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: Jul 5, 2021
Complaint: Phantom Braking -- My wife and I took ownership of our 2021 Tesla Model 3 at the beginning of July 2021. We experienced what is referred to as Phantom Braking (Car initiating sudden braking while at highway speeds). We took it on a 3,000+ mile road trip to visit national parks in the western United States. Having owned electric vehicles since 2015, we found Tesla's charging networ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 25, 2022
When coming to a stop, car accelerated and went over curb. From a search of the internet I found examples with this and other cars where people with larger shoes had the same problem of pressing the brake and unintentionally pressing the accelerator pedal at the same time. I read of one manufacturer that programed the car to brake if both pedals are pressed at the same time and ignore the accelera... Read more
Incident date: Sep 24, 2022
The check engine light came on and said the vehicle will be shutting down and the vehicle died while driving and wouldn't restart! It said to service the power steering, vehicle not in service electronic stability control. It currently still won't restart. It has 300 miles and is one week old.
Incident date: Sep 24, 2022
While driving, if I don't make a complete stop (say at a yield sign), and I accelerate, there is a 1-2 second gap between when I press the pedal and the van actually goes. This can happen while fully stopped, while yielding, or even while getting onto the highway. Taking it back to the dealer has yielded only firmware upgrades to the software and recommending a $400 transmission flush. This hap... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
transmission control module faulted out. In 2018 a recall for the dual powershift clutch was repaired, now the TCM faulted out in the car while i was driving, i had an infant in the car and it died in the middle of a busy highway almost causing us to crash! I had to be towed, I called ford motor company to be told it was not under recall, only to find out that in fact it is, and their in a lawsuit... Read more
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
We just went on a longish trip, covering a total of about 2,500 miles. While driving on interstate highways and using cruise control, the car would occasionally brake for no reason. The first several times it happened, the car braked mildly and we tried to explain it away. ("It must have seen the guardrail/traffic cone/butterfly," etc.) However, the last time it happened, with absolutely nothing a... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA CRUZ
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 24, 2022
Incident date: Sep 24, 2022
I was driving on the highway (55mph) with my two children in the backseat. My vehicle started slowing down quickly even with my foot on the gas. There was no warning, no lights on the dash lit up warning me there was anything wrong with the car. The rpm’s we’re going up but it was like there was no power to the car. I got off the highway onto a side road as fast as I could do I wouldn’t get ... Read more
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 23, 2022
Incident date: Sep 22, 2022
THE BATTERY ENERGY CONTROL MODULE RECALL SOFTWARE UPDATE WAS COMPLETED ON MY VEHICLE ON SEPTEMBER 22ND 2022 AT 1203 PM AT GOSCH FORD OF HEMET. UPON LEAVING AROUND A MILE DOWN THE ROAD I WAS DRIVING AROUND A CORNER. WHILE IN THIS CORNER MULTIPLE THINGS HAPPENED AT THE SAME EXACT MOMENT. MY TRACTION LIGHT MOMENTARILY FLASHED ALONG WITH A SERVICE WRENCH. VEHICLE SKID PARTIALLY OFF-ROAD INTO THE DITCH... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2022
On many occasions the cruise control cancel button does not work. The brake system is needed to disengage the cruise control. When mentioned to dealership they stated probably dirt behind the steering wheel cover or in or around buttons. Stated would have take apart inspect at owners expense. Stated they have heard of that problem before. Seems to be a known safety or design problem. Did not have ... Read more
Incident date: May 2, 2022
Hello, To whom it may concern, My vehicle is a 2018 Chevy Suburban with a 5.3 motor. GM produced these motors made from inferior metal and defective lifters. My engine began failing in May 2022, I've taking my vehicle to several shops for work but the problem has not been resolved. I have links below explaining the problems with these motors. There are tens of thousands of individuals with fami... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2022
The issue occurred twice over the period of the past two months, both times I was driving on highway with Tesla autopilot enabled ( It is Adaptive Cruise Control), for no apparent reason the car hit the brakes, all vehicles driving behind me had to hit brakes or change lanes to avoid Collision. Both times I created service request with tesla and got no clear answer to why its happening, first tim... Read more
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
When the cruise control is on and I push on the brake to merge lanes or because a vehicle in front of me stops, the car continues to accelerate and gets stuck in acceleration the RPMs go up wildly.
