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: Mar 25, 2023
I purchased a new 2023 telluride-SX in April 2023. For the first time since owning the vehicle, I used the Snow Mode during the snowstorm on 14 March 2024. I then used it again on 15 March 2024. I experienced a serious problem on both days. When I stopped at redlights, I tried to accelerate as I made a turn. I lost all power, and the car came to a near stop, nearly causing an accident by being rea... Read more
Incident date: Sep 12, 2023
While driving to work, using FSD, the autopilot steered me into the path of an overtaking vehicle moving at about 20 mph faster than my vehicle. By quickly taking over steering and speed control, I was able to avoid a collision. A couple miles further down the road, the car could not decide on which exit lane to use, and weaved between two possibilities, probably alarming and angering drivers b... Read more
Incident date: Apr 12, 2024
I stalled the vehicle then noticed a little later that my acceleration was greatly reduced. I could not get up to 20 mph with my accelerator pedal all the way pressed while in 3rd gear.
Incident date: Apr 2, 2024
So I purchased a 2012 Kia Soul A few months ago and since I got it the car has been having issues with accelerating the car delays to respond and I have had many closed calls specifically when entering a freeway the car losses power and I have to really press on the pedal for the vehicle to respond then the check engine light started to come on showing Code P0420 Catalyst operating below minimum t... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
*4th report to NHTSA* Trouble getting response from HMA case manager. Delaying/not responding to multiple emails/calls/contact forms. Please advise. 1. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? - Multiple systems continuing to fail/malfunction. Multiple attempts to repair at Hyundai dealerships. Vehicle is currently at the dealer service ce... Read more
Incident date: Mar 3, 2024
I was traveling from Tennessee to Indiana on [XXX] going about 76 mph. I attempted to switch lanes and at the same time the other vehicle decided to speed up as the semi behind started speeding up. When my 2024 Santa Cruz Turbo (which only has 12,000 miles) jerked and started slowing down, the check engine light came on and it started declining acceleration. I mashed the gas and nothing happened (... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2024
The contact owned a 1996 Ford F-150. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 05V017000 (Vehicle Speed Control). The contact stated that while parked in the driveway, she observed fire between the finder and the hood. The heat from the fire rippled the front of the garage causing property damage. The vehicle was not diagnosed and the origin of the fire was not determined. The ... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Mar 17, 2024
The spool valve had a complete seal failure leaking oil onto the alternator causing the alternator to fail. As result the entire electrical system failed, shutting off all propulsion of the van. This occurred while the vehicle was in the high speed left lane on [XXX] @ the [XXX] exit. I had to coast the vehicle across two lanes of 75 mph traffic, cars and large tracker trailers. I was passed by... Read more
Incident date: Sep 10, 2020
The contact owns 2023 Fisker Ocean. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 45 MPH, and on other occasions while driving at various speeds, the vehicle drove over a small bump on the roadway and the vehicle unintendedly surged forward, accelerated, and then decelerated. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle failed to properly accelerate. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent and mostly occurred while driving up an incline. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The local dealer was not yet contacted... Read more
FORD
FUSION HYBRID
(2012) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 11, 2024
Incident date: Apr 4, 2024
The instrument panel goes black while driving in daylight. Seems to be a non issue at night. You can not tell what speed you are traveling, if the car is running hot or how much gas is in the tank. Appears to be a major problem by searching for solutions. Many solutions have already been tried but seems to not fix the issue. Could be dangerous not knowing how fast / slow you are traveling. If... Read more
Incident date: Apr 4, 2024
My Transmission failed. My odometer reading is 92901. Dealership said not manufactured coverage. No message on dash. Happened while driving with children. Mechanic said needed to be replaced. This is a expensive repair. I believe manufacture should have told drivers about problems with transmission.
Incident date: Mar 19, 2024
I was driving my car to appointment up a hill and the transmission completely gave out, additionally, since I bought it, It has consistently had problems accelerating, and getting above 45mph. The problem cannot be pinpointed
Incident date: Apr 6, 2024
The clutch on my 2017 Ford focus needs to be replaced due to it slipping/shuttering when I go to accelerate.
