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: Nov 11, 2023
I was driving on the highway going 70MPH in 6th gear. Myself, my wife, and my 6th month old son were on our way to a doctors appointment when in the middle lane on the highway my truck decided to completely downshift into 1st gear. With doing so my truck locked up and I lost control of the vehicle almost colliding with a semi. I was very lucky to not have wrecked and got onto the shoulder safely w... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2017) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 26, 2024
Incident date: Feb 26, 2024
Incident happened one time. Starting car in cold weather (around 25 degrees) after it hadn't been driven in 2 days. The odometer/gas display was black at start up. After a few minutes the gauge lights came on but the digital display was gibberish. I started to drive and once the car warmed up after several minutes the digital display was working as it should and recording milage and acceleration/... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
When driving down the road and it does not matter what speed I am going, is when this issue is happening to most. I will be driving and out of the blue the tachometer will just drop to zero (0) and I lose all power and the vehicle starts shaking vigorously back and forth until it decides what gear the transmission wants to be in. It is doing this every single day, and it almost made me wrecked the... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2022
The vehicle display reads "Service Charging System" and switches into limp mode where the vehicle is prevented from driving faster than 15 mph. After leaving the van sit for a time, it drives ok. I took the van to a Chrysler dealership twice after this happened, and the dealership could not resolve the issue. After the second time this happened, the dealership contacted an engineer at Chrysler ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 18, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated while driving 50-65 MPH, the vehicle stalled and decelerated to a complete stop with several unknown warning lights flashing on the instrument panel. The vehicle was restarted and operated normally. The contact drove the vehicle to the dealer where several fault codes were reset. The contact continued to experience the failure and return... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Kia Telluride. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle did not accelerate as intended. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated before accelerating. The contact stated that the failure started while the vehicle was in snow mode and then the contact noticed that the failure was occurring while in other s... Read more
Incident date: Feb 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Rogue. The contact stated that while driving at 55 MPH, the vehicle began to jerk. The RPM increased, but the vehicle failed to accelerate. The RPM decreased, and the RPM went to the correct level. After reaching an approximate speed of 40 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate further. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact called the local deale... Read more
Incident date: Feb 24, 2024
Three times now over the past 4 months, including an incident yesterday, when I try to accelerate from a stop, the car just rolls forward slowly as if in neutral, but there is zero acceleration power for about 5 seconds, and then it engages and accelerates like normal. There are no warning lights, no codes, no nothing at all, including acceleration power. The car acts as if everything is fine, but... Read more
Incident date: Feb 25, 2024
Ever since I purchased this 2008 CTS vehicle, I have dumped thousands of dollars to repair the vehicle even after the "recall repairs". Problems persist and the car has become more dangerous than ever. The vehicle had inspected by the dealership a number of times the first 5 years of ownership the first 3, listed below, were the replaced recalls from dealership, the rest are known safety issues... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
On about 5 occasions, when I have set the drive mode to "Snow Mode", after a stop, the accelerator pedal has no effect. I can push down the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor and nothing happens. There is no indication that the engine is revving and the vehicle does not accelerate. This leave me stranded in the middle of the road at a stop until I change to a different mode other that snow... Read more
Incident date: Feb 25, 2024
Vehicle dies while driving in traffic. Has done this since I bought it. Very unsafe. I have had my car since march 2022. While driving it says engine power reduced, traction control, stabli track, and loses power and I have to try to safely make sure I get it off the road. After it dies it won't start. I have to get tow truck to bring it home. Then next day it starts fine sometimes. Very unsafe. ... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2024) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 24, 2024
Incident date: Feb 20, 2024
Forward driving aids disabled, front sensor blocked, malfunction Issue confirmed by dealer 3 sensors replaced Problem continues
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS CROSS SPORT
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 24, 2024
Incident date: Jun 30, 2023
I tried taking out the car and It completely stalled and went into neutral when driving . Ford has a recall for ford focus 2014-2016 but apparently mines not one.