Incident date: Sep 22, 2022
Vehicle will loose power and ac as if the gears are slipping causing a sudden reduced speed. The transmission warnings will also light up stating transmission overheating.
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
Speedometer units and units used to set cruise control randomly change from MPH to km/h occasionally when the vehicle is started. No safety risk. Problem has occurred multiple times but dealer was not able to reproduce. There are no warning lamp associated with this issue.
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH with the Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle suddenly and without warning decelerated to approximately 50 MPH. The contact indicated that no other vehicles or objects were nearby during the failure. The failure had occurred on three separate occasions during the trip. The cause of the failu... Read more
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
I was driving with an SUV in front of me at 18-wheeler in front of them. This is on a road where the speed limit is 65 however there's a section on 301 where there's a traffic light. All three vehicles came to a slow normal stop and the adaptive cruise control was doing a good job of slowing the vehicle down without my input. But the SUV when we were at about stopping speed but had not yet come t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 29, 2022
I DO NOT OWN THIS VEHICLE. I WAS HOWEVER, INJURED BY THE DRIVER OF THE 2022 RIVIAN LAUNCH EDITION. I WAS REAR ENDED (WHILE I WAS STOPPED WAITING FOR A READ LIGHT) AT A RELATIVE HIGH SPEED FOR ROAD CONDITIONS. AFTER STUDYING THE OWNERS MANUAL, THERE ARE MULTIPLE COLLISION AVOIDANCE WARNINGS, AUDIBLE, VISUAL AND HAPTIC (VIBRATION OF THE STEERING WHEEL) WHEN A COLLISION IS IMMINENT. FURTHERMORE, T... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 50 MPH WITH THE CRUISE CONTROL ON, THE ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON AND SAID "SERVICE ENGINE", THE ENGINE SHUT OFF AND SHORTLY AFTER RESTARTED ON IT'S OWN. WHEN IT RESTARTED IT DID NOT ALLOW ME TO REACH THE PREVIOUS SPEED AND WOULD NOT ALLOW ME TO RESTART THE CRUISE CONTROL SYSTEM. IT DID FINALLY LET ME REACH A DECENT SPEED. I PARKED THE CAR AND THEN LATER STARTED THE CAR, IT A... Read more
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
Using normal cruise control in the highway, my car brakes randomly and suddenly. This phantom braking has happened over 10 times in the past two weeks! It's very dangerous.
Incident date: Sep 16, 2022
I purchased my 2012 Hyundai Sonata on 4-7-22. The car has had no mechanical work, no accidents and has less than 1000 miles. On 9-16-22 i was driving my car home and was less than five minutes away on the highway. My car began to decelerate, I attempted to stop at a red light but my car would not give me control and the brake was rock solid and would not push down. I also could not turn the car of... Read more
Incident date: May 22, 2016
The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 MPH and approaching a traffic light, the accelerator pedal was released, the vehicle sped up, the brake pedal was depressed, and the vehicle stopped. The contact stated the failure occurred after the vehicle was taken to the dealer for a software recall update. The contact stated that no warning light... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 6, 2022
Since we purchased this brand new vehicle, we have had in the dealership service department at a minimum of 5 times for same issue. The vehicle accelerates while stopped at a light so we have to put it in neutral to keep it from accelerating. Once we take out of Neutral and release the break, the vehicle accelerates rapidly without stepping on the gas pedal. The computer system always comes on war... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 22, 2022
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
From a stop at an intersection, the initial depressing of the accelerator produced no throttle response and then suddenly the car lurched forward. This resulted in rear ending the care in front at the intersection. The collision avoidance did not stop the car before contacting the car in front. Even after the accident the car continued to respond in the same way until it was placed on the two tru... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Apr 14, 2022
PHANTOM BRAKING: I was driving northbound on the I-5 highway south of Sacramento, California using cruise control and traveling at the 70 MPH speed limit on September 14, 2022. At approximately 2:50 p.m., I moved from the right lane into the left lane by using the turn signal to execute the lane change. Once in the left lane, the car immediately began violently applying the brakes. There was ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 19, 2022
39,125 miles - 2018 RAM 2500 6.4L (purchased new in 2019), intermittent ABS / traction control light and alarm dinging! Dealership diagnosed it as the ABS / hydraulic control unit with code C0020-07. Many reports of this same issue can be found online from RAM owners having this exact issue, most are just out of the warranty. Low or backorder status of the replacement parts also suggests an is... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