Incident date: May 13, 2023
Hello, I noticed my battery light came Friday, April 5th, but the indicator light went off after about 45 seconds. Saturday, April 6th, I was driving and the battery light came on again, after 5 minutes the acceleration stopped working as I turned into the subdivision. The vehicle was going 5mph, I was able to make to a relatives house. Once I pull in the driveway, all of the indicator lights c... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2024
Today, I had to slam on my breaks on the freeway. Luckily I was able to stop in time. However the Fisker completely shut off, flashed every warning light imaginable and wouldn’t respond. I sat diagonally in the middle of a 6 lane freeway and for 5 straight minutes the car wouldn’t work. I finally got the car to turn on but it wouldn’t switch to drive, it was stuck on park or neutral. I had t... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Jan 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated while stopped at a toll booth, the vehicle independently accelerated with the brake pedal depressed. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer and was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 317.
Incident date: Apr 6, 2024
When driving down the road at approximately 35-40mph, the accelerator pedal stopped working and a variety of warning messages and lights popped up on the dash. Some of those messages included "gear selected will engage at low speed", "powertrain system fault", and "pre-collision assist not available". Because the vehicle suddenly became undriveable, it rolled to a stop in the middle of the road. ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 24, 2024
Vehicle seems to be stalling when you stop and then try to pull out. It takes minutes to accelerate after stopping.
Incident date: Jan 20, 2024
The transmission on my 2018 Chevy Traverse went out per the mechanic that recently inspected it. It was just purchased from a Chevy dealership not even 8 months ago. I first noticed the problem a couple weeks ago when my car hit about 25mph getting on the highway then wouldn’t go any faster as I would try to accelerate speed, then it was jerking and was harshly engaging from time to time. Then i... Read more
Incident date: Apr 9, 2024
We bought a used 2020 Honda Odyssey, and a few months after buying this vehicle, the infotainment screen blanked out and the vehicle information screen also blinked out. This occurred at the same time with no warning whatsoever. I just turned on the car, and none of the screens came on. These screens are the ones that show the mph, our mileage, cruise control, etc, and also the screen that shows t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The transmission began slipping causing poor control at higher speeds using the cruise control or passing gear. Only about 42,000 miles on the vehicle and no financial help from Ford. Service for a new transmission was $7667.11at Dave Sinclair Ford, 7466 South Lindbergh, St. Louis Missouri, 63125. 314-892-2600
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
I was driving my 2023 Jeep Wrangler 2 Door Willys on a 4 lane divided road approaching a stop light. The stoplight was red so I started slowing down approximately 200 feet from the intersection. I applied the brake pedal and the vehicle started to slow down. As I was approaching the intersection I could feel the vehicle accelerating and it was difficult to get it to stop. I was almost stopped ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 4, 2024
I was driving the vehicle on the left lane of the freeway and the acceleration suddenly gave out. The car began to slow even when I pushed on the gas. Heat gage was fine and no lights went on. I quickly got over 4 lanes of traffic to the next exit and was able to pull over to the side of the road. White smoke began to billow out of the hood on the offramp and all the emergency light indicators c... Read more
Fire
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2016) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 9, 2024
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
The 2021 Mustang Mach-E has repeatedly shown these "Pre-Collision Assist" and "Front Camera Fault" errors ever since we got it 6 months ago. The errors can come and go multiple times during any drive. For my wife it is just an annoyance since she never uses Adaptive Cruise. But for me or anyone else using Adaptive Cruise, it becomes a safety concern because this error suddenly cancels the cruise a... Read more
Incident date: Jan 26, 2024
Despite numerous attempts to resolve the matter, I've faced obstacles and a lack of clarity from Dodge Corporation. Recently, my 2014 Ram 1500 Laramie experienced a sudden ABS light issue, affecting traction and cruise control. This has made driving perilous in Texas's hazardous conditions. We've been quoted $2000 (part itself is $1300) for repairs, but the required part is on backorder, with no E... Read more
Incident date: Sep 22, 2023
Started experiencing the ABS and Traction Control lights coming on, sometimes momentarily and very intermittently, sometimes (but less frequently) coming on for long periods of time. The frequency of these events has been increasing. A scan of the vehicle indicates I am receiving these this code... C0020-01 - ABS Pump Motor Control - General Electrical Failure This seems to be a very common c... Read more
Incident date: Apr 8, 2024
