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 3, 2022
Sudden unexplained Phantom Braking. Travelling on The Chisholm Trail Parkway tool road and while approaching an underpass the car suddenly applied brakes with no cars near me in front or to my sides. Fortunately there were no vehicles behind me. This similar situation also happened to me in my 2022 Model 3, so it is apparent that Tesla has not been able to resolve this long standing potentially se... Read more
Incident date: Jul 12, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-250. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle accelerated independently. Additionally, the contact stated that her husband had to keep his foot on the brake to keep the vehicle from independently accelerating. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was made... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLA 250
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 17, 2023
Incident date: Jul 17, 2023
Unexpected Phantom Braking was experienced in this vehicle on a sunny day at mid day on I-30 going East through Arlington. The car was operating on Traffic Aware Cruise Control. Travelling at approx 70mph the vehicle suddenly slowed very quickly below 50 mph before I interceded to resume control of the accelerator to resume my speed before I was rear ended. This occured as I was approaching an ove... Read more
Incident date: May 17, 2023
Vehicle: 2018 Ram 2500, mileage 35171. Beginning in April 2023 the ABS and Traction control dash lights would intermittently flash while sounding an alarm. The message on the dash states "Service Anti-lock Braking System" and "Service Electronic Braking System." This creates the issue of losing ABS and traction control while disabling cruise control. As time progressed it would become more frequ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated at high speed. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact desperately depressed the brake pedal, and the vehicle came to a to stop. The dealer was contact, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed. The failure mile... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
I purchased this car in 2016 brand new from the dealer. Have kept up with its maintenance but in the past couple of months, the car is not taking off. What I mean by that is that the transmission slips and won't allow the car to gain speed there is a delay in the car accelerating. This is the second time that it has happened this year and its very unsafe to use a car this way and its less than 10... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Tucson. The contact stated that all four automatic windows failed to operate as needed. The front driver’s side window started failing and an appointment was scheduled with the dealer to repair the window. While testing the windows in the dealer parking lot after the repair, the front passenger’s side window fractured, and the dealer agreed to cover the cost of ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2023
Major driveability/safety issue. The vehicle started skipping and jerking on highway I-93 on the New Hampshire/ Massachusetts line. I was accelerating to 65 mph and merged with traffic, when the car engine began stalling intermittently. The check engine and maintenance indicator lights turned on. As I coasted to the side of the road, the vehicle continued to jerk and slow/speed up.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
Car would just stall out while driving! Would have to put car in park and then try to turn back on. Also burning through oil very fast. Had to replace the timing belt just for 20K miles later having the same issue!
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
I had an oil change at the Feldman Ford Dealership on or around 3/7/2023. On 4/14/2023 at or at round 5-6 pm; I was traveling southbound on I-75 when my 2020 Explorer suddenly slowed down from 70 miles per hour to around 40 miles per hour while I’m in the farthest lane and it wouldn’t go pass 45 miles per hour almost causing the vehicle behind to rear end me. The dash displayed a reading stat... Read more
LINCOLN
CORSAIR PHEV
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 17, 2023
Incident date: Jul 17, 2023
My 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee “electric stability control” warning light appears on the dashboard. My vehicle accelerates/decelerates unexpectedly. With young children in my vehicle daily, this continued incident puts my family at risk. After inspection from my Jeep/Dodge dealer, a faulty transfer case has been identified as the issue.
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 17, 2023
Incident date: Jan 10, 2022
I had previously filed a complaint and received an issue number 11494975 I have not been able to retrieve any information related to this number. In any event I am constantly having problems with acceleration, stalling, the car puts itself in Neutral, and on occasion has completely turned itself off at a light or while driving. I do have a video of the acceleration problem and revived an email b... Read more
FORD
F-150 HYBRID
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 17, 2023
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
My 2018 Volkswagen Atlas has a defect that has impaired my ability to use the vehicle as intended. It is not only unsafe but I am in fear of driving freeways because I do not know when my car will cut off. Manufactures were fully aware of their defective products. I have read forums pertaining to the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas engine sputtering (Causes and Diagnosis). It states that the causes could b... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2023
I was driving my 2022 Tesla Model 3 Long Range. This car does NOT have Autopilot (because we do not trust that technology). We were traveling eastbound on I-8 just east of Exit 61 from San Diego to Arizona on Sunday July 16 at about 2:30pm. The weather conditions were not an issue; it was sunny and warm. I was in the left lane doing 77mph with the Cruise Control on. I had passed a vehicle in the r... Read more
GRAND DESIGN
SOLITUDE
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 16, 2023
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Because the brake stopper or brake switch are messed up and my brake tail light stays on all night causing it to drain the battery If the car is braking while I’m driving it and the traction control light comes on and the speed is decreasing as I’m driving because the car is braking on it’s own it has nothing to do with the lights Nor the battery the root of the issue is the brake line ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 7, 2023
When l park my car it keeps saying it’s not parked
Incident date: Apr 14, 2022
Vehicle set code C0020-01 ABS Control Module/ Hydraulic Control Unit failure. ABS system, Traction Control and cruise control does not work. Parts unavailable to fix issue leaving me with the choice or parking the vehicle or driving and u safe vehicle. This should have been a recall and Ram is doing nothing about it.
