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: Mar 12, 2023
This was a case of phantom braking. While on the freeway with the cruise control set to 80 mph the car suddenly and unexpectedly slammed on the brakes. I had to step on the throttle to make the car stop braking. We were nearly rear ended by the car behind us. You can definitely come and inspect the car. I have not taken the vehicle to Tesla for inspection. No accident resulted from this incid... Read more
Incident date: May 29, 2023
No lights previous to incident. Sudden engine & speed malfunction . Yes, it happened multiple times heading to the ford dealer-2 mi away. We kept the hazard lights on. Sudden loss of power while driving, engine goes into limp mode, down hill assist light and altrack light comes on. Truck restarts but again limps unexpectedly. Took it to dealer -it was the throttle body that had been replaced ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2020
My daughter was driving the car to work. The car accelerated even thou her foot was lightly placed on the gas pedal, it was like pressing the gas pedal to race the car. This happened 4 times on her 4.5 mile drive to work. When she was turning into the parking lot, she had her foot on the brake and the car accelerated again which scared her as she didnt want to crash into the cars in front. I ... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE SPORT
(2017) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 5, 2023
Incident date: May 23, 2023
I was driving on a 40mph speed road at 45 mph and the car stopped accelerating abruptly and remained stuck at 20 mph even thou my foot was on the gas pedal. I had to put the caution lights on and get to the side of the road. I had every car behind me honk and yell when passing by. This could have been a big crash. I have the video of this when I was driving. This happened various times, in Dec... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2023
This has been a consistent on-going issue with my brand new 2023 Tesla Model Y. While using Autopilots Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and the Autosteer feature the car will without warning begin braking. Each time is different in regards to severity of the breaking but it is typically like letting off the accelerator pedal which in a Tesla is comparable to significant breaking. Have taken two hi... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2007) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 5, 2023
Incident date: May 12, 2023
My instrument cluster is delaminating in my tesla model S. When I took it to the service center for the recall service the service center stated that the main screen was also delaminating. Service tech told me that the instrument cluster (and main screen) would eventually fail because of the delamination. I have had the car for less than 8 years. both the instrument cluster and the center scre... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
While driving, at any speed, for any length of time (sometimes minutes, sometimes hours) the car will act like it is shifting to neutral, no matter how fast I am traveling, it’s happened at 10 mph and up. It’s random, no rhyme or reason. It has been in 4 shops since November and does not code for errors. No one has found the issue. It is unsafe as it will redline the rpm, make the accelera... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2020
The contact owns a 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that the RPM would be elevated while the vehicle was idling. The failure recurred while the brake pedal was depressed. There were no warning lights illuminated. The failure recurred approximately 3-4 times within 30 days. The failure recurred approximately 15 times within 6 months of owning the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to th... Read more
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 5, 2023
Incident date: May 29, 2023
The driver dashboard went blank except for randomly flashing nonsense numbers. Vehicle speed, fuel level, engine RPM and other vehicle information was lost. Additionally forward collision avoidance, lane keep and departure, adaptive cruise, emergency braking and blind spot warning systems became inactive. I am unsure if the antilock brake system and stability controls are functional. My safety was... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2023
I was driving on the highway with autopilot activated. There were no cars in front, beside or behind me. A car did come up behind me at a fast speed. My car suddenly started to brake (phantom braking). The car coming up behind me sped around me. There was no reason for the car to brake like that.
Incident date: Jun 3, 2023
Every possible warning light came on without notice and the car came to an abrupt halt. Ultimately the front tires locked and the car could not be moved out of park. This happened at Yosemite National Park and was very dangerous. Fortunately I was able to glide most of the car to the side of the road (not all) before the complete shutdown of all systems. The car was towed to our Audi dealer. ... Read more
Incident date: May 21, 2023
On 05/28/23 while i was trying to park my 2011 Nissan Leaf in a parking lot, the car accelerated unexpectedly and hit a pole and fence and scratched an already parked car. Applying break did not slow down my car. I own this car since 2011 and never had an experience like this.
