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: Sep 28, 2023
Vehicle randomly keeps accelerating past the set speed when cruise control is set. Problem was first noticed in March. Have a video of the cruise set at 69 mph and the vehicle continued to accelerate to 87 mph before I disengaged it. Vehicle has been to two different Hyundai dealers for the issue but were unable to duplicate or find the issue. One moth ago were on a road trip and the cruise would ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 18, 2023
Brakes front and rear suspension this suv has had rear struts put on within 2 months twice when coming to a stop it is hard to stop had front brakes rotors installed but when braking it continues for a minute then it stops I have had this suv checked and it's wearing brakes and rear end issues
Incident date: Jun 24, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Nissan Leaf. The contact stated that while parking the vehicle at low speeds, the vehicle suddenly accelerated on its own. As a result, the vehicle jumped the wheel stop, coming to a complete stop after colliding with a tree. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed, and no injuries were reported. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to th... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 27, 2023
I have been forced to stop using cruise control on my Tesla Model 3. Over the past few years, the car will repeatedly slam on the brakes for no good reason when I am driving on the highway. I understand this behavior is known as "phantom braking." The car will suddenly and unexpectedly drop speed by 10-20 mph on the highway. I am so worried that someone will rear-end my vehicle that I cannot use c... Read more
Incident date: Sep 25, 2023
Multiple times, the vehicle braked on its own while traveling eastbound on the Interstate 8 freeway between Yuma, AZ & Gila Bend, AZ. This was when no other vehicle or obstruction was on the freeway within a mile of the vehicle. The braking was very jarring, and if another vehicle was behind us it could have easily caused a high speed rear-end collision.
Incident date: Oct 6, 2023
URGENT: Date of near life & death situation.10-6-2023.This 2019 KL Cherokee lost accelerating power while in heavy traffic. As the car was losing speed the "D" drive indicator on center dash started flashing a moments later 2 messages displayed: Msg 1: Service transmission Restart in Park with vehicle @ zero speed. Msg 2: Shift to park or neutral Press brakes and select gear. (Center dash is the s... Read more
Incident date: Oct 19, 2020
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle independently jumped forward without the accelerator pedal being depressed. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 110,329.
Incident date: Sep 28, 2023
While pulling into a parking spot and coming to a halt, I put the car into park mode. My foot was still on the brake. Instantly the engine went into "overdrive" and lurched forward over a parking curb and through heavy brush and finally came to a stop after hitting a pine tree. The engine was still screaming and the tires still spinning until I hit the off button. I had my foot on the brake the en... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 5, 2023
ABS/Trac lights ding constantly with the dash displaying "service electronic stability" or something along those lines. ABS system becomes inoperable as well as kicking your cruise control off. Very unsafe and parts are not available for repair as well as Ram not taking recall action up to this point.
Incident date: Sep 29, 2023
The CVT component on these cars causes it to lose power and acceleration which can cause an bad accident..one morning while going to work i got onto the expressway and car did not want to acceleration and almost caused me to get into a collision with an 18 wheeler.. The next day i took it to an mechanic shop whereas they told me nothing was wrong with my car and i should contact nissan and complai... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle independently accelerated. The contact stated she avoided crashing into another vehicle however, the vehicle struck the curb before coming to a stop. The contact stated that the front passenger’s side tire was damaged and became flattened. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic... Read more
Incident date: May 12, 2023
This issue started at approximately 19,500 miles. While accelerating to enter a highway or to pass a vehicle going less than 55mph on a two-lane, Service ESC light appeared on dash. Loss or power was also immediate and if I tried to accelerate to maintain speed, engine was very rough in responding with no acceleration. Engine continued to run. Within 30 seconds or so, acceleration is restored, and... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
ABS / TRACTION CONTROL LIGHT ON IN THE DASH. CRUISE CONTROL INOP. THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE, IN FACT 2019-2022 TRUCK HAD A RECALL ISSUED. RAM NEEDS TO ADDRESS THIS SAFETY ISSUE
Incident date: Aug 7, 2023
2011 Kia Sportage engine stalling/failure. Has been having oil pressure/heating/oil feed line/consumption issues. Taken to a Kia dealership on multiple occasions for all routine maintenance, including every 3000 oil changes. Owner was told that a catalytic converter was needed in 2021 due to engine stalling/ failure while driving 55-60mph on highway to a rapid deceleration and vehicle would go >20... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2023
See attached document from complainant
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 5, 2023
Incident date: Oct 4, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Kia Niro. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine revved up. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle was slow to respond. Eventually, the vehicle shifted into gear and started to move. The contact stated that the check HEV and turn off engine error messages were displayed. The vehicle was taken to the lo... Read more
Incident date: Sep 28, 2023
My car would not accelerate over 40 mph randomly after work. Once i noticed and tried to shift to a lower gear the car did not shift gears at all. When these things first happened there was no indicator lights on. The next morning the check engine light came on and the code pulled was P0720. After finding a repair shop to look further into the issue I was advised the car needed a new transmission ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
Driving at highway speed, vehicle gauges drops to zero and transmission stays at 3rd gear. Unable to know what travel speed is while trying to exit safety off highway. Have to turn off engine to reset issue, but no way to figure out what happened.
