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: Jan 4, 2024
THE TRANSMISSION "BUCKING" DURING SPEED ACCELERATION. THIS CAUSES THE VEHICLE TO DE-ACCELERATE BEFORE ACCELERATING TO DESIRE SPEED. PROBLEM: PROGRAMIMG OF THE PCM FOR THE TRANSMISSION. ACCORDING TO THE DATA COLLECTED ON THE FORD FORUM THIS PROBLEM AFFECTS ALL FORD RANGER FOR 2019 MODELS.
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 7, 2024
Incident date: Dec 1, 2022
Engine check light came on on 1/4/24 took it to dealership they ran a quick check and they said it had multiple misfires. The car has a lot of carbon buildup and they recommend a 24 hour cleaning which will cost me over $700.00. The car stalls and starts shaking as I speed up. I don't feel that a care with less than 70,000 miles should have this problem. Mine also has now been using up the oil v... Read more
Incident date: Apr 6, 2022
My truck has an intermittent ABS light along with a traction control light and a message displaying Service antilock brake system and service electronic brake system. these lights also sometimes stay on until the next ignition cycle or even several ignition cycles. it also disables the cruise control as well causing an extreme loss of speed on the highway especially when traveling up steep grades.... Read more
Incident date: Sep 6, 2021
Our car was stopped and then engine started intermittently lunging forward for no reason. Rear ended the car in front of us and had to use the emergency brake to stop the car. Jeep Corp sent an independent inspector to check the car but only shared the car was drivable and didn't say there was a problem. They wouldn't share the computer findings with us or the dealer, only that is was drivable. ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 3, 2024
While driving on highways using adaptive cruise control, the vehicle will slow down quickly from highway speeds of 60 to 75 mph, down to 40 or 45 mph without the presence of an obstruction in front, such as a vehicle, or even a shadow, that could fool the vehicle’s camera. This puts us at risk of being rear-ended on the highway. The problem happens randomly. I have reported the issue to Tes... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
I was yielding to make a left hand turn , in the middle of the intersection, and my car turned off and wouldn’t turn back on. In addition the car occasionally jerks as I’m driving almost like if it changes gear. Sometimes I can’t get the car in park position I have to press the button multiple times. The recall going on right now can cause a fire crash or injury and they cannot replace the p... Read more
Incident date: May 11, 2023
When I start the engine, I switch the gear from parking to drive mode and give it a gas, but the gas doesn't reach the engine the way it should, then after it starts running super fast even if I barely give it a gas, the timing belt is now making a cranking noise. Dealers told me it was an engine problem inside the engine. The dealer mechanic are even very surprised why this happened and after aga... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2024
When driving on the interstate the truck suddenly downshifted causing the tires to lock up and the vehicle to swerve out of control. There is already a recall for this issue for Lead Frame in 2011-2013 vehicles. The recall needs to be extended to the 2014 model vehicles as well.
FORD
F-150 LIGHTNING BEV
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 6, 2024
Incident date: Jan 5, 2024
Car slams the brakes while on autopilot with no obstacles on the highway. Car speed reduced at least 20 miles for no reason. Weather was clear.
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
My car will lose all power as I'm driving, switch between gas/ elec and almost stall, it will accelerate when I take my foot OFF the gas , it will lose power on a turn.. it's random. form what I understand it's the BECM and it happened just after 100k miles. I have 105k.
