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: Feb 4, 2023
I am writing to express serious concerns about the safety and performance of my Kia vehicle. Over the past few months, my car has been exhibiting abnormal behavior, jeopardizing the safety of myself and other road users. One of the most alarming issues is the unpredictable acceleration and deceleration of my vehicle, especially on the highway. There have been numerous instances where it failed to ... Read more
GMC
TERRAIN NA
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 3, 2023
Incident date: Aug 3, 2023
Hyundai filed Recall Campaign 236 for the vehicle entering an unsafe state. On July 10th I took in our 2021 Santa Fe Limited with just over 15,000 miles, which had been operating normally with the serious safety defect and received the Remediation for this recall filed under NHTSA Recall Campaign 236. I took possession back of the vehicle and within a few miles of driving had the exact issues the ... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2008) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 3, 2023
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact was driving approximately 3 MPH as she was parking the vehicle, front end first, the vehicle independently accelerated as she removed her foot from the accelerator. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact's vehicle crashed into the vehicle's front end that had already been parked, the vehicle was not occupied. The contact ... Read more
Crash
GMC
SIERRA 2500
(2001) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 3, 2023
Incident date: Aug 3, 2023
ABS and Tracton control
Incident date: Jul 31, 2023
Drove about 1 hour using cruise control part of the time. Don't usually use it, but used it 2 months ago with no problem. After 1.5 hour visit, drove home. Did not use cruise control, but at last 10 minutes acceleration issue started where car would "rev" even though I was not accelerating. Able to manage it with brake and normal driving. Tried to reset cruise (turn on/off), but car still had epis... Read more
Incident date: Jul 24, 2023
While driving at any speed, vehicle momentarily does not respond to any gas pedal input. Driver presses on gas pedal but no change in speed, no rpm change no warning lights on dash. After a few seconds vehicle responds again randomly. Puts driver at danger due to not being able to same speed as traffic very dangerous!
Incident date: Aug 15, 2022
Driver was parking the car in a parking lot at a very slow speed. The car suddenly shot forward at a very high rate of speed, requiring evasive steering from trees and a fence, until the car crashed head-on into another vehicle. The driver is very certain the brakes only were applied during the entire time the car shot forward. Airbags were not deployed. Bystanders were within six feet of the c... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 3, 2023
I have had multiple issues with my forward collision system on my 2022 Escalade. The system randomly fails, alerts of vehicles in front of me without vehicles there, and has even slammed on the brakes while in cruise control on the highway. There was no one in front of me; however, there were people behind me when the brakes slammed. This could easily have caused an accident. I requested the vehic... Read more
Incident date: Feb 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Nissan Murano. The contact stated that while driving with adaptive cruise control mode engaged and set at approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle accelerated independently as he was approaching a hill. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened; however, no further a... Read more
Incident date: Mar 28, 2023
I have a 2022 Hyundai Tucson with about 15k miles on it. I have had it serviced twice for oil changes and the recommended manufacture recommended maintenance. However, I have noticed a SIGNIFICANT loss in power upon acceleration with this vehicle. My new car drives very rough and this is a safety issue due to the fact when entering the interstate, the car will not increase speed as requested putti... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2023
I was stopped before turning left into a parking space. I was driving slowly. The car stopped but I did not engage the brake as a Tesla will stop once the foot is removed from the accelerator. At that point the car leaped forward at full speed hitting parts of a building and a fence. I did NOT step on the accelerator. No one was injured. The airbags did not deploy even though there was $17,000... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 26, 2023
2020 FORD EXPLORER ST-ABOUT 55,000 MILES. DEALER: PREFERRED FORD IN GRAND HAVEN, MI. ISSUE IS SOMETIMES A MULTITUDE OF WARNING LIGHTS WOULD COME ON WHEN TRAVELING. THEY INCLUDE SHUTTING DOWN THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN IN MOTION, THE FORWARD COLLISION SENSOR WOULD STOP WORKING, ALL WHEEL DRIVE AND HILL ASSIST LIGHTS WOULD COME ON AND STOP WORKING. THIS HAPPENS WHETHER A SHORT TRIP, 10-15 MILE... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 2, 2023
Incident date: Aug 2, 2023
