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: Jan 9, 2023
When the VSC light or the traction light comes on the alarm sounds and the the van brakes for me! It can be up hill or down hills, between 30mph-70mph, left or right curves. Thas happend on dry pavement, It is dangerous because the Van braking suddenly for me and dont let me accelerate.
Incident date: Jan 7, 2023
While accelerating on the highway the vehicle lost power. Pressing the gas did nothing. Engine light blinked
Incident date: Sep 12, 2022
My car was hesitant to start i called the recalls line and i let the nissan lot know that my car had recall on the break switch which is connected to my gears, i never received a notice informing me about this issue so when i let the lot know they told me nothing was wrong, after driving it again it wouldnt start i took it to the lot and they said its my transmission and break switch battery ect. ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2022
C0020-01 code began coming in and out immediatly following a service at my local Ram dealer. I returned to the dealer after the warning lamps and messages all came in around ten times within a mile of picking my truck up from them. The dealer used a device to clear the messages, but the alarms returned again after I left. There are multiple warning lamps and messages that remain in as a result of ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
JETTA
(2014) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 7, 2023
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The camshaft sensor is faulty, which then causes the cruise control to stop working, the traction control to turn off, makes the car unable to accelerate, then the steeling wheel begins to shake and the engine to shut down. Which is extremely dangerous while driving. I was luckily able to pull over, but I was almost rear ended because the car stopped accelerating. My check engine light didn’t co... Read more
Incident date: Jan 6, 2023
Headlights continually need replacing. We must replace headlights every few months. We have tried several brands of lights and regardless they go out. We have had all the lights go out at once while driving at night. Cruise control no longer works. I had the clock spring replaced but this did not fix the cruise. Seat warmer Driver side seat warmer no longer engages. When the button is pressed, th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 28, 2022
Driving vehicle at approximately 15 MPH when vehicle accelerated on its own and would not stop by depressing foot brake. Had to put vehicle into neutral and use emergency brake to stop. At the same time several dash warning lights illuminated. Such included but was not limited to, throttle control, trailer tow assist, check engine, brake assist control, etc. The vehicle was parked and unmoved unti... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2023
While driving down the road, my vehicle stated that it was not in park out of no where, and i was driving 35 -40 miles per hour. No doors were open, it was me and my twin boys age 2 in car seats. It then decided to stop in the road. The vehicle shut off. I turned on my hazards and had to try to restart my vehicle. Almost getting in an accident. Got it restarted and pulled it over. I was terrif... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 2500
(2013) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 5, 2023
Incident date: Jan 3, 2023
Vehicle EGR Bypass Valve becomes clogged do to faulty propeller system in valve resulting in vehicle entering into limp mode and stranding passengers in i climate and dangerous weather.
Incident date: Dec 28, 2022
Truck downshifting while driving and looses mileage speedometer and gets stuck in 3rd gear and shifting hard. Start truck up it does good for like 5 mins then downshift and pops into 3rd and get engine light and wrench light
Incident date: Oct 20, 2022
My vehicle went into "limp mode" in a dangerous intersection due to the garbage design of the PCV. The "valve" is simply a hole that gets clogged by cold climates, and it allows the oil pressure to build up in the crankcase and then without warning, oh boy, my engine had a catastrophic failure and needs to be replaced. Blown rear main seal. There are multiple lawsuits against GM for this. They can... Read more
TOYOTA
REDUNDANT SIENNA
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 5, 2023
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
When breaking at a stop sign or light, the vehicle occasionally feels like it surges forward and I'm accelerating instead of breaking. This causes me to push harder on the brakes, which then seem to mechanically engage and then stop the van. I've had the van for a year now and it happens a few times a month, especially if I breaking on an uphill incline.