Incident date: Jan 3, 2024
While driving at hwy speeds in the #2 lane the #1 lane to my left was closed with construction cones. I was in the lane with cruise control activated and driving at approx 70 mph with flow of traffic. I had been in this lane for a few miles when all of a sudden the car rapidly decelerated approx 10-15 mph in a very short distance. I took control of the acceleration by quickly taping my brakes. Lu... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2014) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 5, 2024
Incident date: Jul 20, 2023
When driving, the gas pedal will get stuck down and you will not be able to apply more pressure to the pedal to accelerate. This often happens when I go to change gear and then go back to the gas pedal to accelerate again. This typically will only happen from time to time but today it occurred every time I went to change gears. I had to pull over on the highway because I was unable to keep up with... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2014) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 5, 2024
Incident date: Jul 20, 2023
I got car accident on 12/22/23 due to brake failure. I was at Stop Sign - zero mph (at Parking Lot near shopping mall in Concord, CA), suddenly my car unexpectedly revved and lurched forward. It then jumped the parking curb. I had to control on steering wheel to the left because the right side was Chinese Restaurant. I tried to brake and press on "P". They did not work. My car hit one of the car t... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 2, 2024
It's its been about 4 times for myself and twice for my husband. When pulling out of parking lot onto busy street making a right hand turn, the car failed to accelerate so that I can merge onto the street. I almost got reareded twice because of this not being able to get up to speed. I have taken it to the dealer twice. The first time they told me there was a computer recall so he would do the... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Impala. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle and shifting to reverse, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact continued to reverse the vehicle and felt a pulling sensation. The "Traction Control" failure light illuminated. The contact decided to move forward and park the vehicle. After several hours, the contact restarted the vehicle ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
Was driving to work while raining.hit a water puddle hydroplaned, The stop brake warning light came,vehiical slammed on the brakes, and the steering wheel locked up. There where not other vehicals on the road.Rolled the vehical 3 times. On several occasions our honda van has slammed on the brakes without any vehicle or obstacle present.
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Oct 15, 2023
SUA Sudden unintended acceleration while making a U-turn to park in front of our home my wife, [XXX] was driving when the vehicle suddenly accelerated rapidly jumping the curb onto the sidewalk onto grassy front lawn then stopped. This was a ‘loaner’ vehicle from Volvo whom I called to have it towed back to them. Luckily there were no injuries or damages. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO TH... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2024
While driving, the vehicle display screen and lights start turning off and on. The warning lamp says " service trailer brake system" and the vehicle is unable to accelerate at all. Leaving me at a stand still in the middle of the road. It's a safely hazard because it happens suddenly and without warning and I am unable to move my vehicle so I'm just in the middle of the road. I haven't taken i... Read more
Incident date: Jan 3, 2024
I drove the car to work with no issues. I left work a little over 9 hours later. I was able to enter car without issues. Turned on car and didn’t notice any issues. My phone connected as usual via CarPlay and I navigated home. Leaving the work area is low speed, so I never exceeded 20 mph and just went by feeling, but once I was on a more open stretch of road, I noticed that the instrument clu... Read more
Incident date: Nov 30, 2023
When gas pedal is pressed starting from a stop, the jeep doesn’t move right away, then jerks forward. Also, when driving, it sounds like the automatic gear is not shifting up, sounds like the jeep is “reving up”. Another thing happening, is as I start moving, I hear a clunk sound, towards the rear of the jeep, like something might fall off
Incident date: Jan 4, 2024
The Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and the Hydraulic Control Unit (HCU) issue is present on my vehicle. The problem is intermittent and occurrences cannot be predicted, duration fault varies, sometimes repeatedly cycling fault/no fault/fault etc. When the fault occurs cruise control is either canceled (if active) or not available. Occurs at varios speeds. Please refer to NHTSA's open investiga... Read more
Incident date: Dec 19, 2023
I was pulling into a parking space at a slow speed and breaking when my car accelerated violently and caused me to go across a median and strike another parked vehicle. Police came and did a report. I took my car right away to dealer and they had me take it to their collision shop to be repaired. They said they would try to find the unintended acceleration problem after it was repaired. No warning... Read more
Crash
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE HYBRID
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 4, 2024
Incident date: Oct 2, 2023
Varias veces mientras conduzco en la ruta la velocidad permitida, el carro frena, pierde potencia el motor, el sistema de aceleración no responde, esas veces me salve de accidentes mortales junto a mi familia, reclame a toyota corporación indicar eso y para ellos no paso nada nunca tomaron en serio, mientras que el carro para reparar eso, paso más de 25 días en las veces que se daño xq práct... Read more
2 injured
Incident date: Jan 3, 2024
ICCU failed and Fuse failed, causing car to go into turtle mode, barely made it hope to have it towed to dealer
Incident date: Jan 3, 2024
There is an active parts recall for some Gladiators, Recall 26A, for the right rear axle shaft. This part on my vehicle has been failing for over 6 months. The ABS system, Traction Control, and 4WD system have active fault codes, preventing these systems from working as intended. In the last month, this problem has become unsafe due to 3 separate incidents where the traction control has triggered ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
ABS and Stability unit has failed, vehicle has 26160 miles . Dealer and manufacturer know of defect and refuses to provide any fix. This is a serious safety problem, and vehicle is unable to be used .
