Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,215,138 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA — including 138,663 crashes, 56,255 fires, and 8,561 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 2,215,138 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 72,878 complaints — component: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
Car accelerated by itself in Drive. I'd to either apply brake or put the car in Neutral to stop it. When shifted back to D, it auto accelerated. After I got home, shut it off and after 10 min. it started working normally.
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER HYBRID
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 25, 2024
Incident date: Apr 25, 2024
My parents are [XXX] . They were coming home from there doctors appointment on [XXX] and traveling about 50 MPH heading home and all the sudden my father tried to press on the brakes to slow down and there was no brakes at all. He could not stop the vehicle and the ONLY thing that saved his and my moms life was the fact that the 2018 Land Rover discovery sport SE came to a hill and immediately as... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Apr 13, 2024
During a 2,300 miles recent trip in Texas, the vast majority of the speed limit signs were not seen by my 2023 Tesla Model Y autosteer/autopilot (not FSD). This created issues with the autopilot/autosteer as it was not usable in several instances and can create safety issues like distractions, etc... I had the latest software revision. The key point is that this is not happening at all in Colora... Read more
Incident date: Apr 25, 2024
Vehicle began to lose power while on highway. The loss of power occurred for a few seconds, then came back. Shortly after, the RPM began changing uncontrollably. Tried shifting to manual control using paddle shifters and was able to maintain steady RPM until vehicle software switched back to automatic and RPM swung crazy again. Endangered other vehicles on road due to loss of power and fluctuation... Read more
Incident date: Apr 24, 2024
Vehicle is equipped with Subaru EyeSight Driver Assist which includes reverse automatic braking. Vehicle was reversing towards a parked vehicle on the street and the RAB feature failed to apply the brakes and the vehicle collided with the parked vehicle. I am extremely disappointed that the safety system in this car failed to work as advertised/expected resulting in damages to both cars.
Crash
Incident date: May 10, 2023
While driving i started to notice my RPM increasing and my acceleration decreasing. I have stayed up to date and proactive on maintenance. at 110000 miles my transmission has started to have gear slips, My RPMs increase and my car will randomly lose the ability to accelerate at random times leaving me vulnerable to an accident car crash.
Incident date: May 1, 2023
I have bought this vehicle Oct/Nov of 2023 , from private dealer on at least three occasions I have experienced the vehicle automatically speeding up without stepping on the gas pedal. I had to hold down the braking system and pulling over to avoid an accident. Although , I've quickly placed the vehicle on neutral the engine was still revving . I then powered off vehicle for a few minutes and res... Read more
Incident date: Apr 23, 2024
Having completed the high voltage junction box recall with the Mach-E a week or so before, I was braking in order to complete a left-turn in one-pedal drive mode (therefore lifting my foot off the accelerator causing the vehicle to slow down). I received a notification as I did so that one pedal drive mode had a fault and was deactivated (this appeared on the screen by the steering wheel). This ca... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2024
My vehicle jerks back and forth at low acceleration, and it often goes into limp mode which makes the vehicle only drive at around 20 mph at most. I was on the highway, when this happened. I have a 722.9 transmission, and this is a common problem. Why is the snapping recalled? I have had a checked with Mercedes-Benz of music City when I had gotten my recall work done, and they said that it just ne... Read more
Incident date: Apr 8, 2024
The contact owned a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while parking the vehicle, the vehicle suddenly accelerated to approximately 80 MPH unintendedly. The contact stated that she depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to respond. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle spun several times, causing her to lose control of the vehicle. The contact... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 22, 2024
The components that failed are Traction Control, Stability controls, and Anti-Lock Braking while in high regeneration mode. Vehicle can easily become incontrollable in low traction situations (in high regeneration mode) that is a danger to the driver and others on the road. Sequence of Events 1.Vehicle begins to Aquaplane 2.Driver (myself) removes foot from the accelerator pedal (standard techn... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Apr 24, 2024
I was performing a 3-point turn on a residential street. While reversing during the turn the Automatic Emergency Braking enabled and slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a complete halt instantly. This caused my head to hit the headrest with enough force that I have headaches and brain fog the next day, indicating a concussion. I was 10 feet from the nearest parked vehicle when reversing; th... Read more
1 injured
VOLKSWAGEN
TAOS
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 24, 2024
Incident date: Apr 23, 2024
I was parking the car in a parking lot. I had my foot completely off of the gas pedal while allowing the car to roll forward into a parking spot. The car suddenly accelerates and I could not slam on the brakes fast enough to prevent damage. This was the 3rd time this type of incident occurred in this car.
