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
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 23, 2023
Incident date: Aug 22, 2023
We were about an hour away from home (in the mountains) and our Jeep had been running fine. We had stopped for a while and when we got back to our Jeep and started it, just about every warning light on the dash board came on and wouldn’t go off (the brake light, check engine, airbag, ABS, etc.) The middle of the dash was also flashing different messages…”service park assist and service pow... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE HYBRID
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 23, 2023
Incident date: Mar 20, 2023
I was driving my husband's 2016 E350 at 45 mph when the car accelerated. I attempted to control the speed by braking but the brake did not respond well. The steering wheel was also loose. The car sped up and turned left to the opposite side of the road, crossed the two lanes and hit the fence followed by a tree. The car was totaled, and the tree broke down at its branches. I survived the crush wit... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 22, 2023
The power steering with no warning, just quits, working, get warning signs that the ABS is not working, included with the traction control.
Incident date: Aug 20, 2023
I got off work and was heading home one of the streets i Devon is uphill. As I’m driving up the hill the car just started rolling backwards. I hit the breaks and turned car off and back on and even thought it was I. Drive it would only go backwards. No matter what I did it was jerking and acting like it didn’t have power even though the rpm’s was up. I mechanic came to check on me and durin... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 22, 2023
Incident date: Aug 22, 2023
The contact’s daughter owns a 2015 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while the vehicle was idling, the vehicle hesitated. The contact stated that his daughter had to depress the accelerator pedal to rev the engine. The contact then stated that on a separate occasion while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated and stalled. Additionally, the contact stated that on another se... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2023
While driving with the adaptive cruise control engaged, the car has suddenly braked (hard) when the associate optical system encountered a shadow or some anomaly on the road ahead. This "phantom braking" has occurred numerous times on our vehicle, and speaking with our son who also has a Tesla Model Y, he has experienced the same behavior. To date, I have not contacted Tesla, due to the intermit... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2023
While driving on the parkway several times for traveling to work, my car would suddenly and violently shudder and drop speed much lower than the posted speed limit. My RPMs would race from 1.5 to 5 but no increase in speed when the accelerator was pushed. I had to put my emergency 4 way lights on and drive in the far right lane. Nissan dealership kept saying the vehicle was working fine when I c... Read more
Incident date: Aug 18, 2023
I was driving along and without warning the speedometer became erratic and then went to zero. As I was moving on a main road (limited access) I could not safely stop right away. Several other items on the instrument panel began to operate erratically. (These other items would not be considered safety items) Before reaching an exit or other safe place the speedometer began to operate again. I got... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2022
On numerous occasions, when traveling at speeds 50mph and over, the vehicle failed to further accelerate when the gas pedal was engaged. This caused the rpm's to rev up to 7 and the vehicle to slow down. Our safety was at risk because the vehicle was unresponsive to acceleration for at least 20-30 seconds making it impossible to avoid or get away from something dangerous. On one occasion, the vehi... Read more
Incident date: Jan 25, 2023
While using cruise control on a highway traveling between 65 and 75 MPH the brakes slammed on when there was absolutely no traffic in front of or beside us, no overhead obstructions, no upcoming corners, nothing at all but straight road ahead. If anyone had been behind us we could easily have been rear-ended. The car had only 1500 miles on it the first time it happened. There were 4 such events... Read more
FORD
F-150 LIGHTNING BEV
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 22, 2023
Incident date: Jun 26, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Kia Telluride. The contact stated while her grand-daughter was driving with adaptive cruise control (ACC) mode set at 40 MPH, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly and the steering wheel seized, causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle. The vehicle crashed into a road sign. The air bags did not deploy. The contact stated that the diver was able to veer to the side ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 27, 2023
When pulling off or slowing down, there's hesitation, jerking, and kicking or slamming going in or out of gear. Was passing a vehicle one day and it started going, then lost acceleration. I put it to the floor, still no acceleration. My Abs/Traction light came on, the rear end started like bouncing, or something with traction. As I pulled over, the abs/traction light went off. A few times we compl... Read more
