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: Dec 14, 2022
Sometimes the cruise control works. Sometimes it doesn't work. Even after vehicle is warmed up still no resolution. Engine oil disappears without notice or warning.
Incident date: Sep 12, 2023
Car will go into reverse but won’t move. Car will not go over 2500 RPM and won’t go over 11 MPH
Incident date: Sep 4, 2023
It happened in a parking lot around 8:20 pm on 09.13.23. When I slowly moved to parking space car suddenly accelerated, jumped over raised pavement for pedestrian walking, hit parked car on the other side of walking path, continue going with uncontrollable high speed across the parking, then car slowed down and I finally parked. Woman who witnessed accident and called the police told the police of... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 15, 2023
While driving on a freeway on Sep 15th 2023, wrench light showed up and immediately vehicle speed dropped from 65 to 30mph. This is second time this issue has happened and luckily my family survived accidents. First incident occured on Aug 13th 2023, after which i towed my vehicle to dealership. They repaired and said its safe to drive now. But issue is recurring. Please help me on this as I am re... Read more
Incident date: Sep 16, 2023
Abs and traction control lights are on. Cruise control will not work when lights are on. Lights go on and off with chime very annoying. Brakes will not function properly when lights are on. Contacted dealer no eta on parts. Almost 2 years now. Contacted dealer before warranty was out. Next time I went to ask I got another service rep and he said my warranty is out. This is not good.
GMC
SIERRA 2500
(2011) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 16, 2023
Incident date: Jun 27, 2023
On or about [XXX], the Transmission Control Module, FAILED, on my 2011GMC Denali 2500 6.6 diesel. It was a KNOWN faulty part .General Motors was aware of the issue years ago. This part should have been deemed a Safety Recall item. Imagine, pulling a trailer down a busy Freeway, with Semi's presence. Module goes out, truck goes idle, people hurt or worse. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREED... Read more
FORD
TRANSIT CONNECT
(2014) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 16, 2023
Incident date: Jan 10, 2023
ABS module has gone out 3 times since I bought the truck new. Without the ABS system working properly the stopping distance could be reduced. Dealer has acknowledged the problem, saying they had a bad batch of parts but that seems to be incorrect. Looks to be a bad design with the number of these problems on these year model trucks. The dealer has already replaced the part twice and it’s gone ou... Read more
Incident date: May 15, 2023
There have been several incidents that have to do with the electrical components site, such as the adaptive cruise control not working the lanes assist going off, stating that my hands are on the wheel. When my hands are on the wheel, there have been problems when I go to put it in drive. It'll switch back to park and throw on my parking brake. It has also the auto breaking lights have. Come on, ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2023
I bought a brand new tesla, only to find out that it was not emitting any sound slowly driving forward, but only when in reverse. I read through the cars manual and there it says the car should make a sound moving forward under 19mph, to warn pedestrians of the oncoming tesla (my car). If the car does not do that, then to immediately contact Tesla service. I did that and Actually so was there at m... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
SLK350
(2005) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 15, 2023
Incident date: Sep 15, 2023
Two days ago I was pulling into a parking spot in a shopping center. The car suddenly accelerated forward and I hit a concrete parking block. This is the third time over the past 7 months that this has occurred, where the car suddenly accelerates when in a low speed. After the first time it happened, I called the dealership to ask if any other customers had this issue, but they said no. For them t... Read more
Crash
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2017) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 15, 2023
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
The Jeep transmission wont go into gear, loses power ,wont go into reverse, speeds up on its own and doesn't go into drive or losses power
Incident date: Sep 7, 2023
first evidence of a problem had to deal with the accelerator pedal A new pedal was installed. .The engine would start but only idle, truck would not move when put into drive .It had to be towed .Then it was something about a door sensor .It was replaced .Then the brake fluid problem started. It used 2 full quarts with no drips on the floor . Now I am told that the brake booster / hydraulic system... Read more
Incident date: Sep 7, 2023
A few months after I bought this vehicle I started getting abs and traction control lights intermittently. Fast forward a year and it has progressed. Now while I’m driving every few seconds I get and audible chime and lights on the dash. This is constant and extremely irritating and distracting. It is also unsafe. I’m constantly driving which no ABS, no traction control and no cruise control. ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