The 2013 pruis has developed the notorious brake booster fault triggering the brake light abs light and traction control light to stay illuminated. Toyota has many complaints about this brake booster issue and needs to recall and fix this issue as they have done on other Toyotas. This is leaving owners with a $2500 repair or having to take a big risk driving these cars with a big prevalent brake... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2024
Total malfunction at highway speeds. Very unsafe, the car completely shut off. This may have resulted in a highway fatality due to collision as the vehicle was in the fast lane. NTSA please do your due diligence and investigate the faulty, defective HYBRID system as I believe the faulty inverter recall is much more larger than the original recall
Incident date: Oct 19, 2023
I was driving 75mph on the freeway and I heard a pop and then the electrical warning system on the car lit up. I lost power to the car and was only able to accelerate minimally. There was a warning of low battery and the vehicle was going to lose power. I turned on my hazard lights and was able to get to the exit and was able to exit the freeway safely. Once the vehicle lost power I was unable to... Read more
Incident date: Mar 28, 2024
On March 13th, 2024, while pulling into the driveway and lightly accelerating due to the slight incline of the driveway, the accelerator pedal fell from under my foot. The car accelerated hard, plowing through the garage door, a washer/dryer unit, a storage rack and into the back wall of the garage. The car bounced back but was still accelerating, leaving marks from the tire spinning in the garage... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
When braking the engine goes into an uncontrolled fast idle that smokes the tires. Need to shut off engine immediately. This is intermittent. It is the 2nd time I had in to the dealer. Had it towed.
Incident date: Mar 29, 2024
When accelerating quickly in drive, the vehicle shifts into neutral, brakes, goes into park and shuts down. Technicians have repeated the issue and attempted to fix it but no solution has been found. The dash displays the message, "Brake System malfunction. Service Required." There are a few dash icons that display indicating a "System Fault," "Brake malfunction," and "ADAS fault."
Incident date: Mar 30, 2024
Latest update changed the cruise control to force inclusion of autopilot. Cruise control function is now unavailable with without this autonomous feature. It's not only distracting, but aggravating. What's worse, is there's no online ability to inform or complain directly to Tesla. This isn't the first safety-related software glitch. Please get them to fix these issues.
Incident date: Feb 19, 2024
Mercedes Benz 3500 XL Sprinter motorhome, 2020 chassis. May 2023 MB did several recalls & software updates which MB USA headquarters said those changes could've affected the Cruise Control & Adaptive Cruise Control because these systems worked excellently until May '23, in my local MB Sprinter service. These systems have not worked more than 2% of the time. MB keeps changing items with no improvem... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 2024
While driving at cruising speed on freeway/interstate, experienced sudden and unexpected loss of power and multiple error codes, including "gear selected will engage at low speed" and "service advancetrac", together with flashing service engine soon light. This occurred approximately 3 weeks after completing service recalls for power train control module (23E09) and turn signal outage detection fa... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
I took delivery of this Tesla Model 3 last month and have been using it often for my commute. Tesla’s “Traffic Aware Cruise Control” is dangerous and has put my life at risk multiple times now when driving on the highway at night. It slams on the brakes as if it is about to crash when nothing is ahead. It also slammed the brakes when passing a semi truck that was accelerating from being stop... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2024
A couple of weeks after getting some software (or maybe firmware?) recalls done on my Ford Maverick my husband and I were driving down a semi-residential street. Suddenly the car went into limp mode and flashed a bunch of lights on the dash. So the car was limping along, but when my husband took his foot off the brake, the car started accelerating on its own. The car would brake when he hit the br... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2024
I slowed down to approximately 5 MPH to pull into a parking space in front of a building. Without warning, the car suddenly accelerated toward the building. The car jumped over the parking block and onto the sidewalk in front of the building. I attempted to stop the car but the brakes did not function at that point. The car stopped when it hit a pole. There was damage to the front of the car and... Read more
Crash
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 5, 2024
Incident date: Mar 15, 2024
Vehicle lost power while driving and has many warning notices. Pulled over but when I tried to drive again it accelerated on its own. Pulled over again and turned the vehicle off a few times and then it drive normally but with the check engine light on. Had happened 3 times. Took to Ford dealer 2 times and dealer could not reproduce the issue and gave it back to me.