Crash
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
On the morning of May 16 2023 while making a turn at 17 th Avenue and Bayshore Drive my car continued to accelerate in spite of me trying to brake. I was projected into a stone wall and knew I was going to crash . I crashed into the wall,all my airbags were deployed and the car smelled like smoke. My accelerator got stuck and was sideways .I was unable to get out of the car from inside but a Good ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
While driving on the NYS Thruway (I90), I started to pass a Tractor Trailer, I put my blinker on and began moving to the right to pass. There were 2/3 cars in back of me also passing. I was using cruise control and I began to put my foot on the accelerator to finish my passing and move over to the right hand lane to let the other vehicles pass me. However, upon accelerating, my car started t... Read more
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 3, 2023
Incident date: May 29, 2023
while driving in traffic with the adaptive cruise control on, the system indicated a sensor malfunction. This is a well-known occurrence for these vehicles as reported on numerous Nissan sites and other websites. This failure can present a safety hazard if the warning comes with little time to react to traffic conditions.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
Complaint: Speedometer is not working, loss of function of speedometer while driving and Downshifting of the gear. The instrumental cluster showed a maintenance warning while driving in which will cause the speedometer to stop working. When trying to drive the vehicle on a stop position, there is a delay on the acceleration. Vehicle feels like it's on 2nd or 3rd gear. This may lead to loss of c... Read more
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
There have been a collection of other Vin numbers for this year make and model for the symptoms I have been experiencing since taking ownership in 2019. The vehicle will stall while running and randomly disable ALL WHEEL drive, Traction Control, ABS, and send Check engine light on causing me amdy son on infinite number of times to almost be hit In the middle of amd intersection, after a stop sig... Read more
Incident date: Apr 2, 2023
My car went into Sudden Unintended Acceleration when I shifted from neutral to drive. I was in a gas station that was perpendicular to highway traffic. When I attempted to come out of the car wash tunnel to get my car dried off, the car accelerated out of control, the gas pedal was stuck and the brakes would not engage. The car flew out of the tunnel and into traffic. The car hit a curb before ent... Read more
Crash
1 injured
VOLKSWAGEN
GOLF ALLTRACK
(2017) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 3, 2023
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
The gas gauge will show full then without warning quickly drop to “E” and the low fuel indicator will ding and the light will come on then just as quickly as it started it will go back to full or 2/3rds the slow creep back to the full position. (The tank was not full) While driving all the electrical components start going wild, everything goes on and off quickly. The accelerator will rev(whi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
Driving on highway with cruise control selected to 80 mph. Left signal is applied to travel to left lane to pass a semi trailer. When the vehicle is half way into the left lane, the automatic system applies hard braking even though the semi trailer has not been detected as too close. Vehicle slowed to 74 to 75 mph before cruise control was turned off. Vehicle behavior is a total surprise to vehicl... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 2, 2023
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
Over the last two months, I've had over 30 incidences where the car will either randomly shift extremely hard into a gear or will hesitate, stutter, lose power while accelerating. Some of the shifts have been so hard that they've thrown me forward. Some of the losses of power are extremely dangerous as I'm accelerating at highway speeds. I have a full log of at least 30 of these incidents (and det... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2023
The car is totalled. My car tripped 9+ malfunction warnings, after starting and driving. These included rear brake lights, directionals, start/stop system, and more. It appears that the sunroof leaks, and the roof drains were clogged (even though they were specifically checked and cleaned by the dealer 2 months earlier). This led to water accumulating in the areas under the back seat (a prior reca... Read more
Incident date: Apr 11, 2023
While driving at speed (75-80 mph) on Interstate 90 and 80 (different days) auto aggressively applied brakes. No other autos, trucks or obstructions were anywhere close to the car. There was no forewarning the problem was going occur. All occurred in daylight from morning until mid afternoon. I recognize this as phantom braking. Tesla refuses to look at the car because I did not have the exact ti... Read more
Incident date: Apr 18, 2023
The transmission with the Auto Start/Stop 48v system is very clunky and not smooth at low speeds. I'm unable to park in my garage or parallel park with the Auto Start/Stop feature enabled which is by default for reduced emissions. I fear hitting pedestrians/people at crosswalks, causing damage to my house inside my garage when parking, and/or other vehicles when parallel parking because the tran... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2023
The contact owned a 2013 Chevrolet Camaro. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 mph and making a right turn the accelerator pedal erroneously extended down causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a utility pole. During the crash, the contact sustained a fractured right ankle and concussion and was transported to the local hospital. A police report was ta... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: May 26, 2023
While traveling at 70 mph on the freeway my 2023 Kona with less than 2,000 miles dropped into neutral and lost speed, almost causing a crash. I’m lucky the driver behind me braked in time. The dealer has informed me that the transmission needs to be replaced.