I have several issues. My main concern is when turning on an incline (hill or mountain), my vehicles rpm's rev up and I am unable to stop it for several seconds. Sometimes, it will clunk and the rpms will go back to normal after sever seconds but most times the vehicle just jerks and the rpms come back down. I drive through a street with a 4 way stop very often and the issue happens every time. ... Read more
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2017) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 2, 2023
Incident date: Jul 31, 2023
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request?: I got delivery of my new Model Y and odometer was reading 3 miles, i took the delivery and drove 10 miles and it stuck the steering wheel , "rear motor got disabled alert" and vehicle went to slow speed on freeway all of sudden, i had truck behind me it would ended up very bad for me and family, i h... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
While driving about 75 mph on an expressway using autopilot or just cruise control, the car decelerated to about 40mph within a few seconds. Thankfully there were no other cars behind me. They likely would have crashed into me if so. I believe Tesla calls this problem “phantom braking.” There were no other cars or objects in front of me when this happened. This happened all within 2-3 hours ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2023
The ADAS regularly brakes suddenly for no apparent reason. There does not seem to be a consistent reason. Yesterday, during a 90 mile drive EB on the interstate in the afternoon it braked (scaring us) suddenly so often that it made cruise control more of a hazard than a help. This morning between 9-11 am, westbound on the same interstate it braked suddenly 20-30 times. This sudden braking is dange... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
BEETLE
(2015) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 2, 2023
Incident date: Aug 2, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while pulling into a parking spot, she depressed the brake pedal, however, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly and crashed into the windows of a store. There was no warning light illuminated. The air bags failed to deploy. There were no injuries sustained. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard. The vehicle was th... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 17, 2023
Failed TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE (24256861). While driving in the early morning hours (darkness) taking my child to school, I was navigating through a busy intersection when the vehicle surged and then made a loud metal on metal sound, feeling as if someone had struck me from behind. At that point the power train became inoperable, stranding us and coming very close to being first, struck from ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
ABS failed, cruise control and traction control are inop as a result. The risk is loss of ABS when traveling, especially on wet or snow and ice covered roads. It has not been inspected by a mechanic. The failure light is on in the dash cluster and I have clearly lost traction control and cruise control. This began on July 31, 2023.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
On [XXX] just got off [XXX] driving on [XXX] street when there a red came on on my dashboard, then as if someone else stepped on my accelarator. The Honda Accord 2017 hybrid started accelerating. There were cars in front of me, I believed next to me that I am going to crash into. My only option was to turn to the left to stop the car from me hitting another driver. I went into the divider and hit ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 9, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the vehicle lost power and failed to accelerate. After approximately 45 minutes of driving, the vehicle was turned off and restarted without the key fob. Additionally, the vehicle failed to start. The contact stated that the vehicle lost communication with the transmission, brakes, and engine. The check engine warning light was illu... Read more
Incident date: Jul 28, 2023
All of a sudden, steering wheel control was lost. Steering wheel was so hard to rotate that it was even difficult to park the car. Also, I was getting lots of pop up messages from tesla vehicle operating system.
Incident date: May 12, 2023
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? - the car itself stopped as I was driving up a hill. The car would not accelerate and while in Drive, the car began to roll backwards. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? - as I the car stopped accelerating, I was at a red light with other cars present. I have to put my car in ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2023
I was in Rei parking lot pulling into parking space and suddenly vehicle accelerated and jumped curb and hit the wall loud noise.people thought it was earth quake. Air bag did not deploy . No warning signals came on when jumping the curb it hitting the wall
Incident date: May 9, 2023
I was on the highway with cruise set to 80. With no vehicles anywhere near in front of me, the car brakes hard and the cruise was set to 50. I was able to gain control by hitting the accelerator but slowed down quickly from the phantom breaking.