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
On [XXX], I was driving on [XXX] near Pasadena at normal speed of traffic when suddenly an error message “Hybrid System Malfunction” appeared on the dash board along with check engine light, and the car began to stall slowing down to nearly full stop almost immediately. When I pressed gas pedal, it would not accelerate. Because I was in the far right lane, I had just about enough time to pu... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ARTEON
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 23, 2024
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
Second time, the car has basically shut down. Brake assist, ABS and traction control lights on. Stabilitrak Service light. Had to slow down to 25 miles an hour because it was shaking so bad and limped it home. Last time they said it was a bearing in one of the tires. Also states said it has multiple misfires. Having it towed tomorrow to see what it is now.
Incident date: Nov 27, 2023
i bought my jeep compass 2018 5 months ago and is a defected car and has been getting into issues and the dealer ship no cooperating at all and car now is parked cuz the TCM denied (transmission control module )also the engine coolant revoir broke suddenly and they made me pay for that when I don't really drive and the car came like that and I don't know what to do the people at the dealership..... Read more
Incident date: Jan 20, 2024
DEF fluid froze leaving crystals that obstructed computer reading of DEF tank. This would have forced vehicle into emergency 5 mile an hour limp mode. Taken to local Dodge/Ram dealer that had nearly THIRTY other diesel trucks with same problem ahead of me. Once repaired to OEM specs, the service manager stated it will happen again. Dodge/Ram acknowledges this has been an issue for years. In Alaska... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2024
I purchased a brand new 2023 Santa Fe hybrid in August 2023. So far, on four separate occasions (Oct ‘23, Dec ‘23, Jan ‘24, Feb ‘24) I have lost accelerator/gas pedal power while driving down the highway. There is no warning, no lights on dash, nothing. I just all of the sudden lose power. On one occasion in particular, [XXX], I was driving on the highway with my 5 year old in the back sea... Read more
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
My vehicle incorrectly read highway number signs as though they were speed limit signs. This occurred eight times on state highway [XXX] in Florida; and once on state highway [XXX]. The speed limit was actually 55 mph on highway [XXX]. If I would have had “Predictive Speed Assist” turned on, and was using adaptive cruise control, it would have automatically decelerated to 40, +/- whatever ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 22, 2023
The ABS light continuously comes on and off, especially when hitting a bump or going down a gravel road. Traction control light and ABS light will come on and off which ultimately causes a lack of control when roads are icy or wet. It's especially dangerous while in tow.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
Back in February my Tesla Model 3 started acting up Emergency Brake was disabled, automatic vehicle hold was disabled, and traction control was disabled all issues I reported to the company app with photo. This problem stated when a software update happened after the Tesla app requested it.
Crash
Incident date: May 10, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Honda Accord. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle shut off independently. Additionally, while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle decelerated to 0 MPH. The transmission warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the Lane Keep Assist became inoperable. The contact was able to pull over safely. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The v... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
I was pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant and stopped briefly to decide where to park. When lightly applying the throttle to pull into a parking space the engine revved up, the bike surged, and my wife and I crashed into a picnic area. This GL1800 DCT motorcycle has no clutch lever or foot shifter because it has a 7-speed automatic transmission. Therefore it wasn't possible to stop the ra... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Feb 9, 2024
The ABS and Traction control lights began to flash and the alarm began to come on intermittently in 2021. I took the truck to the dealer for repairs because the ABS, Traction Control and Cruise Control were not working. The repair cost was $1,00.00 at my expense. The problem has recently returned and is going to need repaired at my expense again. The ABS system not working causes a safety concern ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 14, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving from a complete stop and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle made an abnormal grinding sound and accelerated unintendedly. The contact depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact depressed the brake pedal continuously until the vehicle stopped. There was no warning light illuminated. The ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2021