Incident date: Apr 23, 2023
Multiple extreme braking so much where today actually hurt my neck it stopped so abruptly up a hill miscalculating that a walker was about to be hit by my car, the man was nowhere near being hit and the auto braking skid to a halt whipping my head forward and my sweatshirt choked my Adams Apple area. It was extremely abrupt, scared me, the walker and nearly caused a rear end collision with the car... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: May 13, 2022
We ordered a Western Star WITHOUT collision mitigation and when we got the truck it had a WABCO CMS. We have had nothing but problems of hard breaking on overpasses and bridges and false readings of cars on the other side of highway. The truck has been in FYDA Freightliner for about a month total and they "can't find anything wrong". Their suggestion was us to remove a bullguard and drive a few ... Read more
2 injured
Incident date: May 25, 2023
Ever since I got my car I’ve had black oil since the start . Second my car breaks on its own at times 3rd my car system keep breaking down as the sparks leaking in some where has this issue since bought it 2 years ago low miles
MERCEDES-BENZ
SPRINTER 2500
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 1, 2023
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
When the accelerator is depressed and the vehicle is in drive, it does not accelerate. This has happened multiple times, the date provided is a representative date where others witnessed the issue and is not the first or last time it occurred.
Incident date: May 30, 2023
For about 8 months, our 2018 Dodge Ram 2500 has had interment ABS and HCU warning lights and the notification to "Service electronic braking system" followed by "Service antilock brake system". This may occur for a period of hours or seconds and disables our trucks ABS, traction control, cruise control and other systems. When checked, the truck has no stored fault codes. When this first occurred,... Read more
Incident date: May 25, 2023
2023 TESLA Y -Consumer is writing about concerns with the speed assistance, auto-pilot (quick stopping action). Consumer was unaware of the dangers and that there was no cruise or lane control. Consumer submitted service request. Consumer has listed summary of observations & incidents. Consumer listed several questions: Are all Tesla Y prone to phantom breaking? Did we get a lemon? Can we get it ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
There is a severe acceleration issue happening with this vehicle. When ibling for to long or stop/go traffic, the acceleration of the vehicle disappears and seems to ride with little mobility. The rpms will sky rocket, yet the car will not move fast at all. It's gotten quite scary crossing two lanes of traffic from a stoplight. There is an attached doc from the manufacturer communications section... Read more
DODGE
GRAND CARAVAN
(2016) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 1, 2023
Incident date: Nov 15, 2022
The main screen blanked out completely Heads up display Cruise and adaptive and blind spot indicators all ceases to function Air conditioner has lost function twice since I got the vehicle Leak in rear pipes Rear hatch intermittently doesn’t close properly thus an alarm stays on Driver side mirror won’t fold out after retraction Rear wiper goes off for not reason Lane departure is unre... Read more
Incident date: Oct 31, 2022
"Phantom braking:" Vehicle has braked Multiple times on the freeway while using adaptive cruise control, when no objects were In the vehicle's path. Typically occurs when driving on curved section of freeway at speeds above 50 mph.