VOLKSWAGEN
PASSAT
(2010) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 1, 2023
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
Phantom Braking. When there are refractions on the road seen in my lane in bright sunshine. Also in a 2-lane highway with oncoming vehicles that have lots of chrome also in bright sunshine. Never happens at night or when cruise control not enabled.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
Sudden hard "phantom" braking while in adaptive cruise control. This put myself and other drivers in danger of a collision. The problems been reported to Tesla, but as of yet not fixed or inspected.The problem seems to be completely random with no advanced warning of any kind.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2023
At some point on the highway the car throttles down to less than 60 mph. Mashing the gas pedal to the floor results in nothing happening. This causes a dangerous road situation with the slower speed, but the worst part is when it suddenly begins to accelerate again, potentially hitting the car in front of you unexpectedly. No mechanic can reproduce the effect as it only takes place after driving... Read more
Incident date: Apr 8, 2023
ABS System, Traction Control and Cruise Control. Issues with ABS system taking out the cruise control and cause vehicle speed to decrease with out control increasing risk of a rear end collision. The manufacturer is very aware of the problem and the control unit is on back order for about 9 months. This is an intermittent problem that some times does not occur during the course of a day and someti... Read more
NEWMAR
KOUNTRY STAR
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 1, 2023
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
Ptu fail the second day of purchasing my car on my birthday with my 2 daughters was in the car with me a 1 year old and 2 year old the car made a big boom and stop it put it self in park. I took the car to a shop yes it was confirmed the ptu yes I took it to Jeep no they appeared after that happen
Incident date: Jul 25, 2023
I experienced multiple dangerous phantom braking instances on Eastbound I10 between Van Horn and Ozona, Texas when the TACC system was in use. The car is on firmware 2023.20.9. There were no obstructions in the road and no traffic in front of the vehicle when the car suddenly braked going from 80mph to 50mph in a second before I could take control and accelerate. In two instances, cars were behind... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
Front windshield camera, controls adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, lane departure mitigation, front collision mitigation, auto high beam, all the lights came on and all the features stopped working. We were 1500 miles from home when this happened had it repaired at a dealership $1300. I called Honda corporate and after 2 days a customer service representative called me back. He told me t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
The cruise control will disconnect randomly causing sudden deceleration. Sometimes it will go off almost immediately after setting it and others it may stay engaged for several miles. It disengaging randomly is a safety issue as I’m not expecting the sudden deceleration and it could cause a vehicle that is following closely to hit me. This issue has been present since I purchased the vehicle and... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2023
Occasionally, when attempting to start driving from a complete stop (from a stop sign, traffic light, etc.) the Rogue will delay to accelerate and not move more than a few miles per hour for a few seconds before fully engaging. This is a safety issue when attempting to turn left at a green light, or crossing streets from a stop sign because there is no way to tell if the Rogue will delay in accele... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2023
Brand new car purchased on July 12, 2023, with 84 miles. In 19 days the car has been in service for 3 days to date, left stranded with all the listed issues. 1.Navigation screen randomly goes blank/black while driving 2.Audio Bluetooth connection randomly not allowing me to hear or be heard by caller 3.Rear AC system is not blowing air, even when front AC is set to lowest setting 4.Cell wireles... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2022
What component of system failed or malfunctioned? Sudden deceleration, not sure what system this is a part of. Is it available for inspection upon request? No, I don't know what is causing the problem so have not been able to have the specific system looked at. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? I have been driving on the highway and experienced sudden deceleration of the v... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS CROSS SPORT
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 31, 2023
Incident date: Oct 4, 2022
The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer Sport Trac. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle, the following day it was discovered that the cruise control switch located on the steering wheel had overheated and melted. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Numb... Read more
Incident date: Jul 24, 2023
While driving on the freeway at 70-80mph the car begins to lose acceleration, stutters and faults all fault codes on the car. Car then begins to brake itself to a stop all while on a freeway at a high rate of speed. I have to pull over to the side of the freeway, crossing up to 5 lanes of high speed traffic all while my car is braking itself to a stop. I have narrowly missed 5 accidents in the 7 t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. The contact stated that while at a light, the vehicle crashed into an unknown vehicle in front of her. While sitting in traffic at another light, the failure recurred. The vehicle reeved up forward and crashed into an unknown utility vehicle. A claim was submitted to the insurance company. While pulling into a parking spot, the vehicle lunged forward over ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 1, 2022
While driving the car goes into limp mode randomly causing the RPM’s to fall. There is no power to get off the road safely and has almost caused an accident numerous times. I have had Diagnostics ran and the mechanic has no clue what’s causing this. Ford forums are full of these mustangs doing this. It is a huge safely risk!!!!