Incident date: Aug 21, 2023
Vehicle would not shift out of first gear. Turned off vehicle and turned back on, still would not shift out of first gear. Our safety was at risk because we could not drive the minimum speed limit. We have not been able to get into a mechanic yet, we pulled it over at a shop nearby and they are booked out so we are waiting inspection and without our vehicle, but wanted to report the issue as we... Read more
FORD
F-150 HYBRID
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 22, 2023
Incident date: Aug 20, 2023
While driving at highway speeds (70 mph+/-), my diesel powered vehicle 'derated' (I believe that is the term) for no apparent reason. An engine light came on related to a DEF system malfunction. I can provide the code later. My vehicle instantly went from 70 mph to 15 mph on a crowded interstate, on an inside lane. With some difficulty I managed to make across three lanes to the shoulder and turne... Read more
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 22, 2023
Incident date: Aug 20, 2023
Car randomly goes into engine reduced power mode and won't go over 50mph. Power steering either won't turn the wheels and will start working again without warning while driving and jerks wheel to the right. Service stabilitrac warning would come on intermittently and disable traction control. Service stabilitrac warning is on now everytime I crank the vehicle and traction control is never working.... Read more
Incident date: Aug 18, 2023
I was exiting the highway onto a Blvd and I slowed down. The car all of a sudden accelerated by itself, went over the exit curb and hit the central median of the blvd. Fortunately, no vehicles on the blvd wer crossing when this happened. I was fortunately not physically hurt in the incident but it could have been afr worse if I had a vehicle in my front or on the lvd when the incident happened.
Crash
Incident date: Jan 1, 2022
My 2017 Ram 2500 Cummins pick-up truck started displaying symptoms of a bad HCU module several months ago, "Service Electronic Braking System" warning message, ABS dash light indicating loss of ABS, and Traction Control Light indicating loss of traction control, as well as kicking the vehicle out of Cruise Control when this set of condition lights are, albeit intermittently illuminated. There are ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2023
My ABS and Traction control lights activated visually and with audible alarms. I brought it to the dealer. It only has 23,000 miles on it with a manufacturer extended warranty. The dealer told me that the ABS pump motor control as well as the HCU has failed and need to be replaced. They also told me that the parts are not going to be available until the EARLIEST February of 2024. The vehicle ... Read more
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 21, 2023
Incident date: May 26, 2023
Car looses power out of no where. No lights are on or anything
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 21, 2023
Incident date: May 26, 2023
The ESP and ABS warning lights went on suddenly after what sounded like a thud. The car had not run over anything. There was some initial brief chattering of the break pedal, and that subsided. The car was not near a suitable and available repair shop at the time. It was driven to complete a trip. There were several instances of break pedal chattering that led concern about the controllabilit... Read more
Incident date: Aug 21, 2023
Car does not accelerate from stop at a traffic light intermittently. THis poses a risk/hazard as the car behind it closes on it and expects the car to move forward . The vehicle was recalled a year ago for a fuel pump that was supposed to cause the same issue. Its been replaced and the issue has shown up again and now cannot be reproduced by the manufacturer.
Incident date: Aug 11, 2023
While slowing to turn into a turn lane, my care unexpectedly accelerated to a very high speed, causing me to crash straight into a signal light post. The light post was knocked over by the force of impact. The car ended up around the corner, facing the opposite direction and having hit another car. Police responded to the scene and inspected the vehicle, which was towed away. An insurance clai... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
Service electronic braking system light comes on intermittently every 1-5 minutes while driving. Also, a light indicating issues with the traction control system comes on. ABS system seems to be failing or indicating failure almost constantly. Cruise control is disabled during these times. I've read this is a common problem with these vehicles. There really needs to be a recall issued for this. Is... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2023
It is a transmission control module wear a lobster transmission into a Garin. Will not let you speed up or speed down and it is unsafe and GM IS making us pay for the bill. The contact stated transmission control module all across the country on back order, you cannot get a dealer to get you one within six months GM should have to do something about this.
