Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim, NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,245,377 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports, when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report, that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints, specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened, feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 73,546 complaints - component: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Incident date: Nov 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving at an undetermined speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate and stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that an engine replacement was needed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified and informed him that he had failed to complete ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2022
The vehicle's fuel pump continues to run even when the vehicle is turned off causing the overheating of electrical wiring and draining the battery, it's a serious issue and a fire hazard that will set the fuel tank on fire, I filed a complaint back in June and no action has been taken.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
When I would hit my breaks and sit at a red light . My car would start vibrating really bad and then force it’s self up even though my foot would be on the break and almost his someone walking and a few other times in a car . It also would shut its self off and back on . When I put it in park it would die and when I put it back in drive it would die . Sometimes turn its self back on & I have a ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2022
For the past 5 months the acceleration will not work intermittently. I have almost gotten into two accidents on the interstate and in the city. I’ve taken the vehicle to the dealership twice and Firestone auto care twice they cannot replicate the issue it is a hazard to drive with the car behaving this way.
Incident date: Jan 27, 2022
Randomly when trying to accelerate from a stop or a slow roll (less than 5 MPH) the throttle doesn't respond for 2-3 seconds then the truck will surge. When I say it doesn't respond I mean nothing happens no RPM increase or anything. The dealership wants me to believe that it is turbo lag, but that is just a decrease in power, not total loss of acceleration. This has been an issue since delivery.
Incident date: Mar 9, 2021
told the Hyundai dealer 2 years(March 2021) ago that I was concerned about my oil light flashing periodically between scheduled oil changes. No action other than oil changes and one time they added a couple of quarts "no charge" as it again was low. Continued to change oil more often than necessary and the frequency increased. Multiple other car repairs have been happening and the oil now has to b... Read more
Incident date: Sep 30, 2022
UNKNOWN the air bag on my dash board come on and off ALL THE TIME even if I have no one sitting in my passenger seat.I got this vehicle for the winter thinking it was going to help me save gas and be a good reliable car for my daily routine to work, school, and my kids school. But it’s definitely the opposite. I’m struggling financially and In a hole now the engine light is on and I can’t ge... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE SPORT
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Nov 14, 2022
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
My car Engine stopped working while I was driving to work. Middle of traffic was not safe and the safety of others was effected because my car was unable to move, it was a high risk dangerous situation. Problem was reported to mechanic as well as insurance company (geico) car was pushed by strangers into a nearby parking lot, which then I waited for a towing truck. The car was inspected by a mech... Read more
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
My 2018 Nissan Sentra is currently in the shop at my local Nissan dealership because it needs a transmission replacement. The car lurched ahead causing me to run into my garage door causing damage. It also while driving loses power, the rpm meter will drop for a few seconds and you will see and feel it re engage a few seconds later. It does this frequently at various speeds.
Incident date: Nov 13, 2022
During routine highway driving while using the included Autopilot (Adaptive Cruise Control) software, the vehicle will suddenly and without warning abruptly slow and apply breaks. This slowing can occur when traveling at 70mph (the posted speed limit) and attempt to slow to a speed of 45mph. This change causes a great safety hazard in the event of being closely followed or rear ended. This phenome... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2022
The car would slam in park of you went over 30 all lights and windshield wipers would move and flash would not accelerate after slammed in park said door was open when wasn’t. There diagnostics was that some how liquid came from cup holder and got wiring harness wet please see whoops there where a few drops in there and I spoke with tech and they said there is nothing protecting the femal end fr... Read more
Incident date: Nov 11, 2021
My 2013 honda accord coupe has had severe steering problems for the past year, the steering does not want to respond where i cant even drive my car anymore
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Nov 14, 2022
Incident date: Nov 13, 2022
While driving at a constant speed of approximately 45 mph the vehicle suddenly skidded sideways and launched to the right, causing us to nearly hit a guardrail. I dropped speed to 30 mph and this continued to occur at random for the next 10 miles until destination was reached. Road conditions were patchy snow up to fully covered in snow. Other vehicles passed at 50+ mph with no issues. No warn... Read more
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
The car will jerk while driving. The problem was fixed last year and again it is happening now.Worse..the car while being driven will suddenly slow down inspite stepping more on the gas pedal.