Incident date: Jan 4, 2023
Vehicle had 3 warning go off while driving. Vehicle engine is shaking. It decelerate and I couldn’t go over 35. No power going up hill. Traction controls shut off, check engine, and SEC service came on. Now messages of braking system and emission from on star. Had a similar incident over thanksgiving and I was told I needed an oil change because there was low oil. My car was at 58% for oil chang... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 3500
(2015) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 4, 2023
Incident date: Jan 4, 2023
There are several problems I’ve noticed some I fix myself! First of all, I was driving my truck at night on the country road and all of a sudden it starts losing power shut down on me on a little road with no pull over spots in Kentucky and just dies completely. My service charging system light came on. I worked on this forever. I noticed it. All of my grounds were completely nasty and pretty mu... Read more
Incident date: Sep 6, 2021
Unknown Mykey has me hostage. When I purchased my vehicle they only had 1 key. Not realizing that setting up the MyKey for my vehicle, I would be putting myself and others that drive on the road with me grave danger. I purchased my truck in March of 2019 and I the fall of 2021 I didn’t think nothing of it by setting up the Mykey for my Ford F-150. Well without further a due I realized that the ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2022
the accelerator is very hesitant from a complete stop. it hesitates and has almost caused several accidents. I took it to the dealership where I purchased it from for its 1st maintenance and told them about the issue and they could not find anything wrong with it. This is a constant persistent complaint. I pick up the vehicle with 27 miles and occurs at every stop, every day. The engine can be hot... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 2500
(2020) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 3, 2023
Incident date: Mar 10, 2022
There is an issue that is causing the batteries to die. This in return causes the Vehicle to go into Limp home mode with no warning. The "issue" was supposed to be resolved by the Dealer in March 2022. The resolution was that one battery was bad. The vehicle is equipped with two batteries. Each of which is sufficient to run the vehicle. A single battery failure should not have caused the truck to ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2021
My 2011 Ford Fiesta shudders, has sudden or Delayed Acceleration,delays in downshift, difficulty stopping/braking,it hesitates when changing gears.also has harsh engagement.I purchased from a private owner in 2021. I have contacted Ford Motor Company Headquarters. I have taken it to my local Ford Dealership,told them what it does, they would not drive it so they could see what it does and how dang... Read more
Incident date: Jun 3, 2022
When pulling out of my driveway my gas pedal foot became stuck on the gas pedal. I could not remove my foot from the gas pedal. I immediately stepped on the brake pedal and then my Tahoe accelerated rapidly. I removed my foot from the brake pedal because any pressure on the brake just caused the car to accelerate faster. I then managed to wiggle my gas pedal foot from off of the gas pedal, it took... Read more
Incident date: Dec 14, 2022
Check forward safety system is on all the time, dealer refusing to fix it. Did have airbag recall repai done yesterday Had computer update done on car.
HYUNDAI
ELANTRA HYBRID
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 2, 2023
Incident date: Dec 26, 2022
Our problem started a few months ago. At first, we thought it was just a fluke, but this issue has happened too many times to be so. The issues are, the car does not accelerate when we depress the accelerator, we see the tachometer move, but the engine is not actually accelerating. Then at times it will accelerate on it's own, while sitting at a red light, the car tries to move forward despite hav... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 1981
I used to drive my Ford Escape just perfectly and I was happy. I liked it. One day in December 2022, I drove my car normally and perfectly during the day. Then, after work, I went to do my shopping. After I finished shopping, I drove my car again. I changed the cruise control settings. After less than a mile, I was tuning left at low and normal speed less than 10MPH. Suddenly, I found the car acce... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 12, 2022
I was going 80mph on the interstate coming back from Little Rock to Tulsa. The time was 4am in the morning with little or no traffic on the road. I was using only the cruise control with adaption turned on. The car all of a sudden without any warning almost came to a complete stop on the interstate. I later asked what caused this and was told it is phatom braking but this was VERY dangerou... Read more
Incident date: Dec 31, 2022
I was on the exit lane coming from Costco on 12/31/2022 at around 12:20 PM with a speed of about 40 miles . My exit is about 100 yards away. Tesla model 3 that I’m driving suddenly accelerated at high speed and pulled towards right and hit the wall next to freeway exit lane. Then it hit the wall on rear tailgate and rolled to middle of freeway within a fraction of seconds. Two vehicles coming on... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 29, 2022
I drive a 2016 jeep compass and I was heading into work at 5AM when my electronic throttle control light, check engine light and traction control light all came on. I lost the ability to accelerate so I pulled off on the side of the road and turned off my car. When I turned it back on only the check engine light came on so I started driving once again but my throttle control light blinked on a cou... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
Abs, stability control and cruise control are not working as they should. Dash is constantly displaying a warning error about the brakes and stability control.
