost control of the car
Crash
Incident date: Feb 6, 2022
The fore link on the front left wheel (driver side) seems to have snapped. It got disconnected from the wheel when parking the car. Steering became impossible with the wheel wobbling and causing strong grinding noises. I had heard strange noises and weird snaps before when turning the wheel to get out of my garage a couple of times over the past few months but the car seemed to drive fine so I d... Read more
Incident date: Feb 5, 2022
My wife made a left hand turn and heard a noise and the car started to handle poorly. She called me and thought she had a flat tire. I went to the scene and determined the tires weren't flat but the rear left control arm was broken off. I was able to get it to our mechanics shop. When we put it on the hoist we could see not only was the left side broken off completely but the right side is cracked... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2021
The truck has developed the "death wobble" at speeds between 50 and 60mph. Driving becomes uncontrollable as the truck shakes and bounces very hard and I have to rapidly come to a stop. I've had some work done on it at a local shop but it hasn't solved the problem. It's basically not highway road worthy but I can drive it around town.
Incident date: Feb 5, 2022
Was driving on highway normal driving went through a construction zone uneven road patches on major highway 3 lanes. While slightly above 70mph my truck violently started shaking as if a front tire steel belts had ripped and separated while maneuvering through a curve o n construction no speed limit I almost lost control and rolled my truck. I had to hit the brakes in order to come to a violent st... Read more
Incident date: Feb 5, 2022
Traveling between 70-80 mph and truck went into uncontrollable shaking known as the “death wobble”. Was only able to control the truck by slowing down. Ford dealership has stated they can’t do anything about it.
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2015) - SUSPENSION
Feb 5, 2022
Incident date: Feb 5, 2022
The same exact vehicle my sister has and it has the same problems. But mine not on the recall , its the same model and the same year
Incident date: Jan 19, 2022
Both Front Upper Control Arms needed replacing. Suspension had an awful creaking noise. They said it wasn’t officially a service bulletin or recall however they have been proactively fixing cars without the owners asking for them (several people I know), and I had to pay for the repair due to being out of warranty. This was added to my last service appointment on their behalf but it needed to be... Read more
Incident date: Feb 5, 2022
Ford starts to shake and lose control going over uneven pavement… causing me to have to slam on brakes to keep the violent shaking from persisting
Incident date: Feb 5, 2022
Driving lights and back up lights are not bright enough even when changing the bulb. The lights constantly dim while on. The front lights are always on no matter what time of day it is. The rear of the car sways dangerously if driving over anything smooth, bumpy, like a manhole. Or turning and running over a manhole.
Incident date: Feb 5, 2022
Driving at 68mph a a very drastic wobble in the steering occured. Have an appointment with jeep dealership. Truck has thirty eight thousand miles with no warning of any kind . Sudden and abundant violent shaking .
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
CV axle are wore out I couldn't drive turning an shocks wore out faster Please help
Incident date: Dec 1, 2021
2017 SUBARU OUTBACK 2.5 LIMITED HAS LOOSE STEERING IN THE RAIN AND GOING DOWN HILLS. DRIFTS A LOT WITH CROSS WINDS VEHICLE HAD ALIGNMENT AND TIRE INSPECTION AND SUSPENSION CHECKED AND ALL WAS FINE BUT CAR STILL IS UNSTABLE IN BAD WEATHER. FEELS LIKE IT IS SWAYING AND THE TIRES ARE NOT ON THE GROUND. TIRES HAVE 13K MILES ON THEM AND ARE IN GOOD SHAPE. SHOCKS ARE FINE. REPAIR SHOPS CAN NOT DETERMINE... Read more