Incident date: Sep 14, 2023
ABS and traction control lights come on intermittently and a chime sound occurs. When this happens cruise control stops working. Getting a “Service Electronic Braking System” message and “Service Antilock Brake System” message. Had to wait three weeks to get an appointment for dealer to troubleshoot. Dealer said it has code C0020-01 logged. Dealer says the Hydraulic Control Unit (HCU... Read more
Incident date: Sep 10, 2023
I was pulling into a parking space very slowly when the car went into overdrive and suddenly accelerated at a high speed. It plunged down a slight decline and hit a large tree. My airbag failed to deploy although I was thrown violently forward, and the car sustained severe front end damage. The car is considered a total loss and I spent a day at a hospital emergency room. The sudden unexpected acc... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Sep 28, 2023
While driving without notice transmission light flashes and the 2011 Dodge Durango will not shift out of gear. I have had this problem in the past and told dealer but they always say they have no codes and on test drive cant confirm the issue. The first time it happened was around the 50 000 mile mark I thought nothing of it back then as I restarted the car it went away. Over the years it go worst... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2021
Shortly after leasing the vehicle in December of 2022 I noticed the transmission would slip when accelerating. It also jumps when down shifting as I'm slowing down - as well as after place the car into drive. I did bring the vehicle back to GMC in early 2023 explaining the aforementioned. I was told that there was too much transmission fluid which was the causing the issues I was experiencing. The... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2023
On several occasions (roughly 5 separate and unique incidents), the vehicle put itself into neutral (N) while driving. There are instances when the vehicle was in motion and others when it is at a stop. The screens in the dashboard cluster and in the center of the front dashboard go blank momentarily and the transmission changes from drive (D) to neutral (N) without any apparent cause or any warni... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2023
My 2018 3500 Dully with 34,000 miles started having an issue with the ABS, Traction Control and Eletronic Brack control systems. While driving the truck on a trip, the Traction Control, and ABS lights started coming on intermittently and the check Eletronic Brack control came on at the same time and it too flashed intermittently. Also, while this is happening, the cruise control does not work. T... Read more
FORD
BRONCO SPORT
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 3, 2023
Incident date: Dec 21, 2021
Twice since hitting 50k miles, my high pressure fuel pump has failed, resulting in complete and sudden loss of power midst driving. VW says that it is a warranty issue, but, has no real guidance or promise that it will be fixed. I DO NOT feel comfortable driving the vehicle until we know WHY this issue is happening and how to fix.