Incident date: Jul 12, 2023
When setting cruise control to speed limit then pressing brake and then resume the jeep sone times accelerates to a higher speed the. Having to break again. Has been reoccurring nervous when driving and setting cruise or resuming. Have not taken it in as of yet.
Incident date: Jul 11, 2023
I got into an accident around May 3rd. Roughly around 11 pm to 12 am. To inform whomever is reading, none of the issues I will list have happened prior to this event. At the accident my car would not turn on, and it would not lock. As well as a piece of the car had broke off. I took my car to Mike's auto body for repairs. When the person inspecting the car had reviewed what was wrong with my 2016 ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
The car shut off on me while driving
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
The sensor on right passenger air bag malfunction and air bag light stay on and no crashes happen upon message. Poor fuel consumption components include loss of power and idling and when accelerating. Driver mode unavailable lamp came on
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 14, 2023
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
All brake warning lights came on , cruise control stopped working abruptly, service brake system warning dinger dinging , abs not working , engine braking all stopped working while loaded going steep grade , nearly lost control of the truck and was nearly in a serious accident , abs module and hcu said to be problem , issue still persists after said problem supposed to be resolved , truck is a dea... Read more
FORD
ESCAPE PHEV
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 14, 2023
Incident date: Jun 3, 2023
The Power Steering keeps failing and this is dangerous once the vehicle is in motion. The most recent incident was July 4th 2023. We have taken the truck to Lawley Chevrolet Sierra Vista AZ (Mando Flores-Service Advisor)several times within the last year and they claim they can't find anything wrong. We can't drive it until the steering is properly fixed. It's impossible to drive. We have to const... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
The Power Steering keeps failing and this is dangerous once the vehicle is in motion. We have taken the truck to Lawley Chevrolet Sierra Vista AZ (Mando Flores-Service Advisor)several times within the last year and they claim they can't find anything wrong. We can't drive it until the steering is properly fixed. It's impossible to drive. We have to constantly pull over and turn off vehicle for the... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
There was no warning display on car today during the incidents. I pressed the breaks and with my foot on the breaks the car accelerates 3 times. I had a car in front of me which is why I stopped but no no one behind me to trigger the car to propel me forward 3 times despite my foot on the brakes. This is second time it does this. I took it in right away to the shop. The first time was a a couple o... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 14, 2023
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
There have been two instances within the last 3 months of my motorcycle needing a full rebuild in the rear wheel assembly. The first instance was due to rust, I live in Arizona and do not ride in the rain. The dealer said I should not have washed my bike with water. This put me in danger and there was play in the rear wheel shaft. I paid up front $3k dollars, on credit, to have the dealership fi... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 14, 2023
Incident date: Aug 5, 2020
Vehicle doesn't slow down when taking foot of the acceleration pedal. Same both power settings. It will continue to move at slow speed on level ground. It behaves as though the minimum pedal.motor speed is too fast. My concern.is that it might get very fast without any pedal. Thank you.
Incident date: Jun 15, 2023
The vehicle stalled in the middle of the road. I could start it but if I put it in reverse or drive it would stall immediately. I was stuck in the middle of the road unable to go forward or back. The police put up cones because my rig was not able to even be moved to the side of the road. I was on the road for over 4 hours before I was towed because of the size of my rig. It was a very scary exper... Read more
Incident date: Jun 11, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Ford Ranger. The contact stated that the vehicle had previously been involved in a crash due to unintended acceleration, which caused the contact to rear-end another vehicle. The vehicle had body and paint repairs performed; however, the vehicle later experienced jerking, and the transmission was seized while driving. The transmission warning light was illuminated. The deal... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 4, 2022
While traveling on I70 from Columbia, Missouri to Grand Junction, Colorado and back, we experienced at least 30 incidents of sudden braking while in adaptive cruise control. Some of the incidents were rapid, causing the car to lose 20 to 30 mph within a second. For the most part these occurrences of sudden braking happened on open highway with no other vehicle within 1/2 mile in front of us. W... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 14, 2023
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
1) Air bag light on indicating it doesnt work 2) horn sounding continusly, activate on a left wheel turn 3) cruise control doesnt work but is active in the screen panel 4) radio start automatocally increasing volume continiously driving me crazy.