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
I only used my VIN to get this far. The issue that I have concerns a very important safety feature that I have yet to see on any vehicle. With more and more vehicles being produced with automatic braking systems, I am wondering why the automakers don't have a specific light option on the rear of the vehicle that illuminates when the ABS is activated. There are still millions of vehicles on the roa... Read more
Incident date: Nov 4, 2022
10/25/2022 started the suv at a Wal-Mart parking lot and as I drove out of the parking lot onto a street my suv made a motorcycle sound then it started to loss power with my foot still on the gas pedal. Suv came to a complete stop and was towed home. 11/03/2022 Picked up suv from Kia dealership. Drove 43 minutes home and parked inside garage. An hour later started the suv to go pick up kids from... Read more
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
The text coincides with this video I made. Here is its URL. https://youtu.be/hpA-Dw_-ihY This is my second time reporting this issue. My first report was comprised of just text. I was told that a video would be more helpful. The issue follows: Periodically when I have been using Adaptive Cruise Control the van will automatically, harshly apply the brakes in the middle of the highway. It took ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 13, 2022
Picked up car from the dealership same day and had only 40 miles total on odometer. The car was running smooth. I was driving with my daughter in the passenger seat (12 yrs old) and got 2 error codes and my car went limp in the carpool lane. Basically went into neutral. Deceleration from 75mph .I had to avoid cars next to me to get to the shoulder and was driving at most 30-40 mph hoping a car wou... Read more
Incident date: Nov 9, 2022
I bought my 2015 Chevy Malibu in 2016 at 36k miles. No wrecks, 1 owner before myself. No warning lights on when driving from the lot and the car was just what I wanted… tho always a little doubtful because it was pre owned 1) there was always this random, unusual, indescribable smell from the vents where I couldn’t breathe but no one else could smell or experience it. I just kept getting sick... Read more
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
I had my Kia in the shop for 2 months from August 22, 2022 until about the middle of October because it went into limp mode and they were waiting on Kia consumer to ok a new engine because the dealership heard a knock. I was originally told my Kia had a lifetime warranty on the motor but when it went into limp mode with 156.044 miles on it they then said 150,000 mile warranty so I had to pay out o... Read more
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
While traveling on the interstate at 75+ mph, which the cruise control engaged, the vehicle emergency braked 2 times during on one trip. The first felt like a fluke, speed was reduced by 10ish miles per hour. The second time was terrifying. I was traveling approximately 77 mph on the interstate and out of no where my vehicle slowed down significantly. I was too scared of getting hit from behind to... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2022
01 Apr 22, vehicle was received from Penske Ford after coolant leak to include scheduled maintenance such as engine oil and filter change, engine air filter, transfer case fluid change, drive belt, front differential fluid change and lastly the transmission fluid and filter change. Mileage in was at 156877 and mileage out from the services was 156879. Approximately 6,000 miles added from the milea... Read more
DODGE
GRAND CARAVAN
(2015) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Nov 11, 2022
Incident date: Nov 8, 2022
While driving the van, the van started making a whining noise. Then it would hesitated to shift gears. Upon accelerating in traffic, the engine would rev up, then the transmission would grab gear sharply. At every stop light the van does not shift forward. It sits there and the engine revs up, but does not shift gears. The van has to be turned off then restarted in order to drive out of first ge... Read more
Incident date: Sep 30, 2022
The vehicle begins to shake violently after hitting a sudden bump in the road causing the vehicle to become uncontrollable. This happens at speeds in excess of 40mph. We asked both the dealer and jeep to look at the issue and they said it was not covered by the warranty and there were no warning light indicators.