Incident date: Jan 2, 2021
On May 25, 2023 I was stopped at a red light with one car in front of me. My foot was not on brake because i use the one peddle feature. All of the sudden, my car accelerated and ran into the car in front of me. In the 2 seconds before hitting car, I saw my collision assistant light go on but there was no braking at all. I've been driving for almost 40 years and nothing like this has ever happ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 21, 2023
Experienced dangerous situation while using Speed Control, aka: Cruise Control, with NO vehicles ahead of mine, a totally empty road in New Mexico on I-25, the Tesla Model Y with 2,000 miles on it suddenly braked, dropping the speed over 15mph, then suddenly accelerated, I read this is a known problem and is known as Phantom Braking. It happened several times during the trip, once with a vehicle b... Read more
Incident date: May 12, 2023
On at least 8 occasions the car unintentionally shifted into cruise control and accelerated immediately. This usually happened while driving under 30 mph and rapidly accelerated to a much higher speed, sometimes set as high as 70 mph. On 3 occasions this happened in a parking lot and 2 occasions in a bank drive thru with a vehicle only a few feet in front of me. Immediate emergency braking was req... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2023
-Knock Sensor Detection System - ECU Logic Improvement - I Was driving with my infant son in the backseat. I was going 70 mph when my car started rapidly losing speed. This happened again with just myself after receiving the car from mechanic. There was heavy traffic and I had to swerve to avoid being hit by an 18-wheeler. - I can see on the website where I received the car from, there is a reca... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2023
Two issues that are concerning and I have told Tesla: 1. The car will be on cruise control and I will be relaxed and all of a sudden it will just brake for no reason. Praise God I am aware of it now and prepared so I have to compensate, but it is very dangerous and made the cruise control useless. While it was under warrantee I request it be fixed, but they said there was no way to do that. 2. T... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
May 30, 2023
Incident date: May 30, 2023
Service ABS system message turns on and off continuously while driving. When the warning is active ABS is disabled. Also when the warning activates it will disable cruise control suddenly. It continues to turn on and off. Dealership diagnosed it as ABS control module. They state there are no parts to replace it with at this point in time and no ETA on when a part will be manufactured. They also s... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2023
On 5/30/23 while in traffic I pressed the brake to slow down and the car kept moving forward. I pressed the brake all the way down and I was still unable to stop the car from accelerating. I rear-ended the vehicle in front of me. My car is currently being inspected by a mechanic that my insurance company recommended.
Crash
Incident date: May 30, 2023
Driving up a hill on interstate 70MPH when an engine light with Hill Climb Assist disabled error came on. Accellerater shut down and had to coast to side of road. I shut vehicle off and started back up and was able to proceed till I got off highway and proceeded up another hill and same thing happened stalled and came to a stop. I found dozens of other F150 owners having the same problem stalling ... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2023
When using cruise control from Las Vegas to Reno Nevada and also going back the car will brake extremely hard over 80 times one way which almost caused alone 4 major accidents with stopping abruptly for no reason causing the cars behind you to almost rear end you. This is tremendously dangerous and it s happening so often you can even use the cruise control. This does happen on other trips as well... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2023
Several times, the vehicle will brake without an obstacle in the road. It is extremely scary - at one time, it forced me to react unexpectedly and almost got into an accident. This is scary.
Incident date: May 29, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Infiniti Q50. The contact stated that while driving at highway speeds, the vehicle inadvertently slowed down. The vehicle failed to accelerate. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that a valve body replacement was needed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and the contact... Read more
DODGE
GRAND CARAVAN
(2013) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
May 30, 2023
Incident date: May 18, 2023
ABS & Traction light flickers and stays on. Brakes have pulsed. This is very dangerous for my family and myself. Ram wants to charge me $$ for a manufacturing defect that they are all to aware of. This not fare.
Incident date: May 2, 2023
Car smoking white , and driving slow after I hit a pothole when it was raining hard.
Incident date: May 8, 2023
Approximately 5 times while using Adaptive Cruise Control my 2023 Tesla Y will abruptly brake and slow down approximately 10-15 mph even through there are not roadway dangers. It is a startling event every time.