Incident date: Oct 3, 2023
I was on my way to work. When I came to the stop sign to turn on the main road. I felt my car jerk. I thought it was weird and kept driving anyways. Then I noticed the resistance was gone from the gas pedal and it went straight to the floor. So I came to the stop light and kept my foot on the brake. When the light turned green and I had let go of the brakes. My car was accelerating on its own. I h... Read more
Incident date: Mar 27, 2023
driving with no foot on gas and the jeep suddently lurched forward. unintended acceleration is what it was. the first time this happened was in October 2022 and i was in a basement parking garaged and ended up in the wall with the air bags deploying. it took 5 months for the jeep to be repaired. it happened again this morning, October 3, 2023 while going to the gym at 5 am. there were no vehicles... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
The transmission makes a Clunking sound when i put it in Drive or Reverse gear, plus it slips between gears when i start to drive off and it hesitates to shift between gears
Incident date: Oct 2, 2023
My ABS and Traction control warning lights and Chime continue to come on and off while driving. Replaced the anti brake Hydraulic Brake Controller two years ago and now the same problem. I read that there are quite a few of the same model trucks having the same problem!
Incident date: Sep 5, 2023
While braking for a red light the car jerked sporadically as it slowed with normal braking applied but the brakes delayed while vehicle jerked and lunged forward. Vehicle lunged forward into the intersection even further past the red light while brake was compressed aggressively, lunged forward 2-3 feet. Then engine died after it lunged forward. Took 2 attempts to restart car and had to rev the... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
Error message reads "Engine Power Reduced". I was on the highway and suddenly the engine gives out and only lets me go to a max capacity of 20 mph. I able to safely remove myself to the side of the freeway. A week later without moving my vehicle I checked to see the status of my car and the error message removed itself. It's been over a year now with my engine power coming and going, just as fast ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TAOS
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 2, 2023
Incident date: Feb 2, 2022
The ABS light, Traction light, and Brake light all come on and simultaneously. I've been told that the ABS Module is bad and needs to be replaced. The fact that the module needs to be replaced concerns me since there are prior recalls for ABS Module with other Dodge, Ram, and Chrsyler makes and models.
Incident date: Jun 12, 2023
The abs and traction control light are flashing on and off SEVERAL times especially when on a rough road. It kicks my cruise off and sometimes stays on which locks the diff and disengages any ABS functions resulting in the loss of braking performance and capability.
FORD
F-150 HYBRID
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 2, 2023
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? ******Speed Control- Vehicle will stall while on road/ highway causing rear vehicles to brake. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? *****Several times I was forced to pull over to side lanes to avoid being rear ended. *****Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a deale... Read more
Incident date: Sep 14, 2023
We are having downshifting issues and the speed is randomly changing. The truck came to a stop while still driving. The speedometer doesn’t reflect accurate to the truck speed.
Incident date: Sep 27, 2023
I am 86 years old. I bought the car brand new so I am the original owner. I have kept the car perfectly maintained and garaged from the day I bought it. My wife is also 86. She and I are the only ones that drive the car. To date, it has 73,822 miles on it. The main issue I am having is random, unpredictable stalling and hesitation when trying to accelerate. We have also had unintende... Read more
Incident date: Sep 29, 2023
At 2:00 on a clear afternoon I was slowly coasting into a right hand turn into a parking space, and lightly tapping the brake to finalize the stop, when the car accelerated HARD forward over a curb and a sidewalk into the brick wall of a building. Airbag was deployed. My injuries were a nasty wrist contusion and bloody gashes where the airbag "door" deployed and I also had complete seatbelt brus... Read more
Crash
1 injured
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2020) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 2, 2023
Incident date: Aug 2, 2023
We were driving on the highway and attempting to change lane when the engine ceased to work properly, the vehicle would not excelerate and a indicator with a crowbar came on. As we begin to steer toward the shoulder of the road we narrowly avoided getting hit by cars behind us. The car then begin to work again. We took it to the dealer who ran a diagnostic and stated there is no problem but the ve... Read more
Incident date: Sep 27, 2023
ABOUT 50 MILES IN DURING A ROAD TRIP, CVT TRANSMISSION FAILED. SLUGGISH WHEN ACCELERATING, WOULD NOT ACCELERATE PAST 40 MPH. GEAR WOULD NOT RELEASE TO REVERSE OR PUT INTO PARK TO SHUT THE VEHICLE OFF. HAD TO FIND AN OPEN FIELD IN ORDER TO TURN AROUND AND DRIVE BACK HOME DUE TO NOT BEING ABLE TO REVERSE. PROCEEDED BACK WITH FLASHERS ON AT A LOW RATE OF SPEED. WHEN I REACHED HOME, I PUSHED THE ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 2, 2023
Sudden loss of throttle control. Fist incident I had left my house and ridden a 1/2 mile and the throttle suddenly became unresponsive. The motorcycle then after restart would only go aprx 10-15mph with throttle applied. I replaced the battery as it was 3yrs of age. Motorcycle then operated normally for the next trip aprx 5 miles. The following day as I went to turn left and enter a roadway in a g... Read more
Incident date: Oct 2, 2023
The Driver Assistance System fails. Specifically, the cruse control, parking assistance, blind spot monitor, display of other objects, lane identification, stop sign or traffic light recognition and other safety features fail repeatedly.