Incident date: Nov 9, 2022
First on off glitching when ever accessory mode is used WHILE IN MOTION, FIRST BRAKELIGHT HAD WARNING THEN WARNING ABOUT TRAILER STABILITY ASSIST. WHEN I WENT IN REVERSE, THE WHOLE DASHBOARD INCLUDING THE NAVIGATION SCREEN WENT BLACK AND THE CAR FELT LIKE THE ENGINE STOPPED. THIS HAPPENED A FEW TIMES. I DON'T THINK THE ENGINE ACTUALLY STOPPED THOUGH BECAUSE I DID NOT HAVE TO RESTART THE CAR. THE B... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Jun 12, 2021
My car has severe phantom breaking due to adaptive cruise control. When I use my Tesla's cruise control on the freeway, on a complete flat straight away that has no vehicle in front of me, no sign/bridge in front of me, and no items/object in front of me, my vehicle while randomly/violently slam on the break violently hurling me and all passengers in my vehicle forward. This is even more dangerou... Read more
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
Apparent software issue with Adaptive Cruise Control causing unexpected hard braking at highway speeds. Random hard braking occurs on open road when road is clear, flat, and no other vehicles nearby. Narrowly avoided being 'rear-ended' during several occurrences by car behind. I drove the car this week on a two day road trip from Palm Springs to Santa Fe and this issue must have occurred 18-20 ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2021
My car lost acceleration on nj Garden state highway driving 65 miles. Luckily I was driving in the right lane as this happened. I quickly flashed my hazards as soon as I noticed, to alert drivers behind me. My car slowly moved onto the side of the highway. My breaks would not fully stop the car. It finally stopped on its own luckily. I stayed on the side of the road for about a few good long mins ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2021
vehicle keeps staling on road while operating, AND has THE BRAKES SYTEM failure. No brakes, brake booster had failed and also has recall part for brake booster.. the safety of my entire family was put at risk, I almost crashed into traffic. vehicle was taken to local dealership, was told FUEL PUMP relay has recall. no parts available, ONE YEAR LATER, STILL WAITING AND STILL NO PARTS AVAILABLE. VE... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TAOS
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Nov 10, 2022
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
While attempting to accelerate from a stop, my Taos began to shake, the check engine light began flashing, and the car felt as if it were going to stall. I pulled over, turned the car off, turned it back on, and the car was drivable. This occurred around 5,000 miles. The dealer confirmed multiple misfires and a high pressure oil leak. The parts were replaced. My taos has a terrible lag when a... Read more
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Nov 10, 2022
Incident date: Oct 16, 2022
* On October 16th, 2022, at about 7:00 pm, I was driving my 2021 Ford Mach-E GT when we began to change lanes (we were in the left lane heading East) as the vehicle in front of us slowed down to make a left-hand turn. There was a car behind us and two vehicles in the right lane (two-lane road in each direction) that were a few car lengths behind us as we began to change into that lane. When I turn... Read more
Incident date: Jun 22, 2022
Power steering and digital speedometer cut out without notice. Seems to be an electrical issue as it will throw a handful of lights at once and sometimes read "no bus". Has happened numerous times. Dealership replaced the aux battery. Did not resolve. Private dealerships are afraid to even touch it. Dealership I purchased it from "can't look at it until March" (5 months from now). There are report... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2000) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Nov 9, 2022
Incident date: Nov 8, 2022
My husband just had a wreck last night. His gas pedals got stuck causing him to lose control of the truck and the truck to spend around in the middle of the street. It hit another car and a telephone pole before jumping the curb and landing in a field. THE AIR BAGS DID NOT DEPLOY ON ANY PARTS OF THE TRUCK THAT WAS IMPACTED BY THE WRECK. Both sides of the truck are completely smashed in and both wi... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Nov 2, 2022
On Wednesday, November 2, 2022, at about 4:00 pm I proceeded to parallel park my vehicle and as I put my foot on the gas pedal the car took off uncontrollably at a very high speed, I tried to control the car but before I could stop it, I crashed and hit a tree. My vehicle was severely damaged. The vehicle was taken to the Dealer for inspection, and I was told there was nothing wrong. I know wha... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
I'm getting warning lights on the dash that indicated that ABS, traction control, cruise control and collision mitigation are inoperable. The dealership service dept. had the vehicle for over 2 weeks trying to diagnose the problem in conjunction with Ford engineers. they finally determined the the issue was a bad ABS module. They then informed me that the needed parts were not available and it mi... Read more
Incident date: Nov 6, 2022
Car was at freeway speed (~70mph) and on cruise control, and out of nowhere the brakes were applied by themselves very abruptly. I was almost rear ended on the freeway as a result.