Incident date: Jun 21, 2023
I had my 2021 Mustang Mach-E updated with the recall software last year. In July of 2022, my High Voltage Battery Junction Box (HVBJB) still failed, giving me a service vehicle soon and SEVERELY reducing power WHILE driving. I was on the freeway and my car just started reducing speed since I was trying to pass someone and I almost hit them. I received the new HVBJB from my dealer and had been fine... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2023
I was driving west bound on I4 August 12th 2023 at 1236pm at mile marker 45-47. I was in the left hand lane with the cruise control set at 73 mph. all traffic was moving well. there was no car in front of me. there was a car passing me slowly on the right. there was a retaining wall to my left. My car for no reason changed the setting on my cruise control from 73 to 35mph. this caused my husb... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
When putting the vehicle in "Drive" it unexpectantly rapidly accelerated causing me to aggressively brake the vehicle. It's happened twice and could easily have crashed into surrounding property or pedestrians. I brought the vehicle to the Dealership but considering it is an intermittent problem they couldn't duplicate the situation. Acura said they have no record of anything like this happenin... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2023
The contact owns a 2002 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH and attempting to pass a slower vehicle, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal, the pedal suddenly extended to the floorboard causing the vehicle to immediately accelerate faster than intended. During the failure the speed increase... Read more
Incident date: Jan 18, 2023
I believe the autopilot and cruise control systems are affected. On 6-8 occasions, the cameras have picked up a non- existent hazard along the road causing the cruise control to disengage, rapidly slowing the car approximately 20 MPH in about 3 seconds. This has occurred on highways and freeways at speeds of 65-75 MPH. If there had been another vehicle traveling close behind, an accident would lik... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2023
Purchased vehicle 7/29/23 While driving 8/19, vehicle auto-shifted from drive into neutral and the check engine light appeared. I was in the process of accelerating from the on ramp & moving to the left lane. Attempts to return the vehicle to drive were unsuccessful & I coasted to the right shoulder of the highway. The brakes were functional. Once stopped, the vehicle functioned as if it were ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2023
As I was driving down the highway in the rain, my check engine light came on and I was unable to accelerate my vehicle over 30mph and the speedometer stopped working. I was turning onto the road I live on, so I was able to make it home. I then shut my car off and turned it back on about 5 minutes later, and that issue was no longer happening. I had an upcoming appointment for an oil change at a Ki... Read more
Incident date: Aug 4, 2023
I was driving down the interstate with my cruise control on, and all of a sudden the motorcycle lost power and began to slow down and I couldn’t accelerate and had to make an emergency stop on the right hand side of the highway
Incident date: Aug 12, 2023
The engine light came on and it started making loud noise, then the car started pulling on its own and it stop in the middle of the road. My safety Issue was I had to keep my driver hood open so other visible drivers could know my car had an issue. later on, that day I took my car to the mechanic and the mechanic said I have an oil leak and that's why my car started acting like that. The mechanic ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 3, 2023
I was involved in an accident last year where I took out a gaurd rail next to a building. My air bags never deployed and now my car will not run.
Crash
Incident date: Aug 14, 2023
My rear camera does not work in my car. I received a recall notice regarding this. It was unable to be completed because my Infotainment system is completely non functional at this point. This is an on going issue that I have had with this car almost immediately after purchase. My speedometer also disappears while driving… the screen goes completely black and I have no idea how fast I’m going.... Read more
DODGE
GRAND CARAVAN
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 18, 2023
Incident date: Aug 11, 2023
Sudden acceleration while driving and at stop sign
Crash
Incident date: May 1, 2023
When driving the forward collision avoidance system acts up. It will randomly slam on the breaks when nothing is in front. It also happens when cruise control is on, it will slam the breaks with an empty road ahead. It also thinks that there is something ahead when the road is clear ahead. This needs to be looked at because the number of complaints in regard to this is silly.
