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 73,546 complaints - component: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Incident date: Mar 31, 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: Apr 6, 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: Apr 6, 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: Apr 1, 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: Mar 27, 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 2, 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
Incident date: Jul 12, 2018
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: Oct 1, 2023
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: Apr 5, 2024
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: Nov 15, 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: Apr 4, 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: Mar 28, 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
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 4, 2024
Incident date: Apr 3, 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
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: Mar 21, 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 4, 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
Incident date: Jan 4, 2024
Starting in July 2023 I have noticed that the oil consumption for my car is racing through the engine. I barely make it 1000 miles before the oil is completely gone. After 2 local oil changes - I decided to take it to the Hyundai dealer where I purchased the car. This was in October - I have brought my car in 4 times for 1000 mile oil consumption tests. I had to add an additional visit due to ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 8, 2023
I started my vehicle with my foot on the brake. I put the car in reverse, with my foot on the brake. The car went backwards and hit a parked car. It was 1 car length behind me. I didn't take my foot off the brake and I pushed it harder. The car kept going backwards and I couldn't stop it. I didn't press on the gas pedal. BMW lied and said my after market fitted floor mat was the cause. My... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
Was driving on the freeway and a ton of warnings suddenly appeared on the dash. Pre-collision assist not available, stop driving now, service engine soon, powertrain malfunction, etc. The truck would not accelerate when the gas pedal was pressed and slowly slowed down. The truck would auto-accelerate (without gas pedal input) to about 20 mph unless the brake was applied (limp-mode). I pulled ove... Read more
Incident date: Mar 7, 2024
The warning light comes on and then the traction control goes off and the cruise control will disengage all at once. There is also no trailer brake assist. This has been verified by a dealer in Columbus, GA. It is constantly going off and on. The warning light and the warning bell are a constant distraction to the driver. The truck was bought and within 50K miles it started. No warning.
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2024) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 3, 2024
Incident date: Mar 26, 2024
Car went in limp mode then in full lock down. ABS control module failed After research a very common issue. Hundreds of Ram vehicles affected. Just escaped being hit as the truck went in limp mode. After Gear selector locked car in park, I was in the middle of the road with cars approaching. Had to stand behind the vehicle and wave, so no one would crash into me. Chrysler/ Dodge/Ram is aware of t... Read more
Incident date: Apr 3, 2024
I have had three occasions where the dashboard lights would flash and the car would lose all power. The first occasion occurred on December 29th at around 12:20 pm at a crowded intersection. The dashboard lights lit up and all of a sudden the car had no power at all. I managed to get it through the intersection and pull it off to the side of the road. To start it up I have to TURN OFF THE CAR by p... Read more
Incident date: Apr 3, 2024
For over 3 months the ABS Brake warning, the anti skid control and the cruise has not worked in my truck. I have had it to two different dealers, and opened a case with Ram. Case#89336043. They told me part is not available and has not been for the past year. Just drive my truck like it is??? I dont really know what options i have at this point. Please help!
FORD
ESCAPE HYBRID
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 3, 2024
Incident date: May 23, 2023
The problem happens intermittently and not all the time. I will be driving on the highway or in the city and sometimes when I barely touch the gas pedal my car will accelerate at high speeds, and the RPM gauge will go all the way into the seven mark and it Turns red and it starts beeping and the only way to get that off is for me to let off the gas pedal and come to a stop and then shift it from d... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2024
Driving down interstate. Vehicle stopped accelerating without warning. Rpm increasing but felt like vehicle was in neutral. Had to cross several lanes while unable to accelerate to be able to get to shoulder of hwy.
Incident date: Mar 26, 2024
Cruise control randomly disabled several times while traveling. This is a known issue with the Clock spring and is a significant safety issue!