Crash
DODGE
GRAND CARAVAN
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 24, 2024
Incident date: Apr 24, 2024
While sitting at a stop right, the truck unexpectedly revved to full throttle. I stood on the brakes, shifted to neutral and turned it off.
Incident date: Oct 15, 2021
My Ford Expedition has lost power 4 times requiring me to pull off the Interstate and have the car towed. I have been driving 75-80 mph each time this has happened. It is as if the car takes a big deep breath, and then loses all power. It failed most recently on Halloween 2023, and then again in March of 2024. Prior to these two times, the car has lost power 2 other times. It has always been servi... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2022
I bought my 2011 Equinox new then in 2013 the gas pedal went to the floor and stuck down on a two lane road and I could not control the speed as we react 90 I shut down the vechical took it to the dealership the next day the chevolet co had the dealership dump the on board computer and then down load a new program this worked until the other day we were coming home from taking another couple to th... Read more
Incident date: Apr 23, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle at 5 MPH, the central display became inoperable and turned black. The contact stated that the vehicle was locked and she was unable to exit the vehicle. The contact received assistance from a bystander who opened the door from the outside. After that, the contact stated she was able to drive to her destinatio... Read more
Crash
AUDI
Q4 E-TRON SPORTBACK
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 23, 2024
Incident date: Mar 14, 2024
my car engine did not shut off i had to call on star to assist turn off my engine. there is problem with ANTI theft system and cruise control. i had to press cruise button numberous time to shut it off. on start customer advice me to take it to dealer to take look. they did on board diagnosit test they found these code
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
2 ISSUES - 1) vehicle repaired 5 times for "transmission" problem by replacing wiring harnesses. On 5th attempt, the GM factory part or the technician caused the Tahoe to catch fire. Worst part is that it happened 1 hour after test driving and parking the car at their dealership, thankfully, I would normally have driven it home and it would have destroyed my home too. GM investigated and was un... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Apr 13, 2024
Slowly and cautiously entered parking lot of a small strip mall. Proceeded to a parking space located in between two parked vehicles.Maneuvering into parking space I removed foot from gas pedal toward the break pedal; before foot made contact with break pedal the vehicle accelerated on its own surging over the cement parking bumper, over bushes, through the grass, down the curb and into the street... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 23, 2024
Incident date: Apr 11, 2023
My catalytic converter failed just under 4 years after getting the SC176 recall done in July 2020. I believe it's possible there was a step missed in the replacement of my catalytic converter related to the recall, specifically the Catalytic Overheating Protection Engine Control Unit logic that may have caused the converter to fail. I do not detect that on the attached receipt from the repair that... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
My car accelerates automatically and doesn’t stop unless slam on break This is happening occasionally Yesterday I was about to hit front car after taking the exit. Even after breaking the car kept moving at full speed. It’s a huge safety concern I was with family and we all got so scared
Incident date: Apr 22, 2024
1. The vehicle going less then 25 mph accelerates with out foot on the gas paddle. This problem has occurred multiple times on and off. 2. The Transfer case and axle seal started leaking at 74000 miles. Purchased the vehicle as a CPO dealer asking for $4000 to make repairs I only had the vehicle for 8 months. Are there recall to fix this issues?