I was told by dealership that due to the boosters transmitting radio frequencies in rural areas that it interferes with the adaptive cruise control. I have gone on 3 trips where this causes the front assist and cruise control to disengage at highway speeds. Had someone been behind me they would have rear-ended my vehicle. In 6 months has happened three times but the dealership has not been able... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
METRIS
(2017) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 22, 2024
Incident date: Feb 22, 2024
I’m having two continuous, multiple incident, problems that the dealership swears up and down do not exist. I have tried calling the dealership multiple times, and the national Honda customer service line. Problem number one, sudden, breaking while driving at highway speed with no vehicle or other objects in front of me. Second problem is the adaptive cruise control no longer is activated on the... Read more
Incident date: Feb 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to overtake another vehicle, the vehicle failed to accelerate as needed. The contact was able to drive to the shoulder. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence. On another occasion while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 22, 2024
Have reported multiple times the safety hazard with the unnacuracy of the mileage given per charge. Vehicle will drain through battery leaving motorist standard. When using self drive option vehicle will not stay in appropriate lanes. Vehicle will overheat on battery and start making concerning sounds while driving. When reported to Tesla they acknowledged the issue but have failed to fix the issu... Read more
Incident date: Feb 20, 2024
When car came to a stop at a red light I put my foot on the gas once the light turned green. When I tried to proceed through the light my car was at a complete stall. I had to then place the car in park, power the car off and then power the car back on. The other car behind me almost ran into the back of my car due to the light was green. When I contacted the dealership the service department they... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 2023
I was on the highway during traffic hour going approximately 40 mph at 2 rpm and when I tried to accelerate to keep up with the flow of traffic, the car did not accelerate and actually slowed down and suddenly shifted down below 1 rpm which caused the oncoming cars behind me to hit their brakes hard. After it slowed down and did not accelerate, even though I pressed the gas pedal further, it sudde... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 2023
This incident is reported by a law office. The car being driven by our client was a TESLA Model 3 which made a SUDDEN UNEXPECTED ACCELERATION when our client was slowly looking for a parking space at a parking lot. The TESLA car suddenly accelerated at a high rate of speed without client pressing on the accelerator. On the contrary, our client was stepping on the brakes in an attempt to stop it bu... Read more
Crash
4 injured
Incident date: Feb 3, 2024
Since new, maybe once a month, Cruise control idiot light comes on and flashes until car is turned off. usually no bother but one day it started braking without me and I bought the DUMB base model!!! before extended warranty expires, this august, hopefully dealer will replace wheel speed sensors on rear wheels. not sure if this will fix problem. I have asked them to check this six or seven t... Read more
Incident date: Feb 21, 2024
Vehicle speedometer working it radically
FORD
ESCAPE HYBRID
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 21, 2024
Incident date: Feb 21, 2024
My 2013 F150 downshifted abruptly from 5th to 1st gear going 55. This caused me to stop dangerously and abruptly. It then got stuck in 1st gear. I turned off truck and restarted and it was stuck in 3rd gear. I did have a check engine light read which were codes: P0720/p0721/p0720 pointing to the output shaft speed sensor. I had Ford dealership TSB performed in 2020 to reprogram PCM to prevent thi... Read more
Incident date: Jan 18, 2024
P1. On or about Feb 9, Power Train transmission, Modular’s. While traveling about 40mph the truck shifted suddenly to low gear, and the water pump blew resulting in steam or smoke from engine hood. Automatic shifting was not possible, after slowing to 5-10 mph check if mauls shifting was an option. All gears L1 L2…were replaced with ‘L’. P2 March 2023 to presented 2024, the vehicle wil... Read more
Incident date: Dec 6, 2023
My vehicle's throttle position sensor malfunctioned while I was driving on a busy highway at 55-60MPH, causing it to suddenly enter limp mode and display the error code P2138. This resulted in a rapid and unsafe reduction of speed to 30MPH, then down to 15MPH posing a hazard to myself and other drivers. Despite replacing both the gas pedal and the sensor itself in an attempt to rectify the issue, ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 11, 2023
