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: Oct 4, 2022
Traveling between Colorado and Missouri, multiple instances of "phantom braking" where, without warning, the car would brake suddenly and very sharply, such that the tires would squeal and items in the back seat slid onto the floor. There were no obstacles, the weather was clear and there was no reason for it to do so. We were only using the cruise control and not the self driving program. Our s... Read more
Incident date: Oct 14, 2022
Car repeatedly, randomly slams in brakes while cruise control engaged for no apparent reason. Not speeding, no other cars or blockages around, open highway on a bright, clear day.
Incident date: Sep 3, 2022
The power steering mechanism stopped working, therefore I cannot turn the wheel. The gear shifter/drive train stopped working, therefore I cannot go into reverse, I am stuck in 3rd gear. It is unsafe because when I go to turn I cannot turn the wheel at times. I have issues braking. All of these issues are recalls on the vehicle. GM states that the recalls were performed seven years ago in San Juan... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2022
While driving on freeway on a clear day with no other cars in front of me the car suddenly hard brakes such that one could feel the anti locking activating. I was lucky there were no cars behind me or it would have been vary dangerous. There was a car on my right but it was holding its lane and there was no visible reason for emergency braking.
Incident date: Oct 11, 2022
While on the highway, the car threw the following error message: "Electrical system: malfunction! Safely stop vehicle" I was able to drive for a mile or so to pull into a residential street and at that point, the vehicle just wouldn't move. It was essentially stalled, and I had to call roadside assistance to have it towed. After a few days, I receive an update from the dealer that the motor needs ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 14, 2022
Husband returning home, pulled into carport and as he removed foot from accelerator to brake, accelerator pedal kept accelerating. This caused explorer to hit carport awning, classic 65 mustang, 2007 Harley and shed. Airbags did not work. Accelerator is still pressed to floorboard.
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Oct 12, 2022
Braking system caused my daughter to have an accident. My 2018 Honda Accord sport has been braking on its own for quite some time now. I attempted to turn off all safety features but somehow missed the braking system feature. The car will brake on its own with nothing in front of it. It will give beeping noises and flash “brake” on the dashboard. On 10/12/2022 my daughter was on the interstat... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Oct 13, 2022
My vehicle dashboard says Engine Power Reduced then proceeds to slowing to 35 then counts down quickly. This morning I was in an area that I couldn't pull off to the side for about 1/2 mile. It slows down to the point that it's frightening then it goes to zero and will not move! Fortunately I was in an area where I could finally pull off to the side of the road when it got to that point. This ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 17, 2022
I was going out for breakfast and my car dashboard said Engine Power is Reduced. I pulled off to the side of the road and turned off my car. I waited for about 5 minutes and turned it back on, but it still said Engine Power is Reduced. I turned it back off and waited for another 5 minutes and turned it back on and it was ok again.
Incident date: Jul 8, 2020
My car stalls while in motion without warning. While driving the vehicle will randomly speed up and rpm will fly up without command. I also experience a lot of engine power loss randomly the vehicle will bog and be slow. Occasionally when I press on the accelerator I can almost go to the floor with no response from the vehicle. Speed acceleration response is delayed approximately 30 seconds occasi... Read more
Incident date: Oct 5, 2022
Issues with turbo actuator. The check engine light stays on and I've taken it to Nissan multiple times to diagnose but they want to change me diagnostic fee every time and still can't tell me what the issue is. The truck loses power while driving without any warning and goes into limp mode where it will not go past 5-10 mile per hour. According to boards and Nissan this is a very common problem wi... Read more
Incident date: Oct 2, 2022
My car just shut down out of the blue. There was no warning of any sort as far as anything showing that needed repair with my vehicle. It just started jerking one day. I took it to the Kia dealership and they confirmed that it was due to the recall part but will not fix the part.