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
Abs failed 2nd time less than 10000 miles after first failure. First failure just before 36000 miles repaired under warranty. 2nd failure just before 46000 miles. No parts available est for repair $1000 to $2000 dollars. Truck now has 52869 on odometer. Failure affects cruise control, and maybe trailer brakes and traction control
Incident date: Jan 2, 2024
During highway driving, on two separate occasions that were two days apart, while using cruise control set to ~72MPH the vehicle suddenly tried to stop. It quickly decelerated by ~25MPH before I intervened by pressing the accelerator. There were no obstacles in the road and on the second instance there weren't any other vehicles in site (was in remote northern NH/VT). Had someone been driving behi... Read more
BABY JOGGER
CITYGO 2
(9999) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 3, 2024
Incident date: Dec 28, 2023
I was driving on a 2 lane road with cruise control engaged (not full auto pilot). As I approached an intersection with an oncoming semi-truck, the vehicle slammed on the emergency braking system slowing from 60 mph to 45 mph in about 30 feet. I think it is called phantom braking. I was driving into the sun at 2:45pm.
Incident date: Dec 29, 2023
Hcu system failed now trucks and system is messed up, can’t use cruise control and nervous too drive the truck for safety reasons. Dealer says it could be months for a new system
Incident date: Oct 26, 2023
My New 2023 Nissan Rogue encountered a warning "Engine Malfunction Power reduced Service Now" after the car was driven 4600 miles in July 28th 2023. The car did not accelerate higher than 15 miles/ hr with the warning and it was difficult to change lanes while driving the vehicle to Nissan Service at Jeff Wyler Nissan, Eastgate, Ohio - 45103. The warning light went off after the car was restarted... Read more
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 2, 2024
Incident date: Dec 31, 2023
This is a 'Stop Lamp Switch' issue. The car will randomly turn on the ABS light causing the ABS system to engage and not allow you to use the accelerator pedal. This is very dangerous as if you are about to merge on or off a highway the car does not allow you to correctly control your speed. This issue happens more prevalently at night time when the full beam headlights (auto or manually turn on w... Read more
Incident date: Dec 29, 2023
Car wouldn’t accelerate, could be problem if turning left into traffic. Trip to Florida, 1000 miles, the Engine accelerated by itself, one time the mph was into the 90’s before I got it under control. This happened 3 times on my drive Florida from Indiana
Incident date: Dec 24, 2023
December 24th at approximately 1100 hr. Driving normally on the Garden State Parkway Southbound approaching exit 98. The vehicle instantaneously began to shake out of control. I was able to keep the Vehicle in the travel lane and was able to pull over to the shoulder. I Vehicle pulled over to see if I was ok and explained the truck was front tires shaking violently. I did a pulmonary check under t... Read more
Incident date: Dec 29, 2023
UNKNOWN. MY VQN CAUGHT FIRE UNDER MY HOOD NOT SURE WERE IT CAME FROM.