HYUNDAI
ELANTRA HYBRID
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Dec 30, 2022
Incident date: Dec 29, 2022
After driving the vehicle for about 5 miles I stopped to make a left turn and when I let off the brake and pressed the gas pedal the car crept forward but wouldn't speed up and the gas engine wasn't starting or even cranking. After about 20 to 30 seconds to gas engine started and the car drove fine for about 15 miles then I went to slow down and the car speed up on it own and the adaptive cruise c... Read more
Incident date: Dec 26, 2022
During the month of July 2021 I would get a message to service the antilock brakes. At 16400 miles I took the truck to the dealer any they replaced the Control Anti-lock brake system and Module. Part numbers 68143491AA & 68347098AB. As of this week with 24400 miles on the truck I am getting the same intermittent message. The the message comes up with shuts down cruise control, makes a chime noi... Read more
Incident date: Dec 28, 2022
I was driving with one passenger going at very low speed. I began to turn into parking area and suddenly the car accelerated at an alarming speed. I applied total pressure on the brake to no avail, it did not override the acceleration. I steered into the back of another parked vehicle. The impact pushed the large heavy vehicle down into a ditch and deployed the airbags for both myself and passenge... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 22, 2022
My car started surging when I was sitting at a traffic light and as I was crossing abridge The check engine light came on - 2 codes - transmission module 0700 and module 0073
Incident date: Dec 22, 2022
On 12/22/22, I was driving in a 2021 RDX SH-AWD with my pregnant wife and 2 year old son from Media PA to Pittsburgh PA . It was rainy and 35-40 degrees F the whole drive. Approximately 4 hours into the drive we stopped at a rest stop on the PA turnpike to get gas. While attempting to merge back onto the turnpike from the service road to the right of the turnpike, a truck was coming up behind me i... Read more
Incident date: Dec 28, 2022
The engine of our 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid suddenly lost power while driving on the freeway. The display indicated "Put car in park" or something similar--but we were driving 65 miles/hour in heavy traffic! I had to pull over, turn the car off completely for one minute, and restart. After restarting the "check engine" light was on. Later in the drive after we stopped again, the "Check engine... Read more
Incident date: Dec 24, 2022
My 2021 Pacifica Hybrid with 19.2K miles threw a "Service Charging System" and Check Engine Light error while I was driving at 65mph on the highway on Christmas Eve in 8 degree weather. The minivan stopped accelerating and the transmission began flashing between P and D. We were forced to stop the vehicle on the highway shoulder, leaving us (2 parents, 2 kids 7 & 11) stranded on the highway. The v... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2022
Truck downshifts periodically from 3rd to 2nd gear or from 4 to 3 of 4th to 2nd, for no reason, while keeping speed same on flat road. This causes tire squealing action in some cases and is unsafe. Also, at the same time, rear motion sensor system failure light comes on with an OK button. I select the button and then a wrench sign lights up indicating service requires. Sometimes also a check engi... Read more
Incident date: Dec 21, 2022
When backing the vehicle out of a parking space on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, the vehicle lurched and moved very slowly. The center HUD displayed the message, "Slow Down. The Vehicle will reduce speed. Propulsion system failure." The vehicle was towed to the Volvo certified dealer in Roanoke VA. The technician "reset" the error code and released the vehicle to me. The dealership could not tel... Read more
Incident date: Dec 29, 2022
Yesterday I had the Crankshaft Position Sensor replaced because of the ongoing stalling while idle and stalling while in motion issues. Today it has stalled 5 times while in motion on surface streets and the highways going over 40 mph and twice in a parking when sitting idle or initial startup. For the times when in motion and it stalled I was able to get off the road and avoid any collisions. Thi... Read more
Incident date: Dec 29, 2022
The screen does not come on, so no heat, no safety stuff, no reverse camera and no sensors. All the above ADAS features do not work either. This is definitely a safety hazard, which I think traces back to the vehicle operating system. Details reported to Volvo in this tweet--> https://twitter.com/ameyaroskar/status/1608642311923339266?t=CUl77cpdg6qWIP8AJqetyQ&s=19
VOLKSWAGEN
PASSAT
(2014) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Dec 28, 2022
Incident date: Dec 21, 2022