Incident date: Jul 31, 2023
While driving with cruise control set at 65mph the vehicle will maintain set speed for a undetermined amount of time at which point the vehicle cruise will jump to a very high setting of 88mph....forcing me to shut the system down...this happens frequently and I can't determine what sets it off. Ford Dealer can't find anything wrong . Also the lane assist will constantly warn of not holding the ... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 31, 2023
Incident date: Jul 25, 2023
On the display next to the speedometer, reading the vehicle lists, the speed limit for the road you were currently driving on. The speed limit listed by the car is often wrong. When it states the speed limit is 100 mph it is obvious to the driver that it is incorrect. However, when it states the speed limit is 65 mph, but the speed limit is actually 45 mph. This causes an issue because it’s very... Read more
Incident date: Jul 4, 2023
The engine and yes it is. Because my car turned off in the middle of the loop on the highway when there was a lot of traffic and we could have gotten hit. No it has not been. No it has not been. We were driving on the highway then the engine started sputtering and it wouldn’t go faster then 40 when I tried pulling off to the side that’s when the engine ,battery ,and oil light turned on and aft... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2023
I PURCHASED MY 2014 BUICK ENCORE APRIL 2021 THAT NEXT YEAR 2022 MY ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON I TOOK IT TO O'REILLY THEY TURNED IT OFF TOWARDS THE END OF THE YEAR MY VEHICLE STARTED DRIVING ROUGH I WAS HAVING TROUBLE TAKING OFF ONCE I DID IT WOULD IDLE UP HIGH WHEN I CAME TO A STOP IT WOULD START SHAKING AND IT WOULD TURN OFF CARS WENT AROUND ME I COULDN'T ACCELERATE IT KEPT HESITATING SO NOW I'M SCARED... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2023
Transmission fault error code. The transmission is not shifting into gear whether I am trying to go forward or backwards. I have been stranded twice within the last six months because of this issue.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The abs pump and module are bad and there is no replacement parts available through ram. The truck only has 32k miles. They say the parts are on back order. The truck has no abs function nor does it have vehicle traction control. This should be a recall as it’s happening to thousands of trucks. This is a blatant safety violation. Yet the new trucks are still being built with these parts that are... Read more
Incident date: May 21, 2021
The car will sometimes brake hard for no reason, nothing in front of it
Incident date: Jun 23, 2023
Driving normal, 65 mph 5/28/21 Warnings -- Check Engine light comes on; Stabilizer Disabled; Traction Control Disabled; Error Code 2138 Reduced Power mode. Replaced accelerator pedal with OEM part # 23362231 After 4 stop/start cycles, the check engine light goes off, vehicle drives normally. 6/2/2022 Normal city driving; Warnings -- Check Engine light comes on; Stabilizer Disabled; Traction Co... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2023
I was driving on a country road and had my cruise control set to 55. My car braked hard and de-accelerated to about 40 and then increased the speed without hitting the resume button. My 89 year old mother was my passenger in the car with me and both of us were jolted when the seat belts locked up. We both gasped as we were startled by this action. There were no animals, vehicles or blowing debris... Read more
Incident date: Jul 27, 2023
The vehicle while in cruise set at 70mph accelerated to nearly 90mph and would not disengage even when brake applied, had to turn vehicle off. It has done this twice almost causing an accident. Vehicle has also suddenly applied the brakes very hard while driving approx 55 mph, nothing in front of vehicle. Apparently vehicle was applying the brakes because when we reached home the brake rotors... Read more