Incident date: Aug 17, 2022
But I am driving my car will not go it's normal speed I can hold the pedal to the floor and it slowly will gain speed 30 to 40 miles an hour when I stop at a red light my car will literally go 5 miles an hour With my pedal being all the way to the floor until I shut it off and turn the key back-and-forth five times The part that I need is on back order Nissan can't make them fast enough this is ve... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2022
I have owned the Bay Star for a month, since 9/15/2022. In that time, the “Service Advance Track” warning has come on 4 times. When this happens, the traction control, cruise control, and hill assist features do not work. They advertised these as safety features and now they are gone. Also, the info display is filled with the message above and I can’t see my trip info. It’s very frustratin... Read more
Incident date: Oct 11, 2022
Purchased a 2023 Kia K5 in August 2022 and as of Oct 2022 it has 800 miles. Four times within that period when I was either stopped or coming to a stop the acceleration excessively increased to 4 or more RPMs. I held my brake hard and put it in Neutral in which the RPMs got higher so I proceeded to Park. The first 3 times (while in traffic) it lowered the RPMs back down to normal. The 4th time ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 6, 2022
I have a 2021 Can Am Ryker Rally. At approximately 3,000 miles I noted that when in a left turn the rear tire beings to wobble back and forth. During this time the throttle becomes unresponsive and reduces power. Example, I can be in a gradual left turn going 40 PMH and when the wobble begins, it will drop the speed to around 25 MPH. When I come out of the turn, power returns and the bike return t... Read more
Incident date: Oct 9, 2019
The contact owns a 2014 Hyundai Elantra. The contact stated while at a stop when the contact accelerated to move forward and the vehicle accelerated at high speed and the contact noticed white smoke was coming from the exhaust of the vehicle. An independent mechanic diagnosed the vehicle and stated that the rings around the engine needed to be replaced and that the vehicle had an oil leak, The veh... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that on multiple occasions while his son was idled, he depressed the accelerator pedal, but the engine failed to engage. No warning lights was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was app... Read more
Incident date: Oct 8, 2022
Driving on cruise control (not autopilot), in the following conditions: on an interstate highway with all lanes in the traveling direction clear, no obstructions and no traffic to the front or to either side of the car, on a straight road with no bridge or on or off ramp in front of the car, daylight and no rain or or other participation, the car can unexpectedly and without warning aggressi... Read more
HYUNDAI
IONIQ HYBRID
(2020) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 10, 2022
Incident date: Sep 5, 2022
While on cruise control when climbing a hill, a warning appears telling me that the EV has failed and that I should stop driving the vehicle. At the time the warning appears the cruise control shuts off and the car slow dramatically. All 5 times this has happened the vehicles behind me have had to slam on their brakes in order to avoid running me over. Once it was a triaxle dump truck, fully lo... Read more
Incident date: Oct 9, 2022
On Oct. 9, 2022, at approximately 6:30 p.m. EDT, I was braking as I approached a stop sign. For the first second or two of braking, the van slowed normally. Then, as the van was nearly stopped at the stop sign (probably 10 feet ahead of it, and approx. 5 mph or less), while my foot was still gently depressing the brake pedal, the van began to accelerate on its own. In response, I stepped down h... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
SPRINTER 2500
(2020) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 10, 2022
Incident date: Oct 10, 2022
The adaptive cruise control system and forward collision system since the vehicle was new has frequently not worked or stops working. The cruise control system that is tied to the forward collision systems would stop working causing the vehicle to decelerate as no throttle input was present and cause the need to use the foot throttle. The vehicle is available for inspection. As this has happened w... Read more
Incident date: Oct 9, 2022
While driving on the interstate with the cruise control on the car suddenly applied the brakes. There were no other cars around and no objects on the roadway. This happened twice without warning on 10/09/2022. I have not reported this issue to Tesla yet but plan to.
Incident date: Jan 3, 2017
Everyone calls it's the ford death shake. It is very dangerous and after reading online there is several having the same issue you lose complete control of your vehicle when it happens hit a pot hole bump in the road or going over 50 mph I have wrecked my truck due to this issue and it seems thousands of people are having the same issue it is going to end up injuring someone very badly or taking s... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2022
I have had 6-8 instances where the car "takes off" and accelerates without my touching the accelerator. It is not full-acceleration but strong enough that if a car was immediately in front of me - I might hit it. Hitting the brakes stops the acceleration and the car then drives normally. In all cases - the cruise control has been "off" and the unintended acceleration has occurred just after first ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2020
I was driving uphill on a winding, narrow highway, California State Route 18, when the range extender kicked in and I had a sudden loss of power. I could not maintain vehicle speed. It was terrifying. I was alone. I didn't know what to do. I turned on my hazard lights and I pulled over every time vehicles came up behind me.