Fire
Incident date: Dec 30, 2023
Cam Shaft (RECALL) sensor failure / tone wheel per the dealership. Truck lost all power descending off a mountain / steep grade. Lost steering, brakes, engine power. The vehicle has only been inspected by the dealership. Truck will not start, even have installing new parts. It was towed in to the dealer on 12/2/23. I am not able to get a solid answer on what needs to be done. Communication ha... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2023
There is an issue with the vehicle displaying the speed when operating. I have experienced this issue randomly over the past year. The speed is typically displayed on the information cluster screen above the steering wheel. I have photo and video of the issue but the Upload File button is not working on your website. The only resolution so far has been to restart the vehicle. It does not appear th... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
METAL-TO-METAL CLANK TO ENGINE. This is the last incident that occurred while traveling to my job in Richmond, Virginia and back home to Fredericksburg, Virginia on 12/20/23. I traveled a total of 100 miles that day. I have reported this same issue previously 4 times to Sheehy Ford of Ashland in Ashland, Virginia to the Service Shop Associates where I purchase my vehicle. They told me to continue ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 28, 2023
Driving on the freeway 70mph on cruise control. Not auto pilot. No one around us and no warning. Suddenly car applied brakes on its own and dramatically slowed. Good thing there was no one behind us or else there would have been an accident and we would have been badly injured. Monday Jan 1 2024 1:35pm
Incident date: Dec 20, 2023
We were driving down the road and the cluster screen went completely black. We couldn’t tell what speed we were going or any other information that gets displayed there. This is a very hazardous problem that should be looked into further.
Incident date: Dec 31, 2023
With the Ford Intelli-Cruise enabled in settings, the vehicle automatically adjust the speed while using the cruise control. The vehicle will randomly, quickly, accellerate to a extreme new speed limit it thinks it has detected. For instance, several times while travelling on I-81, with a 70mph speed limit, the vehicle will think the new speed limit is suddenly 85mph and quickly accelerate to tha... Read more
Incident date: Dec 31, 2023
The cars light notifications on instrument cluster panel turned on all of them at the same time while accelerating jerking the car on freeway I have video of that happening and can provide it upon request it did caused a minor accident but I settled the accident with other driver with cash with out involving insurance or police but the car is not being driven that much ever since accident it w... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 15, 2023
Car slowed down during traveling out of town. It appeared to lose power and we had to pull over. After trying to restart it nothing happened which caused us to call for help via AAA assistance!
Incident date: Nov 2, 2023
ABS/Traction Control warning alarm constantly going off, and affecting cruise control.
HONDA
ACCORD HYBRID
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Dec 31, 2023
Incident date: Oct 10, 2023
My vehicle keeps shutting down while I’m driving. It happened 5 times in the past week and twice today. It happens when I’m driving slow to make a turn or after the car has been stopped for a while (i.g. stop light and drive through window). Three out of five times were in areas where I could safely restart my car. The other two were in the middle of a busy expressway while making a turn and p... Read more
Incident date: Jun 19, 2018
Service park brake and service ESC lights are on, check engine on and motor making a knocking noise
Incident date: Dec 17, 2023
I purchased a new 2018 Ram Truck with an ECO Diesel engine. The engine has undergone multiple recall repairs including one for the EGR that could cause a potential fire hazard. The truck has been in service for multiple engine related issues since I purchased the vehicle. It has continuously had a rampant smell of antifreeze inside the cab of the vehicle which has made me feel sick on occasions ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 30, 2023
The ABS module is defective on my truck which controls the antilock brakes, Anti slip function, and the cruise control. Dealer ship has diagnosed problem and ordered parts but the parts have been on back order for quite sometime with no ETA from RAM when parts will be available. My dealer ship says they currently are wating on 25 parts for different vehicles with same problem.
Incident date: Apr 21, 2023
I think my transmission is messed up because my car stalls to go and my RPM jump up to 4/5 after I accelerate
Incident date: Dec 13, 2023
I was driving the car home from work and all of the warning lights on the dashboard came on- the check engine light, tire pressure light, traction control light, brake warning light, and the park emergency brake light. The "park" sign and p/r/d light lights were flashing. The car would not accelerate past 35 miles without it kicking back. I was terrified to drive the car on the interstate due to ... Read more