The ABS light came on and went off intermittently, which also disabled the cruise control when the light was on. Eventually the light stayed on. Most recently the start button quit working properly. We have had it at the dealership twice with no results. We have talked to the dealership many times and been getting the run around. The latest was today and was told the parts are back ordered until 2... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
The differential broke. I was unable to accelerate on the road; it froze up. I had to pull over and couldn't drive it. I was just outside of the HOnda dealer when it happened. I took it to the Honda Dealer Service Center in MD and this was their diagnosis.I didn't take it anywhere else. There were no warnings except I heard rattling when I was at a lower speed the same afternoon about 3 hours earl... Read more
NISSAN
PATHFINDER
(2011) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 14, 2023
Incident date: Feb 9, 2023
I am getting a warning on this dash telling me that I need to "service electronic braking system". When this message comes up I lose my ABS brakes, cruise control and I get a traction control warning light. Sometimes this will stay on for weeks and then go off for a day and start all over again. When the road is wet you have to be careful with the brakes. I went to the local dealer in Bryan, ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2023
No accident has happened but I have had the Anti-lock brake module go bad in my truck and it has disabled cruise control, anti-lock brakes and traction control. So basically just old fashion standard braking is all that is working. Took it to the dealership and they told me the part is on hold by Ram for review by their engineers. So I called Ram directly and they said it is under review but they ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2022
Im owner of Mercury Sable 2005 only 79000 miles..The car problem speed control idle over 2200 so high when stop red light have to brake pedal to slow the vehicle down, and the vehicle failed to accelerrate..
Incident date: Aug 14, 2023
The contact owns a 2008 Saturn Aura. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, the brake lights intermittently failed to illuminate. The brake lights occasionally illuminated without the brake pedal being depressed. The contact stated that the vehicle was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V252000 (Electrical System, Exterior Lighting, Vehicle Speed Control, Electrical Stability ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that the vehicle randomly accelerated. The RPM had increased to a high level. The 4WD service message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the PTU needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, there was an... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
E300
(2017) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 14, 2023
Incident date: Sep 13, 2023
The entire driver instrument panel screen went blank, after going blank and coming back on a few times while driving. This is EXTREMELY dangerous. Now, the driver cannot see the speed, odo, fuel gauge, indicators or anything at all. I hope you please investigate and initiate a campaign and get this resolved from Mercedes.
Incident date: Aug 26, 2023
Just out of no where the vehicle stoped and wouldn’t go into gear
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 13, 2023
Incident date: Sep 10, 2023
The first incident I had occurred approximately three weeks ago. I began accelerating from a stop light when I felt something jerk. My car began to slow down and it would not accelerate. The car would not go over 20 mph per hour. This incident was extremely dangerous as I was on a highway that has a speed limit of 55 mph. I brought the car to the Genesis dealership. They diagnosed it as a bad fu... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2023
Regrettably, the 2015 Ford Focus hatchback I purchased has been plagued by a series of critical issues. These include recurring starting problems, erratic gear behavior, such as hesitating to move in Drive and unexpectedly moving forward in Reverse, sudden and dangerous deceleration while on highways, and an incessantly illuminated tire pressure warning light. These issues have left me profoundly ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
ABS/traction control sensor issue. I believe it to be a faulty sensor or sensor connection issue which is causing my service brake light to chime and light up at every bump in the road. While driving even just a short distance my service brake light/alert chime goes on and off sometimes every 2-3 seconds and while driving on the freeway my cruise control disengages every time the brake warning pop... Read more
Incident date: Sep 9, 2023
I was driving at normal speed and all of a sudden the vehicle accelerated to a high speed. Took to dealer with all the other issues and they could not create the problem. They are trying to blame it on me for have two sets of mats. Also navigation unit is not the correct unit in car. When I apply the brake to stop it seems as if the frame is creaking.