Incident date: Sep 30, 2022
Adaptive Cruise control, and Automatic emergency Braking intermittently fail to function.
Incident date: May 4, 2022
I have repaired the mass airflow sensor 3x’s by the dealership who sold me the car the last 2 times they didn’t make me pay for it.and I’m still having the same issue. My car will jerk and idle and I was driving and all of a sudden I loss speed and I was accelerating but the car was only moving about 5 miles per hr the cars behind me almost hit me in the rear end. The longer I drive the car ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 8, 2022
I drove the car to the spot to park my car , with the normal way as always, lower the speed so I can get into my spot. All of sudden , I felt like something pushed really hard behind my car and it moved forward really fast , I couldn't expect anything like that happened at the moment and lost control , it hit the parking pole so hard and my front end broken
Crash
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2015) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 9, 2022
Incident date: Sep 8, 2022
My wife came home and told me there was something wrong with our truck. I went and inspected it and found nothing. The next day i drove the truck about 30 miles up river. Coming home I was traveling around 55 mph the truck came to a sudden slow down as if I had locked up the brakes then drove fine again. This happened three or four times not as bad as first time. While in town stopped at a light i... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2022
My 2022 Model Y has severe phantom braking problems when cruise control or auto steer is activated. While driving at highway speeds the car slams on the brakes for no reason. This happened several times in 50 miles. I spoke to many other Tesla owners with the same problem. While driving at 70 mph on the interstate the car will suddenly and instantly apply the brakes hard. This is a severe sa... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2022
Knock sensor recall was done in May 2022. Brought vehicle into service for Ac problem and oil change, which was completed. Was on highway going home 65 mph speed limit hit a hill, my engine light started flashing, my transmission downshifted and I lost all accelaration while on hill, speed wouldn’t go any higher then 50 at that point. Got to closest gas station and had car towed back to dealersh... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 8, 2022
Incident date: Oct 8, 2022
Vehicle reported on instrument cluster a loss of Electronic Stability Control, Power Steering, blind spot alert, adaptive cruise control, and cruise control. We have been having electronic issues for >2 months. Previously the vehicle reported an estart fault and would randomly engage the ebrake. It would not allow disengaging the ebrake unless the car was restarted and/or hood was opened and shu... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2022
Some times car will not accelerate no matter how much stepping on the gas pedal, car will slow down like its going to stop or no power to the car while car is moving/driving. All lights on the dash board lights up, one of them that is known is the "brake malfunction" light.
Incident date: Oct 8, 2022
Vehicle disengaged itself from gear while driving on hwy going between 75-85 mph. Failed to re engage into gear when stepping on accelerator causing vehicle to just coast and slow down as fast moving traffic (semis) we’re approaching. Construction zone didn’t have shoulders to pull aside which made situation worst. Car did accelerate after a few attempts. The car did illuminate a “unable to ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2022
I was driving with my cruise control set at 70 mph, on Highway 95 ( the speed limit ) While driving my vehicle suddenly dropped to 40 mph, all dashboard lights began to flash. I had problems with the steering as I attempted to pull over. I had a tractor trailer behind me on a major highway. When I came to a complete stop, my engine light kept flashing. I drove my car to the KIA dealership in GA, w... Read more
1 injured
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLE 450
(2020) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 7, 2022
Incident date: Oct 5, 2022
1. After coming to a stop, foot placed on the pedal to accelerate through a neighborhood security gate, the car would not accelerate despite how hard I depressed the gas pedal. After approximately 3-4 seconds the car finally accelerated. 2. When coming to a stop the vehicle has a very hard “clunk” in the transmission to stop. Vehicle was taken to the dealership but they could not replicate the... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2022
When accelerating the vehicle has a hard shift every now and then that’s very noticeable. Seems to be slipping or having trouble shifting occasionally when trying to get up to speed.