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
On left hand turns only never right turns, if you are going over 30 mph the ABS/Stability controls turns on and make the wheels wobble and slows it down in the turn. This abrupt slow down cause vehicles behind me to slam on breaks because there is no brake lights warning them of the slow down. I took it to a shop and after a month in the shop, they replaced the yaw rate sensor which did not fix th... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2020
Acceleration to the engine malfunction no power to engine going excessive speeds on interstate failure light appeared car shut off one stopped car turn right back on. I’ve reported this incident of the last two years to the dealership GMC to 2016 Chevy Malibu that has already had this instance back in 2019 and now has occurred at once again mileage since the last engine was replaced is 10,000 mi... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2022
All of a sudden while driving on the road my vehicle lost total power in the middle of an intersection. I would pres the gas pedal and got no response the vehicle would not go. I had to turn car off and try starting it again then the vehicle got power. This keeps happening not everyday but it's happening about once a week while driving. There has been times where the car wouldn't restart for about... Read more
Incident date: Sep 29, 2023
Everytime the truck is driven I hear an audible chime multiple times over the trip with corresponding ABS and Traction control lights that say the systems aren't functioning. Multiple times I have experienced full lock up of all wheels while on snowy or wet roads. The chimes and flashing lights always come and go while rarely staying illuminated for more than 5 minutes, however at times will fla... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
While driving on the highway, I had set the cruise control to max 65 mph. After some time it suddenly set the cruise control to max 35 mph and suddenly reduces the speed even though all front vehicles were running around 65 mph. It was incredibly dangerous and the vehicle behind me was about to hit.
Incident date: Sep 20, 2023
I was driving at a very slow speed of 1 mile per hr as I entered into the Kohls complex in Pleasanton ca. Then as I was pulling the car to a parking spot, all of a sudden I felt the car accelerated on me. My foot was always on the break and I pressed the break but the car still accelerated at a speed I had no control and it went over the parking bump and hit 2 cars that was parked opposite. I felt... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 30, 2023
Dear NHTSA, I am writing to report a serious safety issue with my 2023 Kia Sorento, purchased in February 2023 from Ken Garff Kia Avondale. In July 2023, I began experiencing alarming issues, including flashing lights, dashboard error messages, and malfunctions, despite the vehicle being unused for several days with no visible damage. The air conditioning system malfunctioned, blowing hot air eve... Read more
Incident date: May 29, 2023
HELP! I now regret that I bought a Hyundai Ioniq 5. I hoped the recent campaign would fix my problem, but I think it is now worse. While driving my speed drops 3 to 4 miles per hour, then the car lurches forward to regain my speed. At first I thought it was when using cruise. Now the car does it on the highway even when not using cruise. When it starts dropping the speed, the accelerator is... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE SPORT
(2017) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 30, 2023
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
I was driving on the highway last night again and my 2022 Kia Sorento SX Prestige AWD lost engine power and the check engine light immediately came on. The truck would intensely vibrate when I tried to push the gas to get over to the highway shoulder. This was extremely unsafe on a highway but I was able to pull over to the shoulder and stop the car and turn it off. When I turned it on, the check ... Read more