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: Mar 11, 2023
I carry my family in the vehicle and the lights would come on for the traction control and check engine light and speed sensor light and the car would stop moving and shut off while going down the road and the brakes would barely work and the transmission would stop pulling or slip and the engine would not rev up that is really dangerous when your traveling with traffic something needs to be done ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 2, 2023
The series of events leading to my theory of what is wrong with my 2012 Kia Soul: 1. Steering coupler replacement in March of 2021 left my steering wheel sideways instead of straight, air bag light remains on, and traction control light as well. The after-market (I assume) cruise control is automatically on when car is started. Must turn off manually. 2. U-joint connecting to steering column fel... Read more
Incident date: Mar 30, 2023
Today 4/7/23 My 2017 Toyota Sienna accelerated on its own. I was driving my 4 children to school and we were at a stop light. When I took my foot of the brake to start making a turn the car gunned it around the corner. It scared everyone in the car half to death. Thankfully no one was hurt but it looks like others on here haven't been so lucky with this issue. I hope toyota does the right thing a ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 6, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated while her husband was depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle accelerated independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to regain control of the vehicle and continued driving to the residence but experienced the failure for second time. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed the vehicle to ... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 6, 2023
Incident date: Mar 30, 2023
Bought new in 2020, then after 24k miles, had rough idle, uneven acceleration, occasional lurching while decelerating. Check engine indicator, code p0301. Dealership diagnosed faulty transmission, said needed replacement, then took about 90 days to finish repairing the vehicle. Now, as I expected, 25k miles later, exactly the same situation, except so far the check engine light has not come on and... Read more
LAND ROVER
DEFENDER
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 6, 2023
Incident date: Mar 15, 2023
On Wed, April 5th, 2023 at approximately 10:15 pm I was returning home from a class in my 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. I was on local roads and had just transitioned from EV mode to gas mode (having used up all of my battery after about 30 miles of driving) when the car flashed the attached warning sign and I had very little power provided by my accelerator. Note that something similar to this... Read more
Incident date: Mar 27, 2023
Transition stalls when cold
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA HYBRID
(2013) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 6, 2023
Incident date: Mar 31, 2023
This problem started 3 o 4 day after I got the car from the dealer, I was driven to my work in highway 70 lonoke Arkansas and suddenly my car started to shift back and started to lose velocity and others cars started to pass me, was very scary ,I took the car to the dealer and they told me, they don't know what happen with the car,they don't let the mechanic to fix it and I took the vehicle to O... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2023
Special Coverage Adjustment N172097060 Side Blind Zone Alert Module Water Intrusion was issued for my vehicle. I took it in to get fixed and was told I was past the 6 year extension (May 2022) but under the milage (79,199). They told me the parts are on back order from GMC. This was on 04-03-2023. On 04-05-2023 I was driving my vehicle and the instrument cluster went partially blank. I lost my spe... Read more
Incident date: Dec 7, 2022
Digital dash/display and the whole cluster freezes while driving. The recall 22v-779 update was done on the truck 4 weeks ago and it still have the same issue.