Incident date: Mar 21, 2023
My ABS / Electronic Stability control warning lights keep coming on intermittently and also sometimes staying on for hours at a time. I cannot use my cruise and my ABS will not work with these problems making this a very dangerous truck to drive. I have read that there are many other trucks with this issue. More specficially the 2017-2018 Ram 2500's. I believe there should be a recall for thes... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2017) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 18, 2023
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
I was at a toll booth paying for tow. All of a sudden the car accelerated forward by itself, ramming into the toll bar. At that time, my arm was still sticking out the window while interacting with the toll terminal. This incident is something that needs to be looked at. It certainly looks like this is a result of the accident avoidance feature. Not sure why it activated either. But I am 99.9... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
2021 Tesla Model 3 RWD; 21,000 miles I pulled into a parking spot creeping in like I am about to park the car. When I tapped on the break to stop the car, it suddenly accelerated forward. It jerked so quickly forward that the back of my head was pushed into the headrest like a whiplash. Luckily, there was not a car parked in front of me because I generally park away from other cars. I quickly hit... Read more
Incident date: Aug 17, 2023
Active Emergency Stop Assist Currently Unavailable and Active Blind Spot Assist Inoperative.
Incident date: Dec 14, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that while slowing and then attempting to accelerate, the vehicle hesitated while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that the delay was approximately two seconds before the vehicle accelerated as needed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure but no cause for the failure was found... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2023
While on highway service brake system warning light came on,brake became hard to apply almost causing an accident. Vehicle had to be towed to a repair shop(dealer).after paying over $1600 the problem was not resolved and found there are numerous complaints about issues with the terrain and no recall issued.are they waiting til someone dies before a recall?
2 injured
Incident date: Aug 17, 2023
While we were at a speed of about 55 mph on a state highway, I had just selected cruise control when all the lights went on in the dash--including the warning lights for the brake, the check engine light--and power shut down in the vehicle as if we'd run out of gas. We were able to keep a very slow speed of about 20-25mph, but had to activate the 4-way flashers to alert other drivers that we were... Read more
Incident date: Aug 13, 2023
I was trying to make right turn from Mcdonald's but suddenly, unintended acceleration, Tesla went into the intersection and hit the other side of car. - The emergency brake did not work and as a result of the accident , there was a severe damages in the front of the Tesla.
Crash
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
My steering wheel sticks after driving and the engine has a change to get warm. Once I go over 25 mph and the sticking begins I have to constantly over compensate to stay in my lane. This issue has made it nearly impossible to stay in my lane on highways and speed above 55mph.
FORD
F-150 HYBRID
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 17, 2023
Incident date: Aug 16, 2023
My 2016 Jeep Patriot 4X4 engine light is staying on. When I took it to a mechanic to have it read it stats faulty cramshaft and camshaft position sensors. My engine has stalled, loss of acceleration and power, shuddering, and jerking that is continuously happens. Jeep manufactures said its not there problem. I need help with my vehicle, not just for my safety but for the safety of my kids. Also th... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while attempting to park the vehicle, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly. As a result, the vehicle jumped the curb and crashed into a barrier wall. The air bags did not deploy. No warning lights were illuminated. A Police report was not filed. There was no injury sustained. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent me... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 17, 2021
Cruise control works erratically when turned on at times I can't set the speed, othertimes it won't cancel using the cancel button the only way to cancel it is to tap the brake pedsl or turn the cruise off, sometimes it will not turn on and at other times it works as it should.
Incident date: Aug 14, 2023
Driving on the highway, my car will suddenly lose power momentarily and the speed drop 3-5 mph. My accelerator is unresponsive. Then the car will accelerate quickly with a jerk to accelerate to the set speed. May occur on level ground but often occurs at the bottom of a hill. I have no control during this loss of power.