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 22, 2024
Incident date: Apr 15, 2024
Vehicle was in cruise control driving along the highway at-speed when the engine suddenly cut out and cruise control stopped maintaining speed. Pressing the accelerator did nothing, but the brakes still worked. After turning cruise control off the accelerator was still having no effect, and the vehicle did not let me re-engage cruise control. All other electronics (navigation, music, dash, hazard ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 8, 2024
Car warned that Drivability - Acceleration and top speed reduced/Performance may be restored on next drive but gave no opportunity for me to pull over safely. Felt like someone pulled the e-brake during regular driving speeds and prevented me from safely slowing down, steering or maneuvering the vehicle into a safe spot. This occurred during a rainy night with my wife and 3 daughters in the vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Mar 22, 2024
The vehicle would shudder when trying to accelerate. I almost was hit by a semi truck trying to merge onto the freeway. Made an appointment with the mechanic then a couple days later I was at a stop sign and the vehicle would not accelerate at all. I placed in park the tried shifting back into drive and still nothing. I had to turn the vehicle on and off twice before I was able to shift it in driv... Read more
FORD
ESCAPE PHEV
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 22, 2024
Incident date: Apr 21, 2024
While driving, the vehicle will suddenly flash a message about gear selection being unavailable until speed is reduced, followed by error messages about collision-assist disabled, ESC disabled, hill-start assist disabled, and service messages. Check engine light and service lights also come on. No response to throttle inputs, once vehicle decelerates to around 1-2 mph electronic parking brake is... Read more
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 22, 2024
Incident date: Apr 21, 2024
Recently got a couple recalls done and then yesterday while I was driving back home I Ford chimes twice and then see a plethora of service lights and dash warnings. Completely lost power on the freeway pulled over from originally being in the left lane in time. But could of been a lot worse if I wasn't coming back at 11pm. Restarted the truck and it let me go a max of 20mph all the way home (lucki... Read more
Incident date: Apr 19, 2024
The known issue that Ram refuses to is plaguing my truck. ABS and Traction Control lights come on. This shuts off the cruise control as well as makes braking difficult. It is very dangerous. This is a ticking time bomb. Vehicle has under 50k miles on it. 2017 and 2018 have been known to have faulty ECU Module and HCU. Loss of brakes momentarily occurred on [XXX]. I am having the issues unde... Read more
Incident date: Apr 19, 2024
While driving, the "service electronic brakes " and traction control light will come on periodically, then go away. The issue is random and not consistent or easy to predict. If the cruise control is active, the cruise control will disengage and the truck will start to slow down. The brakes seem to work the same even if the light is on or off.
Incident date: Apr 21, 2024
My truck has the Death Wobble . It has been worked on for the incident It happened again yesterday at least 4 times within 30 minutes We turned around and came are parked the truck. Am going to talk to the Dealer where I Purchase the vehicle and want some answers and to fix this major problem with my Ford Superduty 250 2017
MERCEDES-BENZ
E500
(2003) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 21, 2024
Incident date: Apr 2, 2024
Speed control/transmission goes out while driving which results in my speedometer dropping down to zero and my RPMs going up. I have to completely shut my vehicle iff and wait a moment to restart it. Sometimes it fixes it and sometimes it doesn’t. It happens quite often, not everyday but several times a week.
Incident date: Apr 21, 2024
When on a cruise control it started accelerating on its own to an extremely high speed. Happened a few time to me. Clears only if you restart the vehicle. Scary. I have a video to proof, it won’t let me attach the video. I know that some other people had experience same, I seen comments on Facebook group for Kia sportage hybrid 2023. I filed under lemon law for this vehicle for a different rea... Read more
FORD
TRANSIT CONNECT
(2012) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 20, 2024
Incident date: Mar 15, 2024
When starting from a stop - either dead stop or coasting stop, but after applying the brake, when you start gently pressing the accelerator, nothing happens for an excessive amount of time. Likely only a second, but feels much longer when you're trying to make a left hand turn in front of oncoming traffic. The van may be barely rolling, because the brake isn't engaged, but you're only coasting wit... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2024
When driving at high way speeds my steering wheel has been sticking which makes minor corrections much more difficult while at speed. With having to put in more effort to steer this could lead to an overcorrection in the turn which is a huge safety concern. This is a different issue than the current recall of the faulty EPS repair part being faulty. This is the original part in the car that is hav... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2024
On April 2nd, my cars dash said “low oil engine pressure” with a severe dinging noise. I got an oil change and they said to take it to a mechanic, my local mechanic said the oil pump belt drive was at a loss of pressure, resulting in damage to my engine and oil pump. On 4/2/24 My local mechanic refused to fix it due to the recall and said that it should be fixed at Fords expense. On 4/14/24 I ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 19, 2024
the turbocharger went out at 75k. had it replaced just after the #2 cylinder went bad. vehicle is unable to get to highway speeds and is very slow to accelerate. it is not due for an oil change for another 5k miles.