Incident date: Sep 4, 2023
ABS/traction control failure. This also disabled cruise control causing rapid deceleration at set highway speed. Getting repeating chime and check ABS and traction control warning messages. ABS module and HCU were replaced under warranty at under 11,000 miles for same symptoms. Truck now has just over 45000 and read ABS codes indicate that part has failed again. Part seems to be backordered or u... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
E 300
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 13, 2023
Incident date: Sep 12, 2023
I slowly pulled into a parking space at a grocery store. I took my foot off the accelerator, and the car jerked forward, traveling maybe 2-3 feet. I quickly put my foot on the brake and was able to stop the car. I took the car to the dealer, and the service consultant told me that she thought that a memo had just come in addressing the kind of incident I had. She also told me that another cust... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 13, 2023
Incident date: Sep 13, 2023
ABS and Electric Braking System - multiple failures.. 1st time system failed at around 24k miles, was reported and fixed under warranty, 2nd time same system failures at around 76k, same errors and same results.. will have to be repaired under owners costs.. Seems this is a 'known issue with a NTSB" but Ram still not owning the issue.. This part plays a huge role in the safety controls of the truc... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2020
The contact owns a 2022 Mercedes-Benz GLC300. The contact stated while driving out of a parking lot at 5-10 MPH and making a left turn, the windshield wipers and the rearview camera engaged independently. Additionally, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly and crashed into another vehicle that was unoccupied and parked on the left side of the road. The air bags did not deploy. The contact sustained... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Sep 12, 2023
Vehicle looses power randomly. No engine or warning lights. RPMs will rev but car will not go into gear or drive. I can shut off the vehicle for a couple hours then restart and will drive fine until randomly happens again.
Incident date: Sep 8, 2023
The speed control switch operates intermittently. Sometimes it won’t turn on. Sometimes it won’t turn off. I am afraid it may cause me to have and accident.
Incident date: Aug 22, 2023
While driving, the car came to an abrupt stop. Lights and alarms flashed stating "Do not drive" "hybrid system malfunction". Car could not be driven. Had I been on the highway, which I just exited, I could have been dead with how suddenly the car stopped without prior warning. The warning came when the car was shutting down. It has now been at the dealership for 3 weeks and they are unable to pinp... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
Around June of this year, my engine light came on. I took it to my technician, who cleared the code. After an accident on 7/4/23, and after picking the car up from being repaired, the engine light came on again. It is a code that indicates there is a "Cracked or faulty turbo charger". Extensive research has shown this to be a manufacturing defect, which can cause catastrophic failure. The manufact... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
WHEN USING THE STEERING WHEEL PADDLES TO MANUALLY SHIFT GEARS WHILE DRIVING ROADS IN HILLS, THE VEHICLE WILL LOSE POWER AND SLOW DOWN. HAVE TO PULL OVER AND SHUT OFF ENGINE. ON ENGINE RESTART, ENGINE POWER IS BACK AND PROBLEM IS RESOLVED.
Incident date: Aug 31, 2023
WHEN USING THE STEERING WHEEL PADDLES TO MANUALLY SHIFT GEARS WHILE DRIVING ROADS IN HILLS, THE VEHICLE WILL LOSE POWER AND SLOW DOWN. HAVE TO PULL OVER AND SHUT OFF ENGINE. ON ENGINE RESTART, ENGINE POWER IS BACK AND PROBLEM IS RESOLVED.
Incident date: Aug 30, 2023
i had engine light a code P200a on my 2017 kia optima ex 17,000 miles i have like a hesitation when accelerating, sometimes just sitting idling or sitting at a light feels like going to stall. i had some one check it they told me to bring it to the dealer because they looked it up and said it is like a recall on 2016 kia optimas there is a Technical Service Bulletin on the same condition that i ha... Read more
Incident date: Sep 10, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Prius Prime. The contact stated while driving at approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle suddenly experienced unintended acceleration, and the vehicle accelerated to 50 MPH before the contact was able to stop the vehicle by depressing the brake pedal. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred the following day. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manu... Read more
Incident date: Sep 9, 2023
ABS , traction lights are on and cruise control , ABS and traction control doesn’t work. Safety issue. I understand that there is a recall on 2019 , 2020 models and wondering why the 2018 ram 2500 are not included in the recall .seems like a common problem says the dealership.