The vehicle hesitates like it doesn’t want to get up to speed, despite pressing the gas pedal to accelerate. The RPM needle bounces. Dealership has not been able to “replicate the hesitation I feel when accelerating.” They originally tried to say I didn’t tell them the problem was happening when it had time to warm up, which is a lie, I have all the scheduling notes made by the employee wh... Read more
Incident date: Oct 23, 2023
While driving in the highway I took my foot off the accelerator and despite one pedal driving being on the car did not brake. I then tapped the brake. When I then pushed the accelerator to keep up with traffic, nothing happened. I checked the screen for warning lights. The car had none. The accelerator pedal was non responsive causing a huge safety issue for me and others on the road as the car wa... Read more
Incident date: Feb 20, 2024
Recently started having erratic shifting issues. Will downshift randomly out of nowhere while driving. Sometimes will just be stuck in 1st gear and won’t go anywhere until I pull over and shut off/start up again. Dangerous because I never know when it will do it. Might seem like everything is fine and then all of a sudden, it downshifts and loses power. Rpm’s rise but car has no power. Have t... Read more
Incident date: Feb 16, 2024
Service abs system and traction control
Incident date: Nov 21, 2023
engine failed due low engine oil pressure not getting oil pressure for an extensive amount of time. low oil pressure caused the rod bearing to fail causing internal engine failure. I was driving on the freeway going on 65mile per hour when I have loss the control of the vehicle i almost died thank god there was not near other vehicles
Incident date: Jan 9, 2024
On almost a daily basis, with the cruise control set to maintain speed (vs the option of advanced speed control that will adjust to signs), the car will inexplicably and quite randomly decelerate aggressively at highway speeds. On four separate occasions just today (although it happens at least once or twice a day), with the cruise set to 70 MPH, the car will randomly decelerate aggressively or... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
GL450
(2014) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 19, 2024
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
This was unintentional acceleration case: When I got into the parking space, the car was almost stopped and I was about to press the park button (gear) and the car suddenly accelerated and in a fraction of a second, climbed the curb, crashed into the fence, broke the fence and crushed on a tree. I was still applying brake to stop it and I could not do anything else. The following facts show tha... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Feb 19, 2024
The abs system failed and caused the cruise control to not function as well as the trailer brakes not operating. It has been inspected by a certified ram dealership in Corscanna, Tx and confirmed that the abs system is out. The abs warning lights comes on and off, on a 30 mile trip it will come on and off 15 or 20 times. This started in May of 2023 on a planned trip of 330 miles pulling a 10,00... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
I have ford escape 2018 S and I bought the car from koons ford silver spring MD. It is unfortunate whenever I drive the car for long hours ; suddenly the acceleration declines and the vehicle loose its power. And a strange click sound comes up and the check engine light on. Once I parked the car and the car cool down --the warning system disappear. I tried to contact the dealership and I was told ... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2015) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 19, 2024
Incident date: Feb 19, 2024
The Power Brake Vacuum Assist Failure nearly caused a wreck. The part failed while we were driving on [XXX] going 65 miles per hour on a busy highway. As the breaks gave out the engine light said “Reduced Power”. Moments later, the breaks stopped working and the engine stopped running. We were able to coast off the highway and into an HEB parking lot and have the vehicle towed. The mecha... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
C300
(2012) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Feb 19, 2024
Incident date: Feb 19, 2024
While driving on the highway, the computer system shut down and all screens went black. The car still drove but none of the controls worked anymore. We could not roll the windows down or turn the fans or a/c on and it was summer so the interior of the car immediately became unbearably hot. We pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so and turned the car off and back on. The system came on partial... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2024
When towing a trailer with my Rivian R1T on interstate 75 I set my cruise control while going with the speed of traffic at approximately 60 mph. Instead of cruise control setting at the speed I was traveling, it instead sets at the posted speed limit. In most conditions, this wouldn't create a hazard as adaptive cruise control would keep the vehicle from accelerating more than the speed the vehi... Read more