Last evening , when doing a lane change on Highway 680 , I lost control of the car and the car began to swerve pretty badly. Thankfully I hit the brakes on time and everything was fine again. A blue car was trying to get in my lane and I quickly changed lanes to be safe and the severe swerving began. It was like I was in a roller coaster. Thankfully it was a 4-5 lane freeway and there were no ca... Read more
Incident date: Sep 21, 2022
MY 2014 F 150 5.0 has the 6 speed auto trans. transmission will downshift while running highway speeds or speed over 50 mph. On 09/13/2022 the rear wheeI's locked up for a brief moment causing the rear of the truck to fishtail while I was running 70 mph on the highway. I was able to control the truck and was able to pull off to the side of the road safely this time. turned the truck off and let it... Read more
FORD
ESCAPE HYBRID
(2020) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 21, 2022
Incident date: Sep 21, 2022
I was driving on the NYS Thruway with lane assist and cruise control enabled. This is after already having an issue with my computer where the car a couple of months ago just stopped in the middle of the road. This morning I was driving on the Thruway when suddenly, if felt like the collision impact system was engaged and the car shifted to the right slamming into the car next to me. No airbag dep... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 21, 2022
The lane keep assist of the car is supposed to keep the car centered when enabled. It does this job well most of the time however a few times, the car keep wanting to hug the right lane line to the point where lane departure alert starts beeping. In summary the car thinks the center is closer towards the right lane line to the point where lane departure alert warning comes on. As the driver you ha... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
The adaptive cruise control disengages abruptly during its operation with a beep and cannot be reengaged unless it is restarted. Honda seems to have released a TSB for this issue but this car hasn't been updated for that TSB software update. Nevertheless I wish to log this complaint since it did occur a couple of times on the road so far with no obvious abnormal surrounding situations. The windsh... Read more
Incident date: Sep 21, 2022
When traversing from one hwy to another on an off ramp at 39 mph the truck suddenly accelerated like the pedal was pushed to the floor, speed jumped to 55mph in a flash. I hit the brakes hard once and then again to stop the sudden acceleration. Truck had a mind of its own. Dangerous situation, fortunately no one was in front of me to run into.
Crash
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
Current recall of vehicle shifting up and down while driving down the road. Sometimes shifting all the way down to first gear while going down the highway at 45-50 miles per hour.
Incident date: Sep 13, 2022
On Tuesday September 13th 2022 morning around 10.55am EST, I had entered the Hindu temple of Florida premises driving my TESLA model X. I slowly progressed towards the parking spot and made a slow right turn to park the car. At that time the Tesla suddenly accelerated at full speed, took off like a rocket, jumped the curb, knocked down a sign post and jumped into the ditch which leads into a pond.... Read more
Crash
MITSUBISHI
LANCER
(2010) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 20, 2022
Incident date: Jul 1, 2018
The car started flashing a warning sign and loosing power. When trying to accelerate it stops. Eventually it puts the car into a limp mode and will stall altogether. This happens any long distance trip. My car year and model is not the only Lancer being effected by this computer glitch. It’s very dangerous due to the fact that the cars loosing power while you’re driving. It doesn’t matter if... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
SPRINTER (VS30)
(2020) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 20, 2022
Incident date: Feb 3, 2022
When the object proximity sensors in the front or rear bumpers detect an object, the vehicle completely or severely limits the throttle. For instance, the rear bumper sensors detect the bike rack attached to my van and therefore limit the throttle response, regardless of transmission direction (forward or reverse). This seems to happen intermittently. When I mute the bumper sensor’s warning by t... Read more
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
RA1250
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 20, 2022
Incident date: Sep 18, 2022
Throttle tends to rev and stick at 4000rpm randomly. Not sure if this is caused by the system software or hardware failure or both. Once this happens the engine functions erratically and the exhaust pipes will heat up until they are red hot and will melt and cause a fire or explosion in the vehicle. The dealership and the manufacturer have been made aware of this tremendous vehicle safety hazard ... Read more
LAND ROVER
LR4
(2014) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 20, 2022
Incident date: Aug 5, 2022
According to dealer, the connecting rod became dislodged and forced itself through the engine block rendering the entire engine and all related components (e.g. supercharger) inoperable and requiring replacement.
