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: May 24, 2022
When car was engaged in Autopilot the barking system was activated without warning or cause. The vehicle slowed rapidly and sudden. Had to disengage Autopilot to get vehicle back to safe driving speed. No others vehicles where in front or behind me and no obstructions were in the path of vehicle.
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
Car jerked back and suddenly accelerated without warning as driver had foot on brake and was slowly pulling into parking spot. Car hit wall of parking garage causing front end damage. Parking collision warning did not sound at any point. Car was going 1-2 MPH and was 5 feet from end of parking spot when incident occurred. Sudden acceleration when driver has foot on brake can cause injury to driver... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
So I called Nelson Ford today they told me that I had 3 recalls on my vehicle according to the website here I've had 15 recalls they say I had 3 recalls. Now my car hesitates when it accelerates and doesn't shift right they say that the recall as nothing to do with the transmission itself. That the recalls only covers the cable bushing only and if it fails then they will fix it only of I can't mov... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
Car is on cruise control on a two lane highway, posted speed 55 mph. It has ghost emergency stops on cruise control not auto pilot . My car doesn’t have it. It renders a simple feature unusable.
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
Jeep JL shows various warnings about engine revs and sometimes loss of power steering while driving at all speeds. Sometimes the Jeep will not get out of park and this issue is intermittent. Have taken it to the dealership and they cannot find anything wrong. From reading forums it would appear there is a bad wiring harness that causes this but it is terrifying when it can happen randomly and then... Read more
Incident date: Aug 24, 2022
There was unexpected and unintended acceleration that resulted in hitting a house and causing a lot of damage.
Crash
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
While driving with Traffic Aware Cruise Control engaged and set at 55 MPH the car did a hard break to an almost complete stop in the middle of the lane for no apparent reason. This occurred at least two times and both times there was no traffic in front of me. The road was a two lane highway. There was oncoming traffic and cars behind me but no cars in front of me. The breaking was so hard on both... Read more
Incident date: Aug 13, 2022
Hi, I have issue reported from Nissan dealer for my Nissan Rogue 2014 model -first owner. It just did 56487 miles and I have done regular servicing maintenance for oil changes as per standards. Despite all this ,on (13th Aug 2022) the issue started I noticed lurching,jerk and stalls whenever I stop at intersection or comes to sudden halt with warning in dashboard. I have to put the gear to Park ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
My 2018 Honda Odyssey elite regularly hesitates from the stopped position. This often causes a safety hazard when turning right into traffic or making a left turn because I am not able to accelerate for several seconds and the vehicle feels as if it is stalling out. It is a known mechanical defect with Honda and they do not currently have a resolution. When reported, I was told the mechanical syst... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2020
2016 Ram 1500 4x4 5.7 Hemi....ABS, Traction Control, BRAKE lights are all on. Had the DTS codes scanned and told the ABS Module is Bad (Internal Failure) as well as the HCU unit. Happened with approx. 24,000 miles but out of 36 month warranty. Well documented issue with these vehicles yet FCA will not recall nor help with repair. To make matters worse, the ABS module (part #68295368AC) is not cur... Read more
Incident date: Nov 2, 2011
TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE EXTENDED WARRANTY COVERAGE I called for and they now claim my vechile cant be covered because it's out of this stated warranty by a few months. We hThe car has been in for service regarding the transmission on this car multiple times. We have broguht in for service as well as call for many years, over and over again, we've been told there is nothing wrong with the car.... Read more
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
This morning August 29 2022 I started my 2018 Subaru Crosstrek, when I put it in gear the car just took off before I could stop it. The idle when about 5000 RPM and then up and down. I was able to get the vehicle stopped and parked. I tried starting the vehicle again and the same. The vehicle is on its way to Crews Subaru North Charleston. Even the tow truck driver wouldn't drive the vehicle. This... Read more
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 29, 2022
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
Our SUV has had problems in trying pick up speed. It started a few years back when I was taking a right turn and as I pushed on the gas pedal the SUV would not take off. We took it into the dealership but they could not recreate this problem. Yet, the problem persisted for us so we took it again to a different dealership and again they could not recreate the problem. Now our check engine light is ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2021
I'm constantly receiving a "Propulsion Power Loss" notification on my car. I have brought the car in to a Chevrolet dealer and they refuse to fix it unless I start paying out of pocket costs because the ticket is "closed". This has been going on for about a year since I purchased the car last November and I'm terrified to drive this car since it literally looses power.