I was taking an exit ramp onto the highway when my car just started accelerating on its own. I pulled onto the highway and was cruising at 55 mph. The car then jerked a little and started to accelerate past 60 then to 70. I pressed the brakes and nothing happened. My car then accelerated to 80 mph. I continued pressing the brakes to try to slow down but nothing happened. Then I heard a loud cr... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2021
ABS and Traction Control warning lights flash on and off constantly and there is a warning tone that beeps non-stop on my 2018 Ram 2500. When these warnings appear, the ABS System and the Traction Control are disabled along with the cruise control. This has happened twice already, and my truck only has 4000 miles on it. The first time was in October 2021 when the truck had under 3000 miles on it. ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 5, 2022
unsafe condition , throttle becomes unresponsive intermittently no response right after starting the engine , no messages on dash to alert driver like reduced power or any CHECK ENGINE LIGHT that will show a component DTC , vehicle has been twice at the dealer ship with no fix results, last time the computer was reprogramed but problem not corrected , they claim not be able to recreate condition ,... Read more
Incident date: Dec 27, 2022
I have experienced short periods with my Tacoma accelerating when my foot wasn't on the gas pedal. The floor mat was pinned down correctly and not in the way. I was turning left and my truck started to speed up like the gas was being pressed. I had to hit the brakes as a red light was coming and vehicles were stopped at the Red light. I have also had another issue with the truck not responding wh... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2022
Approx. speed of 50 mph vehicle suddenly dropped into 1st gear resulting in rapid deceleration. Both speedometer and tach were fluctuating and had no direct correlation with actual vehicle motion. Defect was momentary and truck resumed to normal shifting pattern and normal speedometer/tach function.
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2020) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Dec 27, 2022
Incident date: Dec 27, 2022
i was stopped at a red light and when the light turned green I accelerated and the vehicle shut off and then came back on. when the vehicle came on i had a service esc light and a system break failure warning telling me not to exceed 62mph. i made it back to my house driving with extreme caution. the breaks were very delayed while driving.
Incident date: Dec 27, 2022
While driving the vehicle shut down, I lost all steering. It has a history of stalling while driving, stalling while idle, and not restarting for random periods of time. After getting the vehicle restarted it stalled again two more times while driving. I parked in a parking lot for a shopping center. When I cam out after a period of 30-45 minutes - the vehicle will not start and just turns over an... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2016) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Dec 26, 2022
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
Sensor temperature transmission
Incident date: Dec 19, 2022
This has happened about 3 times since I purchased the vehicle in end of 2018. While I was driving out of no where the car will just brake, there is nothing in front of me or blocking me and one time I was going about 40 mph and the others were when I was going about 30 and 50 so it’s been a range. Luckily every time I’ve been driving there has not been anyone behind me but for sure if someone ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Dec 26, 2022
Incident date: Dec 23, 2022
Steering assist failure at low and highway speed. Lurching and speed fluctuating at low and highway speed. Adaptive cruise control failure at low and highest speed. Yes, it is reproducible.
Incident date: Dec 25, 2022
I was driving at approximately 30mph on a road the traction control/stability track light came on and my car lost almost all power. it went from 30 to about 5mph. thankfully i was on a slower road and close to my house so I was able to get home. If I would have been on a highway I could have been killed. i quick google search showed thousands of other complaints with the same problem, my question ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2022
Purchased a low mileage, 2019 Subaru Outback Limited, had 16,407 miles on vehicle, had accident damage reported by CARFAX. At 27,383 miles an oil leak in valve cover gasket was discovered, Subaru fixed leak under warranty, engine removed. Upon driving the vehicle home following repairs, the car lunged forward through the garage door, into the garage, and damaged vehicle and garage interior as I a... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 19, 2022
timing chain issues resulting in a loss of power of the vehicle while driving. The vehicle stalls out and shuts off. Or it will go into power saving mode and slow down to only 20mph. It did this to me one a MAJOR HIGHWAY and I almost was in an accident. Way to many issues with gmc owners and the timing chain on their vehicles