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2015) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 5, 2023
Incident date: Apr 5, 2023
It seems that, from the day we purchased the vehicle, there have been issues with the transmission regarding how it is programmed and how it responds to drive or input through the throttle. This causes the vehicle the occasionally lurch forward under acceleration, especially at low speeds in the parking lot. And times the throttle gets really confused and the transmission fails to deliver power to... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
My vehicle was purchased from Shottenkirk Ford new in 2016. They perform my maintenance regularly. Recently, I experienced a leak and took it in; I had it towed to them. Shottenkirk wanted $1200 because they stated that the water pump needed to be replaced. After replacing the water pump, the leak was worse. Shottenkirk wanted $1200 to replace parts they said needed replacing in the transmission c... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2023
The contact owns a 2011 Freightliner MT-55. The contact stated while coming to a complete stop and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle inadvertently attempted to accelerate. The message "Check Hybrid System" was displayed. The contact applied more pressure to the brake pedal and the vehicle started to jerk. The vehicle then responded as needed once coming at a complete stop. The contact stated... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
ML320
(2000) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 5, 2023
Incident date: Dec 1, 2022
The car jerks forward when accelerating from a stopped position which throws everyone in the car forward and it could potentially hit something or someone. The car does not stay in position when put in park or even turned off. It rolls back 2 feet and it hit my daughter and knocked her down from the rear and the car door hit my mother because it rolls back too far. Also, it has a major hesitatio... Read more
2 injured
Incident date: Mar 11, 2023
The throttle body system keeps failing and causing my ETC light to come on. This causes the car to lose speed and almost stalling while driving. Thus happens out if no where and while driving the car will automatically slow down on it own and won't let me accelerate which is very dangerous when driving on the highway or trying to make a turn and your car stops accelerating. I have had the throttl... Read more
Incident date: Dec 24, 2022
ABS and traction control failed causing me to lose control on an icy road. I was able to regain control without hitting anything or having an accident but now I get an intermittent ABS control module service warning. When this appears the antilock brakes, the cruise control and traction control do not work. Once the light goes off all systems return to normal operation. It is intermittent and unpr... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2023
My wife was driving our 2014 Odyssey. She went to visit a neighbor. As she pulled up in the driveway and applied the brakes the car acceleration engaged. She was unable to stop the car. I hit the neighbors garage door, totaling it and damaged both of their cars inside. She had complained previously about what she had described as a braking problem. The car was taken into Honda service to check out... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Mar 29, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Chevrolet Blazer. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 MPH, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration and the speed increased to over 70 MPH. The contact indicated that while depressing the brake pedal the vehicle failed to slow as needed and the parking brake was activated to eventually stop the vehicle. The vehicle was later towed to the local deal... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2022
ABS & Traction Light flicker on & off randomly at no specific duraction. I cannot predict when lamps will come on, also cruise control is disabled when lamps light up. I understand this has been an on-going issue for Ram.
Incident date: Apr 4, 2023
After starting the vehicle and going from reverse to drive the vehicle stalls out. After the initial stall and traveling a few miles, while stopping at a traffic signal the vehicle stalls out again and more times than not can accelerate at a speed higher than prompted. This is a frequent occurrence and other owners of the same make model and year that I have spoken with have the same issue.
Incident date: Mar 31, 2023
Car will not accelerate or moved after stopping at red light..even after pressing the pedal all the way to the floor..very dangerous situation..some one is going to get hurt or kill...Nissan needs to recall because almost every nissan altima experience the same problem..very scary and dangerous situation it happens every day now..car will not move at all or sometimes very slow..please help..Dealer... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2023
Driver drove approx. 3.5 to passenger’s home. While sitting & talking to the passenger for several minutes, the car suddenly, rapidly lurched forward, crashing into neighbor’s property. Substantial damage was done to the neighbor’s deck and brick wall at rear of the house. At least one piece of heavy lumber speared through the windshield between the driver and passenger. Vehicle is auto-s... Read more
Crash
MERCEDES-BENZ
SPRINTER 2500
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 3, 2023
Incident date: Apr 1, 2023
At elevations above about 6,500ft, the Sprinter is essentially immobile or becomes intermittently unresponsive to the gas pedal when it is depressed. This happens routinely at elevation and has led to unresponsive acceleration while driving. The unresponsive accelerator has compromised safety when trying to pull out onto roads. This issue has occurred frequently to other Sprinter owners in similar... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2023
My transmission had to be replaced. It has always lunged, jerked, shake and make several unnatural noises. It would clunk into gear or not go in the proper gear. Several times it would not down shift and pushed me into the intersection either at a stop sign or red light. It felt as if I was hit from behind. One day it wouldn't go forward or reverse. It started working later and I took it to a deal... Read more
Incident date: Mar 27, 2023
Vehicle suddenly braked while traveling 70mph on freeway with traffic aware cruise control engaged. This incident happened 3 times during the same 40 mile trip. No other vehicles were within 50 feet of the vehicle in either direction. A rear end collision could have happened if another vehicle were behind me. No warning sounds occurred or warning indication on the computer screen. I purchas... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE SPORT
(2018) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 3, 2023
Incident date: Mar 28, 2023
I was parking the car it suddenly accelerated jumped the curb and was heading towards the building entrance dore. I could not stop it. To avoid entering the building I turned the vehicle tight and it collided against the wall. The air bags inflated.