Incident date: Aug 26, 2022
Small trip to Georgia granddaughter’s birthday. Vehicle just went in limp mode. Lost power brakes. My brothers code reader showed P0 014, P0 017, P1101, P0016. I’m pulling up and showing on NHTSH for open recalls and one complaint. I’m trying to make a complaint. The car we turn off. Wouldn’t crank back. Sometime when you wiggle the wire by the throttle it would crank. No power breaking. N... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2010 Hyundai Elantra. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to stop the vehicle, the engine continued to rev. The vehicle was shifted into neutral(N) and turned off. While driving at low speeds approaching a stop sign, the engine revved up. The contact shifted the vehicle to neutral(N) and turned the vehicle off and then shifted to park(P)... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2022
Thankfully i have not been injured yet. But i brought a nissan Rogue 2016 and when driving for a while notice that sometimes i push on gas pedal and RPM goes up but car won"t move. Or sometimes it seems like transmission is slipping.my check engine light can on and will be taking to Nissan to diagnose the issue which according to what i been reading is a common issue for vehicle. i still have a lo... Read more
Incident date: Aug 20, 2022
No warning or engine light appeared; the gas pedal did not function as intended and accelerated while trying to parallel park when I put the shift knob in reverse the car immediately accelerated on its own to full force and I nearly Crashed into a bus stop filled with people losing control of the car I immediately managed to stop the car by pressing on the brake pedal which the car still had sligh... Read more
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
When the car is being driven in B mode (one pedal driving for EVs) and is going around a turn, the car rapidly randomly accelerated. This has happened 2 times.
Incident date: Aug 28, 2022
In addition to the car only achieving 65% of its actual miles range claimed the cars operating system will freeze while driving (once every 3 days on average), forcing the driver to reboot the car while driving (hold both scroll wheel buttons on steering wheel). This takes away the ability to read the speedometer, to use indicators and basically ALL of the functions of the car. The rear view camer... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2022
To recall department, I purchased the above car in Jan 2021 since that time I had to take this car in for repairs 3 times concerning steering brake problem and reducing speed and also the thermostat problem. In reviewing this the consumer reports I found out that this was one of the worst years of making the xt5 and a recall was done for 2017 but for the cars that was manufactory in 2016. if a ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 4, 2022
While back out of my driveway in my 2016 hyundai tucson, it suddenly accelerated on its own out of control rendering me helpless and just along for the ride. Finally stopped while in reverse the car went across the street crashing violently into my neighbors boat and engine was still reving until I shut it off after the crash. Both my car and neighbors boat had major damage.
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 21, 2022
I was driving home on a road I drive on regularly at 40 mph. The car unexpectedly accelerated to a high rate of speed causing me to go off the road. I was unable to stop. The brake pedal went to the floor. The car went airborne, just missing a huge tree. It slammed into the ground & continued on to crash into 3 cars & someone’s garage! The car continued to rev & was bouncing back & forth between... Read more
Crash
MERCEDES-BENZ
S500
(2000) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 27, 2022
Incident date: Aug 27, 2022
Please help me My 2000 s500L Mercedes’ Benz dashboard have been blinking for 4 months now it has finally completely went out I am complaining on my behalf in my daughter in wife please NHTSA we cannot see anything on our car dashboard our vehicle have been inspected at two independent service dealer theses symptoms appear to have been happening 1 year after purchasing from dealer please NHSTA w... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2022
I bought a 2021 Mazda CX-5 from Ramsey Mazda of Des Moines, IA. It offered comparable comfort & features. A selling point was the safety features touted by the salesman. Odd things occurred during the first few months but I attributed it to a learning curve. I saw some odd messages but I really did not think it was relevant until June 28, 2022. I was backing out from a parking space. The Blind Spo... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 26, 2022
You be driving down the road in the vehicle will make you feel like you hit somebody which is a big safety issue and the vehicle only has 42,000 miles on it should not be doing that this is a safety issue and needs to be resolved and fix my Chevrolet
Incident date: Aug 19, 2022