Incident date: Sep 14, 2022
The other driver hit the rear of my tesla model 3 which cause the car accelerate fast about 40-50 miles, the brake is not working either. I can not brake or slow down the car.
Crash
Incident date: Sep 18, 2022
Vehicle loses power without warning. This has occurred numerous times, twice on a crowded freeway when I had to navigate across 5 lanes of traffic. Dealer was unable to isolate and repair the problem the first time. Vehicle is in for repair again. An internet search indicates this is not uncommon and at least two class action suits are pending. I'm shocked this life threatening fault has not... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2021
While driving, cruise control and check engine light comes on and then the car won't accelerate. Engine revs really high and when pushing accelerator pedal, car will not move. The check engine code states "throttle position sensor". This has happened more than 20 times
Incident date: Sep 16, 2022
Under "B" drive mode which is the "one pedal driving" with automatic regenerative braking, occasionally when I release the pedal completely expecting the vehicle to slow down/stop, the vehicle instead will lunge forward. This has happened twice, thankfully at low speeds in a parking lot where I was able to slam on the brakes. On BMW forums, there are also others with the same issue so I figure i... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2022
I have a 2013 Ford Mustang V6 coupe with Automatic transmission. I purchased the car Certified Pre Owned through Ken Grody Ford in Carlsbad, CA with Less then ~11,000 miles on it in 2/2014. I have been complaining of a jerk/ knock at ~ 1-1.6 RPM’s when idling & driving in stop and go traffic/ off ramps/ on ramps and parking lots - it appears to come from the transmission area. Fast forward to c... Read more
Incident date: Sep 17, 2022
Transmission over heating stop safely light comes on transmission hot stop wait 5 second I do the restart of the transmission and it keeps doing it
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
1. Speedometer displayed 0 mph on the display screen and odometer. It took 2 days for it to start working again. 2. Backup camera displayed a green screen with a error message for 4 hours.
Incident date: Jun 10, 2022
Vehicle happens to accelerate involuntarily when driving, especially on highway. You'll be driving, and then suddenly it starts to accelerate faster than usual. Had another family member drove vehicle to work, just to confirm if they had the same issue, and they did confirm that the vehicle was involuntarily accelerating at a higher speed on its own.
Incident date: Sep 17, 2022
Vehicle will not shift properly into gear or switches gears randomly into the wrong gear for the speed. Apparently it is the software that controls the speed control sensor for the transmission
Incident date: Sep 16, 2022
I have supposedly had the recall fixed. But when using the cruise control my car will not shut down the cruise unless I stomp on the brake or use the off button on my steering wheel. So I am wondering why I should have to pay big dollars for something that was supposedly done???
Incident date: Sep 13, 2022
The car suddenly accelerated 3 times since it was purchased new in 2011. The 1st time I was parking and the car suddenly accelerated and hit a cement wall. The second time I was also entering a parking spot and the car suddenly accelerated and crashed into a tree. I took it to my dealer and they were unable to replicate the problem. this was in 2015. On 9/13/2022 I was about to make a right turn ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 18, 2022
While car was on cruise control. The car went off cruise control without intervention or warning and slowed down quite abruptly. This occurred about 4 times in a 4 hour period while going interstate speeds.
Incident date: Sep 18, 2022
While driving west on I70 today phantom braking has occurred at least 5 times. This has happened when using adaptive cruise control and autopilot. NOT SAFE!!