Crash
NISSAN
ROGUE SPORT
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 3, 2023
Incident date: Feb 16, 2023
on 30th MAR 2023, when my wife drove on to our drive way with gentle speed, car rammed into closed garage door and broke the door and rammed into living room wall with breaking room entry door . there is neither emergency breaking /stop nor collision warning . it damaged wall , garage door and more living room property damage with addition to damage to the car. i am really worried about the safe... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
All I did was take it to get new rear calipers and an alignment and when I left the shop I got a light on the dashboard that says service traction control service stabilitrak and sometimes the abs goes on and off and sometimes the airbag light comes on and turns off. I can't drive over 1.5rpm and it's jumping when trying to accelerate. I'm not getting codes. I changed the brake pedal sensor to see... Read more
COOPER
MASTERCRAFT SENSYS 01
(9999) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 3, 2023
Incident date: Mar 24, 2023
I was driving and came to a stop sign. When I was getting ready to pull off my entire vehicle automatically went into park and shut off. I was almost rear ended by the vehicle behind me. People were blowing at me. I just restarted the vehicle after a few attempts it started and I drove off. Also my entire dash went black while I was driving. I also felt water on my feet why on the passenger side (... Read more
Incident date: Mar 28, 2023
ABS module and traction control starting going off while driving. I took the car to the dealer but refused to fix it despite being under warranty at the time. The ABS and traction control lights go on/off suddenly and my cruise control shuts down and I loose ABS braking which is CRITICAL. this can cause an accident and I am not the only one with this issue. 2019+ Rams have already been recalled fo... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2023
I pulled out of my brothers driveway as I pulled out the car failed to go over 10mph and started to lurch back and forth. I almost got in an accident because of this. There was a car coming down the road and they had to swerve to miss me because I couldn’t get the car to go over 10. I promptly pulled the car over after that.The car also would go into reverse but would not move. I had the car tow... Read more
Incident date: Apr 2, 2023
Dec 1, 2022, Service dept. at Local RAM dealer in Binghamton, NY, diagnosed and concluded that the vehicle requires a new abs hydraulic control unit. PN: 68143491AB was ordered (Order # 1201BP) At that time, Parts were listed as being on Backorder and unavailable until mid January, 2023. ?? Mid January 2023, Part still unavailable, New estimate of part availability was mid March 2023. ??? M... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
I was driving southbound on I429 approaching the Vineland Wintergarden (FL)exit. approximately .75 miles from exit, a bit of an uphill. I heard a ticking noise, then suddenly the car went silent. The screen lit up with every sensor flashing. It took me a few seconds to realize I was in potentially deadly trouble. The car began slowing from 70 MPH to maybe 25MPH as I crested the last hill. To add... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2023
Failure of transmission control module Description fits exact diagnosis in recall. Check transmission light on at 45,000 miles. Andy Mohr wants money to inspect it. I an more than willing to if they will inspect it for free but it is not drivable. If they would come pick it up I would be happy to let them drive it all they want. The problem came with no warning on the Highway. car wouldn’t n... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Oct 10, 2022
I believe The failure that i'm experiencing is with the vehicle's transmission. The car stalls or refuses to shift gears, has trouble accelerating, and when the car is trying to accelerating the car makes an unfamiliar noise which is quiet loud and noticeable and sometimes shake or full on just pushes forward randomly. I believe the safety for mine and others can be at risk at times because the... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2022
I was driving on the highway in a mountainous area going downhill. The cruise control was on with the speed set at about 80 miles/hour. Then the car was losing speed, the RPM needle started swinging from left and right. I stepped on the accelerator but the car continue losing speed to 40 miles/hour and continue losing speed. I turned on the emergency light to warn the other drivers and was able to... Read more
Incident date: Dec 15, 2022
Abs pump and control module built with defective part’s causing pump and module failure which in turn caused break failure
Incident date: Mar 18, 2023
I am driving on the new FSD beta that Tesla just released to comply with NHTSA's previous recall, version 2022.45.13. Despite the claim that this release has addressed these issues, I experienced these today while driving around my town on city streets and on the open highway: As I approached the stop sign at the end of the exit ramp off the highway to my neighborhood street, the car blew right pa... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2023
While driving 75mph transmission down shifted unexpectedly to 1 gear. Once I got it home had codes checked called for they stated my truck wasn't covered under recall that is out there for 2011 ford f150 doing the same thing.