Incident date: Jun 23, 2023
Accelerator petal does not always result in acceleration from a stopped position. This causes the hill assist to hold and does not allow movement forward, resulting in an engine stall. The vehicle has also set the EPC light while traveling resulting in reduced engine power to the point of not enough power to move forward. Turn the ignition off, then on resets the EPC and limb mode.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
I was about to park in car space in a parking lot. Instead of stopping in the car space, it has accelerated suddenly into the lawn in front of the car space. Tried to stop and it accelerated again and then hit the tree. The left front part of the model Y is damaged and is still in the body shop even after more than a month. I thought the only explanation is I have pressed accelerator instead of ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 8, 2023
1. The Collision Mitigation Breaking System is braking for no reason, at random times while driving 2. My safety and the safety of others is put at risk because when driving on an open road, cars behind me may not have time to break and this could result in an accident. Not to mention, there's nothing in front of my vehicle, so normal things on the road don't cause drivers to assume a car with su... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
So this is not related to a specific incident, more long term. The throttle response in this vehicle is downright dangerous. MAny of times I feel like I am going to cause an accident. The throttle response is so laggy and jerky that off the line it seems to hesitate for almost 2 seconds. Light turns yellow? Good luck, it will barely downshift and get moving before it turns red. Sometimes the... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
Date of safety issue: July 12, 2023 Location: Piper Glen Shopping Center, Rea Road, Charlotte NC (destination was Run For Your Life at 6416 Rea Road - within the shopping center). Time: Approximately sometime between 1:30 and 2:00 ET Police Report Complaint # - [XXX] On July 12, 2023 I entered a parking lot at a busy retail establishment. I chose a parking space that has a curb and bushes between... Read more
Crash
CHRYSLER
PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 13, 2023
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
Constant phantom breaking
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2015) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 13, 2023
Incident date: Jul 13, 2022
ABS & Traction Control warning off/on on irregular basis Turns off cruise control each time the warning lights activate
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
Car not shifting correctly. No power. Could not gain speed to merge into traffic. Was intermittent for months finally the engine light came on. My mechanics diagnostic showed it was the turbo charger. There is a service bulletin 22-22-EM-004H
Incident date: Feb 27, 2023
Vehicle was traveling at approximately 50 miles per hour with no indication of an issue or prior warning. Vehicle suddenly lost power, rolled to a stop, engaged parking brake and displayed "Service Charging System" error. Vehicle was non-operable in the middle of traffic with small children inside the vehicle, presenting significant risk of accident and injury. Vehicle was towed to a dealership a... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
The contact owns a 2010 Infiniti G37. The contact stated while driving into the garage at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly. The contact stated that the engine revved to 5,000 RPMS. The contact depressed the brake pedal, and the vehicle responded as needed. The contact stated that the failure occurred on three other occasions in a parking lot, and while driving on the road... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
GOLF
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 13, 2023
Incident date: Jul 12, 2023
I was on the highway doing 70+ and my car overheated and shut off. When i turned it back on the engine light was on and it was shaking like crazy. I took it to the dealership and they told me that it is a known prob and it has a coolant leak into the engine. I can see online that this is happening to thousands of people and ford is refusing to fix it. I could be dead right now. They’ve known ab... Read more
Incident date: Mar 28, 2023
Car would not shift. Could not increase speed. This occurred intermittently and gradually got worse
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 13, 2023
Incident date: May 12, 2023
The adaptive cruise control malfunctioned while engaged on the highway/interstate. On a recent trip of approx. 1,000 miles, the vehicle experienced "phantom braking" (aggressive emergency braking for no reason) on three occasions while the adaptive cruise control was engaged on the highway/interstate at approx. 65-75 mph, with no obstruction/vehicle in front and the weather was clear sunny skies. ... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 13, 2023
Incident date: Jul 12, 2023
I had stalled my car and after I restarted it my car had a significant loss of power. I shifted and car would not accelerate at all top speed was 25-30 mph. I had my gas pedal depressed and no change in speed/ I limped to a dealership turned car off and restarted and car was back to normal. This vehicle was 2 days from purchase and less than 500 miles on it. I reported to dealer and was never ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 29, 2023
Stabiltrack System, Traction Control System, Reduced Engine Power. Since purchase of the vehicle, intermittent immediate failure or previously stated vehicle systems caused critical safety concerns for occupants and other drivers while operating. Vehicle looses power enters safety "Limp Mode" due to faulty engineering. Upon inspection by State Police and Fire/EMS, owners urged to contact vehicle m... Read more
4 injured
Incident date: Jul 3, 2023
The check engine light started flashing and the vehicle would not go over 25 miles per hour. Thankfully I was pulling into a parking lot when the reduction in speed occurred. If this had happened on the interstate (which I commute on regularly) it could have been extremely dangerous. Hyundai dealership never returned my calls about service, I had the vehicle towed to another service provider... Read more
Incident date: Aug 27, 2021
Starting in August of 2022 I started getting error messages from the car about Electronic Stability Control, Antilock Brake Systems, and Collision Avoidance problems. These seemed to come and go. But if I was on the highway with Cruise Control on and these messages appeared the car immediately drops out of Cruise Control. In addition if it happened while braking the pedal would go almost to the... Read more
Incident date: Jul 12, 2023
Truck has only 65, 000 miles on it, I’m the second buyer, has never haul anything or hitch a trailer, I’m having this electrical brake system failure ABS, this vehicle is to expensive and new to have early issues on it. ABS Motor Control- General Electric failure. I seem other similar problems reported with same year and same problems.
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
I purchased a new 2022 Ford Ranger it has 6000 miles. I had it back to the dealer twice it hesitate when taking off from start at red light- stop sign and entering highway this in my mind is a safety problem when a care/truck hesitate in traffic there seem a problem with there new ECO-BOOST engine/transmission my truck will return again on 8/1 for another service call for the same problem.