CHRYSLER
PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Nov 8, 2022
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
All of a sudden while driving 40 miles per hour, “service charging system” warning showed up on dash, asked to put car in park and unable to accelerate. Car stopped working in the middle of a busy road, unable to be restarted for 10 min.
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
•available for inspection. Unknown exact system failure •issue regularly occurs •dealership service. Transmission had to be replaced at around 10k miles and covered by warranty. •no lights indicating any problems. Forward collision alert activated. Vehicle has a lag between the time pressure is applied to the gas pedal and it causes a delay in acceleration resulting in the vehicle sort... Read more
Incident date: Nov 6, 2022
I have a 2007 GMC yukon denali xl that have the stabilitrac, check suspension, traction control lights and messages come on the car looses power and being in traffic I was almost t-boned this is a problem that has cost me alot of time and money please help please it is going to cause a wreck this is not a Isolated incident a recall needs to happen
Incident date: Jul 23, 2022
The failed component is a small wheel speed sensor on the rear axle. The sensor is designed in a way where it inserts into the axle and sits close enough to the gears that it can be hit by the gears during bumps/potholes/etc. The issue puts myself and others at risk as when the sensor malfunctions or breaks, it disables multiple safety features of the truck including: Antilock brakes, traction co... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2022
Alert was coming randomly while driving the car about several safety systems being disabled automatically without any audible notifications. Alert clears up after the car is locked for several minutes. Below is the alert message.. Automatic emergency braking disabled Automatic Vehicle Hold disabled Traction control disabled Stability control disabled Cruise control disabled This makes the car su... Read more
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
Driving along the interstate approximately 70 mph, the vehicle jerked with knock sound then lost acceleration speed. At the same time, the check engine light started blinking. I pulled over to the side of the interstate put the car in park. I put it back in drive and slowly attempted to accelerate again. I was able to make it home because I was only about a mile and a half away, but I the accelera... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Sonic. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would not properly accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact indicated that the RPMs increased but the vehicle would not accelerate as needed. Additionally, while operating the vehicle, the cruise control would erroneously activate. The cause of the failure was not yet... Read more
Incident date: Nov 8, 2022
When using cruise control, the car will suddenly brake for no reason.
Incident date: Nov 6, 2022
While traveling down the interstate doing the normal speed limit, I was forced to pull over to the emergency lane so cars can pass me. My car lost power to the engine without notice. No check system engine lights were not activated during this time. Car and Trucks were having to swerve over in other lanes to keep from rear ending me and causing a major wreck. This happen several weeks ago again wi... Read more
Incident date: Nov 4, 2022
Regardless of which cruise control function you are operating in the system will suddenly brake for no reason, sometimes slowing down by only a few miles an hour and sometimes by as much as 30 or 40 miles per hour. This can potentially lead to a rear end accident. System has far fewer failures at night than during the day and far fewer if there is traffic in front of the car than if there is an op... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2022
Purchased this vehicle 12/2021 it hesitated on pick up but drove good after that nice look but the headlights are bad at night. First month I had a bad scare as when attempting to stop the brakes gave out, I had to pump multiple times to get the car to stop, this happened again about 1 month ago. On 10/10/22 while attempting to park in my driveway which is on a hill the car did not want to acceler... Read more
Incident date: Oct 24, 2022
We first noticed the vehicle's lack of power and sudden increase when driving at a stop light/sign. We checked and REPLACED spark plugs, cables, coils, and a new battery. We became highly concerned when the vehicle would accelerate while driving and the RPMs would toggle between 500-1500 RPMS without pressing the gas. We immediately took it to an authorized mechanic, who found excessive noise from... Read more
Incident date: Nov 7, 2022
The car starts alarming out of nowhere while driving at 70 mph on the interstate and the Hybrid System Warning - Safely Stop and Do Not Drive along with the wrench, battery light and engine light all appearing on the dashboard to pull over and do not drive when this occurred I lost total control of the vehicle. The brake peddle goes all the way to the floor enabling me to stop and I lost the abi... Read more
Incident date: Mar 22, 2017
The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to a dealer to be repaired under NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V252000 (Electrical System, Exterior Lighting, Vehicle Speed Control, Electronic Stability Control). The contact stated that after the repair, the failure persisted. The contact took the vehicle back to the dealer where the starter and PCV hose were repl... Read more