Car engine cuts off. After that I have no power steering, no acceleration, brakes need to be pumped. The first years of me owning the car I had the sensors replaced by auto shop and dealership under extended car warranty. Pretty much been replacing the sensors ever since for the past 8 years. I believe I replaced over 10 sensors of the time I owned my Nissan. I can be on the hallway, streets anywh... Read more
Crash
FORD
BRONCO SPORT
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 27, 2022
Incident date: Aug 27, 2022
Traveling with cruise control set at 78mph. Service engine light came on without warning and vehicle couldn’t maintain speed. Exited highway to determine what was wrong. Pulled into gas station parking lot and the power brakes failed. The vehicle had two recalls for brakes serviced on 7/7/22. The vehicle is being towed to a dealership as the vehicle had less than 12,400 miles and has been owned ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 25, 2022
The vehicle looses power and jerks like the transmission is failing. It happens almost always when when going up a hill and also if the air conditioner is turned on the car can barely get out of its own way. I've almost been hit or rear ended several times trying to merge onto the highway because the car is jerking and barely wanting to move. I have now come to the point that I have to turn the AC... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2022
Autopilot was on during a light rain event where I was traveling less than the posted speed limit on the I95 northbound Highway. The autopilot appeared to force the car to abruptly jolt the steering wheel/tires, causing a slip/ hydroplane of the front end which forced the car into a left/sideways slide across the highway. The car slid sideways for about 100 feet or so before going straight into th... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 26, 2022
The transmission shifter assembly fractured on this 2008 Saturn Aura. This defect was issued a recall in 2014. https://auto-recalls.justia.com/saturn/aura/2008/14v224000/index.html This recall was completed. However this same assembly has once again fractured. The vehicle remains in drive even when the transmission lever is shifted into the parked position. There have been dozens of crashes a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 24, 2022
I was driving and my car started acting like it was stalling out. I pulled over and put it in park and turned off the engine. I tried to restart, didnt restart. Let it sit a minute, and tried to restart again, it did. I drove straight back home about 2 miles away and didn't drive it further. There were no indicator lights on, so we had no idea what had just happened. My husband checked the oil, ev... Read more
Incident date: Aug 25, 2022
I've had the car about 4,500 miles. No problems. Current mileage is 8899. Drove about 30 miles. 88 degrees. Humid. Dry. Slowed and turned right into my driveway. Stopped to run and open the garage. Standard tranny. The moment I slipped it out of gear, the engine began to howl, revving to between 5,500 and 6,000 r.p.m.s. Turned it off. Turned it back on after 15 seconds. Immediately we... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
The week after I purchased it, the warning for my eco fuel came on and then service engine light. I was traveling at 45 mph and it instructed me to pull safely to the side of the road. Before I could do so, the car seized and jerked to a halt at a slowing speed of 10pm. The car had to be towed, “reset”. Since then I get the same alerts, the car will not accelerate when this happens and then sl... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2022
Instrument cluster not powering on or crashes/glitches while operating the vehicle. This makes the vehicle unsafe to drive while auto pilot is engaged because the auto pilot system stops operating which could lead to a serious accident. The vehicle speedometer and all other instrument cluster warning systems are unavailable because the screen is off/not working. Tesla has performed a remote diagno... Read more
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
FLHTCU
(2010) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 25, 2022
Incident date: Aug 20, 2022
on Saturday 8/20/22 i was driving to work when i got in the parking lot i lost throttle control it went to limp mode. shut bike off started it back up worked fine. after work i was riding home got bout 2 mile my engine light came on and i lost power to my throttle. it would not rev up. shut bike off for few seconds it ran fine the rest of the way home. this is very dangerous if someone would of b... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Nissan Altima. The contact stated while driving on the highway, the vehicle inadvertently accelerated and then independently decelerated. The contact stated that he was able to drive the vehicle back to the residence. The contact then stated that after he turned off and restarted the vehicle, the check engine warning light illuminated, and the gear shifter failed to engage.... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2022