Incident date: Feb 16, 2024
I was driving in downtown Gilbert when I pulled up to a red light. My car would not inch forward when taking foot off brake. I then had to put my foot all the way down to get my car to drive. When taking a turn my car would run perfectly until I stopped. Then we pull up to parking garage and the car just stops without while in drive so I put it in park and then turn it off and then back on and it ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 17, 2024
You have no doubt heard the news that Tesla has deployed Full Self Driving to all its vehicles as a "free trial." My Tesla received this update in the past few days. Last night I was driving on an expressway and engaged what has up until now been traffic-aware cruise control by pressing down one time on the right stalk. I expected regular cruise control but the car started steering for me. Tes... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2024
Car stopped moving although still on, then had many flashing warnings. the "D" on the drive knob was flashing. Turned the car off and on a few times and eventually gor it moving then it tried to engage in its own determined speed! I only had a mile to get home so made it home with out it stopping again. The errors codes ( Vehicle alert) showing on my "Ford" app are: 1.precollison assist not ava... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
I was in a parking mode and was leaving the parking lot. I reversed my car lo leave, and the car went out of control and was not until it crashed on two other parked cars that came to a stop. Then, After reversing my car, when trying to put it into drive, it would not move. When I tried to turn it off, the engine (re) started again and it worked so I could clear the path for other cars and wait ... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 1, 2024
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
In the 2-1/2 years than I have owned and driven this vehicle, I've had no problems. On Saturday, [XXX], driving home from a 80 mile trip, as I deaccelerated to make a left turn onto my street (speed was 7mph) I tapped the break pedal and the vehicle went bonkers! The Sienna veered right at a high rate of speed that the front end cleared the curb; the back end smashed into the curb flattening... Read more
Incident date: Dec 15, 2023
When using FSD beta, vehicle would fail to stop for red lights. Vehicle also attempted to merge me both into a tractor trailer traveling the opposite direction and a jersey barrier. This is a very dangerous and unsafe system that will lead to many fatalities
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
The lead frame on my truck was experiencing issues. The truck would intermittently randomly downshift at high speeds or get stuck in one gear. I was going 65+ mph on the freeway and and my truck shifted to second gear with no warning causing me to swerve and slam on the brakes. Other times my truck did it on surface streets. There were no warning lights or anything to let me know it would happen. ... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 1, 2024
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
Our 2016 Chevy Malibu Hybrid intermittently began alerting of "Reduced Engine Power" and the accelerator would not allow the vehicle to accelerate. This happened twice, once on a busy highway that caused rapid deceleration of the vehicle. We brought the vehicle to the mechanic and there were a bunch of codes related to the accelerator position sensor. With parts and labor $415 to fix. Upon researc... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Lexus NX450H. The contact stated while pulling into a parking space, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated. The contact stated that the vehicle was several inches away from crashing into another vehicle before the contact was able to bring the vehicle to a complete stop. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 22, 2024
Second incident of loss of motive power at 37352 miles on the odometer. Vehicle was traveling on freeway and suddenly displayed message, "Stop Safely Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon." Accelerator pedal had no effect and vehicle began coasting. It was dangerous to coast across multiple lanes of freeway to reach an off-ramp with shoulder wide enough to stop the vehicle. We also had to make it over an... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2024
Vehicle suddenly stops and shows the message "Stop Safely Vehicle will shut off soon". Then the vehicle will lose all power and vehicle can crash with little prior warning when on the highway. This is very unsafe and a recall was performed on 1/17/2023 but the problem still persists over and over and is very unsafe. Once the warning happens about 2-5 seconds later the vehicle will shut-off and... Read more
Incident date: Mar 3, 2024
The car will be driving and just completely shut off in traffic power steering locks up. You can’t get the car into park. The windshield wipers go crazy the screen goes black. It starts doing clicking sounds I had to have the firemen come and get me out of the road my car stopped since the second time this is so dangerous, they cannot figure out what’s wrong with it I replaced the battery @ th... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLC 350
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Mar 31, 2024
Incident date: Mar 26, 2024
Started my car it was making a tapping noise. I tried driving home the noise got worse and my car didn’t want to accelerate very much. I noticed a recall for other 2018 Kia fortes as mine is doing exactly what others are but my car isn’t included in the recall. I think the recall outlook is bigger than imagined.
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2024) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Mar 31, 2024
Incident date: Mar 28, 2024
Transmission shifting hard, jerking and causing the engine to lose power causing road safety hazards fr e and others
Incident date: Mar 31, 2024
ABS module problems. Flashes to check service ABS and traction control. Then goes away and comes back. Been having issue for over a year with no results in fixing
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
This truck has suffered all sorts of issues relating to the lead frame inside of the transmission. This lead frame houses the speed sensor, range sensor ,and temperature sensor. With extensive repairs the issue keeps arising. Ive had 3 new Remanufactured transmissions installed im currently about 6,000 miles into my new transmission with the same issues. Erratic gear changes. Ex. 4th gear to 1st ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 29, 2024
Transmission will down shift to first while driving on highway. Code come up for transmission speed sensor short. Same as in the 2011 to 2013 models. That tab should be extended to later models. It is unsafe and could cause an accident/ death in high speed driving.
Incident date: Mar 28, 2024
The system of my car kept saying that low oil pressure and I was confused because I just got my car oil changed two weeks ago. So I went to Jiffy Lube to get my oil checked. They said it was full and that I had a mass flow light on and they stated that there was something wrong with the oil pressure due to the airflow or something, so then my car stopped on side of the road 2 minutes after I left ... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLC 300
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Mar 29, 2024
Incident date: Mar 28, 2024
Been inspected by the dealer. ABS modules as with many other owners cannot be replaced due to a lack of inventory on a vehicle less than 10 years old. Abs and traction control lights stay on as well as having the brakes locking up during wet conditions. It’s completely unsafe and too widespread for the company not to have a solution. Much less at the owners dime due to a flawed design.
Incident date: Mar 16, 2024
I was driving at 65 MPH on the freeway and the car was acting/driving normally. Without any warning at all, many lights appeared on the dashboard at the same time that the car placed itself into neutral and lost all power to drive. My speed was reduced so quickly without any notice and I had no pull out lane near me, so I was forced to move across 5 lanes of traffic in rush hour speeds of 60-85 MP... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
On three separate days (2/27, 3/18, 3/29), the vehicle has shown a message saying “Stop safely, Vehicle will shut off soon”. The ability to accelerate is cut off. This has happened twice while on the highway, requiring a move across lanes to pull over safely due to loss of acceleration. After turning the car off, the car is able to turn back. The check engine light remains on for the next trip... Read more