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 20, 2024
Incident date: Apr 20, 2024
Honda CRV Hybrid, 6 months old, purchased new from the dealer. The car was parked on level ground. I started the car, shortly after I shifted it into reverse. Reverse camera turned on and the audible reverse sound turned on. I let go of the brake, car drove forward. I applied the brake, shifted into drive, then back into reverse. When I let go of the brake I had the same issue, the reverse camera... Read more
FORD
FOCUS ELECTRIC
(2017) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 20, 2024
Incident date: Apr 18, 2024
While driving around [XXX] PM on Thursday, [XXX], the Focus Electric displayed a "Stop Safely Now" message and proceeded to cut power going to the electric motor, allowing the car only to coast as if it was in neutral. Luckily no vehicles were around in my lanes, as that easily could've caused an accident. Electric steering, regen braking, and air conditioning were all disabled. I was able to coas... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2024
Driving on the highway coming home from brother in laws house and the truck suddenly popped check engine, brake service and ESC lights came on dashboard while engine power was reduced causing sluggish performance. Made it home and put a scan tool and pulled a cylinder 3 misfire. Replaced spark plug and confirm it’s not an ignition coil problem. Brought to dealer and was confirmed the DOD lifter ... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 3500
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 19, 2024
Incident date: Apr 19, 2024
While driving it's difficult for the car to shift gears, also a burning smell comes from the engine after driving long distance.
Incident date: Apr 16, 2024
While coming off the highway on an exit ramp, several car warnings/lights appeared and the car abruptly decelerated such that I could not drive more than ~30 miles/hour. The warning message said "performance extremely limited" and two warning lights (an engine and a turtle) came on. This problem has occurred on three separate occasions and after each incident, I took the car into the dealer for ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 22, 2023
see all over the internet that 2010 Prius have a recall for Inverter. I called the dealer they said no recall with my vin. I was told that a new inver is almost $5000 dollars. i NEED HELP i HAVE BOUGHT 3 TOYOTA ALREADY. Please help me with good will or warrenty the inverter like you have so many other people with 2010 Prius. If not I willand my family will never buy a Toyota again. Please call or... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2023
The CVT can cause the car to shake, judder, stall during sudden acceleration, or completely lose power. My car jurked and stop completely while at a turning signal in the middle of the street . This was cause by the recall on their cvt. I’ve called a Nissan dealer and they said they can’t fix the recall problem for free because my car is over 80,000 miles. No it hasn’t been inspected . Yes m... Read more
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 19, 2024
Incident date: Apr 15, 2024
Vehicle lost power while driving at highway speed. Pulled over and restarted vehicle. Vehicle proceeded to accelerate without driver input. Multiple warning lights/systems activated including: POWERTRAIN MALFUNCTION / REDUCED POWER; SERVICE ENGINE SOON WARNING; PRE-COLLISION ASSIST NOT AVAILABLE. Similar to issue described in NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V267000
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2018) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 19, 2024
Incident date: Apr 3, 2024
While driving, the 'check EV system' light comes on, intermittently what will happen is that when stopped the car will put itself in park, when it is in park I can not get it out of park, thus unable to move forward, it has also happened while reversing (and not stopped). I need to cycle the car on and off a bunch of times in order for it to finally turn back on. This is very dangerous while on t... Read more
Incident date: Apr 12, 2024
1) What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? I tried to park in the parking space next to it by making a slight right turn. As soon as I stepped on the brake to park, the car began to rush forward. I noticed again and again that my foot was slamming on the brakes, but the car didn't stop. My car went over the ledge between the parking lot an... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Apr 12, 2024
Climbing a hill the cruise control goes crazy and the RPMs suddenly exceed 5000+. Scared the hell out of me and could certainly be dangerous especially on rainy roads. Many owners are reporting this issue on the Nissan Frontier Owners forum - example here: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Incident date: Apr 18, 2024
While accelerating onto a highway, my engine overheating light flashed then stayed on and my acceleration suddenly throttled back and my car started slowing down. I was able to pull over on the shoulder, but there was a close call with a semi bearing down. I had my car towed to a repair shop, where they told me the water jacket had cracked and the overheating caused a blown head gasket. This was r... Read more
Incident date: Feb 29, 2024
Power steering went out, impossible to steer, no warning, able to force off road. H ad happened several times before at intervals would return after several minutes of car motor off. Saw at dealership originally but no answer found till yesterday when it happened again. Dealer" internal fault with steering gear".