In May 2020 as I was driving down the road at approximately 50 mph I suddenly lost the ability to accelerate and dropped down to 25 mph immediately. I tried to accelerate, but the vehicle would not go over 25 mph. The check engine, traction control and another light illuminated on the dash. I pulled the vehicle over and shut it off. I waited approximately 5 minutes and restarted the vehicle. All o... Read more
DODGE
GRAND CARAVAN
(2016) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 25, 2022
Incident date: Aug 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that while driving approximately 25 MPH, the RPM’s increased with the accelerator pedal depressed; however, the vehicle failed to exceed 25 MPH. On another occasion, while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer. The cause of the failure was not yet ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 25, 2022
Driving down the freeway with Autopilot engaged and the autopilot started hard braking in the middle of the road going 70mph. No accidents occurred but it was a very dangerous situation
Incident date: Aug 23, 2022
While driving on the interstate, the car suddenly stopped accelerating even though my foot was still pressing the accelerator. I took my foot off the gas pedal and let the car coast for a moment, though the deceleration seemed faster than normal coasting, almost as if the brake was slightly engaged. When I pressed the gas pedal again, it started to accelerate for a moment but then the same thing h... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2022
Driving with cruise control on two lane or interstate car will automatically just slam on breaks. Dropping cars speed 10+ mph. There is no warning it breaks hard enough to skid tires and lock seatbelt. I have several times it has break checked car that are behind me cause them to switch lanes abruptly. It will do it some times after you merge back into a lane after you pass some one. There is no ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 6, 2022
Since the car was new I experienced occasional situations where the car would not accelerate. I thought it might be the transmission slipping as it seemed to "bottom out" when hitting the gas. The car would not respond and I would coast onto the side of road for fear of getting hit. After a minute or so, the gas pedal would work and I could keep moving. I reported it to the dealer and at that ti... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2022
While driving my 2010 Ford Fusion, on five separate occasions (two times less than a week apart) and over the last five months, while stopping for traffic lights, traffic or pedestrians the brake pedal travelled just inches from the floor and extra effort was needed in attempt to activate the brakes hoping to come to a complete stop. On two jarring instances collision was avoided only by swerving ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2022
The automatic transmission in the car causes the vehicle to shake and vibrate when accelerating. The faster the acceleration, the more violent the shaking.The problem seems to be when the car shifts from 3rd gear into the next higher gear(s). There is a significant, sometimes violent, shaking of the entire vehicle when shifting. The effect is that there is no confidence that the vehicle will shift... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2018
Water linkage down door panels to the floor, Drivers side ECM is located in that area, water damages the components and caused it to produce codes, interfering with car engine, causes surges, and vehicle to all of sudden shut off even while driving on freeway or streets. Water linkage on the passenger side down into the fuse box. All so causing electrical malfunction that opens the door for poten... Read more
Incident date: Aug 21, 2022
Unknown. This has happened a couple times now. I am driving and the HEV light, engine light and battery light turn on, car won’t brake properly and almost cause me to hit other cars and will shut off on its own on the highway. It will accelerate on its own even when trying to brake. Extremely dangerous.
Incident date: Aug 23, 2022
This is a complaint about Tesla using unqualified drivers to test Atopilot Beta on the public roads. Please note that the VIN of a random Model 3 Tesla has been used to enable this submission to be completed. Here is a video of a driver testing Autopilot on what is in his own words the most dangerous road in Virginia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VBhdrj1CqM He is driving hands free around sh... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2022
The gas pedal has come disconnected or stuck continuing to accelerate and I miraculously stopped the car with the emergency brake before it nearly Crashed into a crowded bus stop! The car only has 65k miles but regardless a car should never put anyone in this danger! It is giving me a nervous breakdown almost running people over!
Incident date: Aug 14, 2022
While driving cross country on interstate highways using cruise control my car would try to stop itself. During a 500+ mile day it would do this 10x per day. Most times hard enough to engage seat beats. There has been no inspection. Tesla is denying a problem. The danger is if someone is following too close they could resend me. I was never in traffic when this happens. Never anyone in fron... Read more