Incident date: Sep 10, 2023
There are occasional times (perhaps once or twice a month) where the vehicle does not respond with the expected acceleration of a depression of the accelerator pedal. Specifically, the vehicle "lags" when I depress the accelerator pedal. While I have not experienced a dire situation or collision because of it, I believe it might cause other drivers to experience a safety incident: a driver might... Read more
Incident date: Sep 3, 2023
Many occurrences of phantom braking have occurred since I purchased the vehicle several months ago. I was driving on I-5 in California with the cruise control set at 70mph, then changed lanes from left lane to right lane with about 5-6 car links from the semi truck to the rear in the right lane. The emergency braking feature engaged with no vehicles in front of me in either lane for at least 500 y... Read more
Incident date: Sep 11, 2023
On 9/3/23 we were traveling from Moab UT to Green River UT and the cruise control was engaged at highway speeds. We were not using the "Autopilot" functionality. Without warning, the car suddenly decelerated under what felt like hard braking. There was no warning immediately before the hard braking started and the car had no warning indicators of any kind either before or after the incidents. ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
This accident involved a high speed collision on the 2nd floor of a parking garage at a hospital in a suburb of Houston, Tx. Both the driver and the passenger were killed. A question has arisen as to how the vehicle could have accelerated at such a high rate, in such a short period of time, especially inside a parking garage? When we found out NHSTA was re-opening, the Tesla sudden acceleration ... Read more
Crash
2 deaths
HYUNDAI
SANTA CRUZ
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 11, 2023
Incident date: Aug 18, 2023
There is so many customers that is having the same problem with the replacement of transmission at only at 38,000 miles there has to be an issues with the Toyota CHR my car now is make the same humming noise it started out low and now it’s very loud only for find it need a new transmission. It needs to be recalled by Toyota my car needs work right now!!!!!! I paid 162.00 thinking the transmissio... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
We took our first long-disance trip (Albuquerque NM to Arlington TX, round trip) in our 2022 Tesla Model 3 and experienced multiple (4-5) phantom braking episodes to and from Arlington when engaging adaptive cruise control or autopilot. The car had been driven 5,760 miles before the trip. There were no warnings before the braking. The car was travelling at 70-77 mph on interstate highways and sudd... Read more
Incident date: Sep 8, 2023
ABS module or HCU bad. Anti lock brakes not working. Cruise control not working. 4WD not working. Caused issue driving with a load when ABS did not engage and almost rear ended another vehicle.
Incident date: Sep 11, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Acura MDX. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated. The contact stated that the failure occurred at various speeds. The contact stated that the failure had been intermittent but had become a reoccurring failure. Additionally, the vehicle hesitated while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that no warning ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while their spouse was parking the vehicle and pressing the parking button, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The vehicle jumped the curb, crashing into two different vehicles to eventually be stopped after crashing into a tree. The air bags did not deploy. There was damage to the other vehicles and to the tree. The driver received inj... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
A friend and I was driving out of town we drove approximately 3 hrs before vehicle stalled on us at a stop sign. The car had no power after driving 60-70 miles on highway. We exited access road & once we stopped at stop sign car acted as if it had no power/gas. Although foot was on pedal all the way to the floor. Transmission has been replaced a year ago. Vehicle did not want to go over 50 mph aft... Read more
Incident date: Jan 28, 2022
The car has been stalling when the fuel level reaches the half point for over a year now. Now it is stalling at any time regardless of the fuel line level. Recalls completed and up to date. Informed it was a software issue. Car still performing the same after recall.