Incident date: Apr 5, 2024
Vehicle: Tesla Model Y Blue Purchased in Oct’ 23 Tesla setting: Regenerative braking (single pedal driving) Issue: Brake Pedal/Acceleration Pedal Malfunction I was pulling my car out from the parking lot to pick up my mom, from the hospital entrance. I just turned right and had to take an immediate left to leave out of the parking lot. The Tesla was driving at approximately 5 miles an hour at t... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 30, 2023
Severe and sudden malfunction of the ABS/Stabilitrak system at 45MPH causing loss of directional control of the vehicle. Failure caused by disintegration/cracking of ABS/HUB RELUCTOR RINGS, feeding incorrect wheel speeds to stability system. This failure caused a total loss of power, vehicle veering right despite full left steering input, ABS activation continuously (increasing stopping distanc... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2023
When in Highway Drive Assist mode, where the system controls the speed and lane keep and lane change, the system can disengage without any visual or audio warning. This causes dangerous scenarios where the driver believes the car is in control but it is not.
Incident date: Mar 27, 2024
Sudden loss of forward gears. Failure happened on highway at highway speeds. Had to carefully maneuver the truck off the road. Failure in both towing and unloaded operation. Truck will not shift in or out of drive (1-4) but reverse is still functional. Diagnostic trouble code P0731-00 and P0734 "Gear 1 and 4 Shift Incorrect Ratio". Both the dealer and RAM confirm this transmission failure. RAM has... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
My 2012 Ford SE stalls out between First, second and third gear whenever I am accelerating to 40mph. The Transmission error continues to pop up after driving for a long period of time. Whenever driving 50 mph to 70 mph as soon as I release the gas pedal, the car goes into neutral stall out & whenever I press down on the gas pedal nothing happens and I have to pull over & Turn the car off and ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 4, 2024
Me and my wife were traveling north on [XXX], left lane, 18 wheeler in right lane, cars directly behind us, 70 mph, when there was an abrupt thud, and slight skid, then lost all power from the engine. There were no warning indicators at the time. When the engine failed, we almost hit the tractor next to us. Looking in the mirror to try to determine what to do, as steering was hard to perform, ther... Read more
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 4, 2024
Incident date: Apr 3, 2024
On the middle of the road when driving, of a sudden, powertrain malfunction, pre-collision not available message pop up and the service light, check engine light also started blinking on the dashboard. Gas pedal was unresponsive and the truck coasted, was not able to drive,and I was luckily able to merge over into the shoulder. Started the truck a few times and the issue persisted. Could move forw... Read more
Incident date: Apr 4, 2024
While using adaptive cruise control on the highway, my car almost rear ended the car in front of me when it surged ahead around a slight curve in the road. I was travelling approximately 5mph below the set cruise speed due to the traffic ahead. It appears that my vehicle lost radar sight of the car in front and tried to get back up to the set speed. This has happened on multiple occasions n... Read more
Incident date: Apr 3, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that upon accelerating from a stop, the vehicle lunged forward. The vehicle was uncontrollable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who informed the contact that there were no open recalls on the VIN. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the con... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
This incident occured on 4-2-2024, while driving to the doctor with my newborn daughter. Our 2023 Hyundai Palisade Limited did not respond/accelerate/move when pressing on the gas pedal. The engine/transmission seemed to malfunction when trying to pull off from a green traffic light. There was loss of power and the palisade would not move. This vehicle was purchased brand new and it is a serious s... Read more