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 1, 2023
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
After 10000 miles my transmission is shifting erratically, especially in the morning
SUZUKI
GRAND VITARA
(2006) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Apr 1, 2023
Incident date: Mar 15, 2022
I bought this car used one year ago and have had to change the low beam lights twice and now they are out again. At night I drive with the high beams on and they are so weak no one can tell. Last month the engine started surging making the car try to take off wether in neutral, park or drive. I have to hold the brake very strongly to keep the car from taking off. This is extremely dangerous for ob... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2023
On 2/24 I was driving on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, I was in the middle lane going thru an intersection, when suddenly while attempting to accelerate to go thru the light, all of my dash lights came on and the gas petal stopped working completely. I had cars in front, behind and on sides of me and I was unable to move out of the way. I attempted to restart the car to no avail. This could have be... Read more
Incident date: Mar 17, 2023
Pulling into a parking spot, vehicle had a sudden burst of acceleration, as it was still on the road, resulting in an accident. Vehicle drove over a parking curb, hitting a small tree and a sign. Vehicle felt like there was a lag in response timing of the throttle to acceleration response. No one was injured, including myself the driver. Vehicle at this moment is at the VW dealership getting r... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 29, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 Cadillac CTS. The contact stated that while driving in reverse and reversing out of the driveway, the vehicle suddenly experienced unintended acceleration and drove in reverse across a parking lot crashing into two parked vehicles, and hitting a tree before driving across a side road and into a ditch. During the incident, the front driver sustained neck stiffness and the fr... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Jan 17, 2023
I was pulling into a parking place and the had a sudden unintended acceleration. I was not applying pressure to the gas pedal and was easing into the parking spot. When I applied pressure to the brakes, they were extremely hard to push like they were locked up. The car jumped the concrete barrier, took out a pole fence and jumped a sidewalk the fence stopped it short of hitting thee building.
Crash
Incident date: Nov 15, 2022
The ABS module has to be replaced!
Incident date: Mar 20, 2023
All of the advanced safety features have stopped working in my Mach E The curse control does not work either the adaptive or the standard. The pre-collision system is not working, lane assit is not working. The absence of these working systems is a danger. Ford knows about this software problem with the software, however they refuse to fix the problem at there expense. The Mach E was designed fr... Read more
Incident date: Sep 21, 2022
I was driving down the road and heard a grinding noise from engine. I pulled over to check under the hood for fluid leaks or check engine lights which everything checked out good temp gauges and everything giving normal readings. I then proceeded to keep traveling my route and about 5 minutes in I was loosing power and my car wasn't accelerating any more. I contacted the dealership I received my c... Read more
Incident date: Mar 29, 2023
My engine had been using oil at a very fast rate and I was just told that hyundai consume a lot of oil. I have had this car since 77k miles and have issues ever since I bought it. At first I had issues with it not accelerating on the interstate and then it would randomly stop while I was driving, almost like a car hiccup. I took it to the dealership, and other car shops and no one found anythin... Read more
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2008) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Mar 31, 2023
Incident date: Mar 18, 2023
Part 43777-1G100 Pin-Snap is Part Code 43777B does not keep linkage attached to transmission shifter, it broke/snapped off due to wear and tear on a vehicle that only has 65,000 miles on it causing the vehicle to be stuck in drive.