VOLKSWAGEN
TAOS
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 7, 2022
Incident date: Sep 27, 2022
While driving down the road at a speed of 45mph my vehicle decelerated to a speed of 20mph. Vehicle would not let me accelerate to get out of the road to safety. Check engine light started flashing, EPC light came on, tracks control light came on, and caution symbol under oil gage came on. VW of Macon erased 7 stored codes after doing a diagnostic. The technician was unable to find the issue or re... Read more
Incident date: Sep 24, 2022
When driving on the freeway I went to accelerate the car then begin to accelerate by itself even when I was hitting the brakes it would not slow down. Finally after a few seconds it slowed down. About a week after that started feeling like the transmission was having issues. Now I cannot drive my car. And this happened about three times with the acceleration of the car doing that by itself.
Incident date: Oct 6, 2022
I have multiple problems with the dash lights going on and off , have taken it to car repair when scanned and had replaced relays many times. I have read many stories of people having the same problem with toyota tundras and no one can figure it out. Toyota should have a recall for this because it is not just one or two people with this same exact problem, it is many toyota tundra owners going thr... Read more
Incident date: Jul 24, 2022
On July 24, 2022, while driving from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois back to our home in Lisle, IL, in a heavy rainstorm, our RDX suddenly started flashing the engine light and lost power on Interstate 57. We were fortunate to be able to maneuver it to the side of the road, and off the nearby ramp at Bradley, IL. We ‘googled’ the circumstances on our iphone, to learn that this is considered a seri... Read more
Incident date: Oct 5, 2022
While the vehicle has adaptive cruise control engaged, there are times it applies braking (sometimes aggressive braking) for no reason (commonly referred to as phantom braking). It’s almost as if the vehicle thinks there is an object in front of it and is applying emergency braking, however there is nothing on the road. In my experiences, it happens mostly on the Highway at speeds 60-80mph. T... Read more
Incident date: Oct 5, 2022
The contact owns a 2020 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while pulling into a parking space and pressing the parking brake, the vehicle suddenly experienced unintended acceleration and accelerated forward. During the incident, the vehicle drove over a curb, hit a lamp post, and crashed into a parked vehicle. No injuries were reported. A police report was taken at the scene. The vehicle was... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Oct 1, 2022
The throttle body threw a code. My car lost "power' and stalled. It went into limp mode. Became inoperable. My four year old, his dad, and my safety was at risk due to this happening on a rural road on a hill. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere and an hour and a half away from home. The dealership replaced the throttle bottle, accelerator pedal, reprogrammed it, and it still will not function ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 29, 2022
the gears automatically changed while in motion driver at risk of loss of control of vehicle and pedestrians in residential area at risk of contact symptoms cannot be duplicated and verified by manufacturer vehicle has been inspected by local auto diagnostic repair buisness warning error displayed on driver console of 'open wrench' indication of random electrical or mechanical error
Incident date: Oct 4, 2022
Driving with cruise control on following another vehicle 150 yards in front of me. I'm not even using Auto-Pilot because on how dangerous and unpredictable it is. I'm using Normal Cruise Control, which is also a disaster. A car built in 80s can perform cruise control without any hassle. It phantom braked and the vehicle behind me had to take corrective action. This has to be addressed to be fixe... Read more
Incident date: Mar 14, 2021
On March 14, 2021, a failure with the vehicle posed a serious safety hazard when my two children, another minor child and our dog were accompanying me, with the car fully loaded for spring break, and the brake system completely failed, among other electrical issues, as we were departing our neighborhood. The vehicle was subsequently towed to the dealership. I cringe to imagine what would have en... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2022
I received a recall letter in 2019 for N192221960. The engine control module software needed to be updated. I have taken my car to the Moran chevy dealership on Gratiot perhaps 3 times before. I was driving yesterday, Oct 4th and my car did the same thing again: Reduced engine power while I was on the freeway. It would not allow me to accelerate past 40 mph very dangerous. They informed me that th... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2022
Cruise control set @70 to 74mph on open highway with no vehicles in front or behind. Midday, sunny, clear, and dry. The vehicle suddenly applies brakes. This could have easily lead to being rear-ended if another vehicle were following too closely. This happened numerous time this last weekend. Contacted the manufacturer and they stated this is normal and no hardware faults were detected in the ve... Read more