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 16, 2022
Power steering light came on now I have no speedometer and it will not shift right
Incident date: May 18, 2022
The vehicle brakes are aggressively applied at random times when traveling on the freeway. This only appears to happen when the vehicles TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control) is enabled. Thankfully I have not been rear ended yet. My family's safety is in danger when TACC is enabled. Not only am I concerned we could be rear ended, but I am concerned someone could think I am "brake checking" them and ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2021
I have taken it twice to the dealership. There is an issue with the rpm and i receive several light on my dash. The most dangerous is when I try to speed the RPM goes so high and it stops driving. They told me it had something to do with the recall but the recall has expired so now i have to fix it.
Incident date: Jul 6, 2022
On July 6, 2022 I was told by Walser Toyota in Bloomington, MN that they would not repair a known defective torque convertor part that was evidently under an extended warranty until March 21, 2022. The issue with the torque converter mimicked driving over a bumpy road until recently when it would stop my ability to accelerate while driving. In one incident it caused me to press the gas much harder... Read more
MERCURY
GRAND MARQUIS
(2002) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 18, 2022
Incident date: Jul 8, 2022
?yrs.ago While backing out of parking space at Calaveras Lumber, after shifting into reverse, & removing my foot from the brake; the engine appeared to receive a huge burst of fuel which shot me backward like a rocket slamming my vehicle into and wedging it under the frame of a pickup truck parked in the same lot. I am glad I was parked and had my foot on the brake prior to this unit or system ma... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2022
The car brakes by it and accelerates by it. Some time it says I am not holding the steering wheel and it cancels the autopilot in the middle of the long distance driving. The defective cabin camera does not see the hand position at all and randomly keeps on distracting from the front road view to the screen which is not in the same line as the road. Too many errors of auto pilot are very frustrati... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2022
I have a 2018 GMC TERRAIN which I bought brand new from General Motors. In May 2022, the vehicle started jerking/hoping and trying to stall when the speed gets to 55 miles per hour or higher. I have taken it to the dealership on three different occasions for repair and I still have this issue. General Motors engineers were involved in every step of the repairs. They just do not know what is going ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2022
Traveling about 25 mph I took my foot off the accelerator and tried to slow down but the gas pedal was stuck and the brakes were very hard to stop I actually had to throw it in neutral to make it come to a stop our thoughts were gas pedal was still at accelerating when I wanted to stop.
Incident date: Jul 15, 2022
My 2017 Nissan Rogue is accelerating and lunging on its own. My sister and her fiance were almost involved in two separate accidents due to this safety concern. My sister said as she was coming up to a stop light, the vehicle suddenly accelerated forward, causing her to have to swerve into the next lane to avoid the accident. She said the vehicle then acted like it did not have enough power to acc... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2022
1) Ongoing issue with car braking suddenly when no other cars are ahead of it. 2) When in auto-pilot, the car brakes late when carrying speed. This has happened when the car is less than 1 car length behind the car ahead of it forcing me to disengage and brake hard to avoid a collision. In one incident, I had to swerve the car and drive onto shoulder of the highway to avoid a collision. 3) On ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2021
After having my transmission replaced with a used CVT transmission on Dec 2021, I went to leave the transmission shop only to have no power. When I gave my vehicle gas, there was no power it would not go forward or backwards. The code repeatedly coming up was P2101. My car was in the shop for 4 months with Williams Transmission in Park Hills, MO 63601. (573) 431-6570. Every time Willie would ca... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA CRUZ
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 16, 2022
Incident date: Jul 15, 2022
My 2022 Santa Cruz experienced an apparent fault of the automatic transmission control during operation on a ~20 mile trip including city and highway driving. Weather was low 80s and dry. Symptoms were sluggish and delayed upshifting; loss of acceleration power. The issue was most noticeable while attempting to accelerate uphill; several times the vehicle topped out at 25-30 mph when going uphill ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2022
Our vehicle uses a CVT transmission and when driving the vehicle it will frequently get stuck in a lower gear that does not allow the vehicle to accelerate. This sometimes can get remedied by pulling over to side of the road if possible and then turning off the vehicle and turning it back on. Unfortunately, this is very dangerous because most of the times it occurs when we are in the middle of t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2022
as I attempted to turn left in the parking lot of a strip mall with several restaurants, my engine suddenly revved and accelerated and despite pumping the brakes several times I could not slow it down or stop it. As a result I slammed into a concrete berm, kept going and crashed through the glass doors of a coffee shop/restaurant, continued on and the car did not stop until it hit a metal counter... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Jul 10, 2022
July 10 2022 at approximately 3:53 pm. The car (2016 camaro RS) Stopped in the middle of the car wash , this car was is a automatic rolling system which means you put the car in natural upon entering and in drive open exting , the car wash was malfunctioning and the car was Stopped / stuck there for 5 minutes while the car wash spray systemwas running , then the car wash started to roll the vehi... Read more
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 15, 2022
Incident date: Sep 1, 2021
When placed in drive the car takes off on its own without the acceleration pedal being touched. The passenger locks only work with key fob unlock button being pressed and the passenger side doesn't recognize the Fob for easy entry. The adaptive cruise control warning comes on constantly. The handas free parking never worked since i got the car in July 2021.
Incident date: Jul 11, 2022
Block engine started leaking coolant all of a sudden car never overheated.This happen while I was driving in freeway all I saw was smoke coming from under my hood.i had quite a few a cars in my life and I never seen a block engine just leaking coolant from 2 places in the front and if I’m not mistaken 2 more in the back of block Car is available for check up no one but me has checked this out
Incident date: Jul 14, 2022
When I accelerate, it hesitates to pick up speed. Once I made it to 75mph, a warning message came on that said engine power reduced and the check engine light came on. I looked up the issue and saw that several people with the same car were having the same issues. I added a gas treatment like they suggested but the light is still on. I have not been to a dealership or mechanic shop yet due to not ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2022
Multiple times the engine has failed to respond to the accelerator pedal when engaged from a cold stop. The delayed response has happened several times while attempting to merge into moving traffic so even a 1 second delay is both dangerous and scary from a driver perspective. The vehicle was taken in for service recently and no problems were identified after mechanic testing. However, I wonder... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2022
The gas pedal and brake pedal are not adjustable due to them being digitally programmed. The position of the brake is higher than the gas pedal, which causes stress on my knee, ankle, and hip joints and has caused me significant pain so I can't drive. The gas pedal needs to be pressed hard to get the car going, which has been causing me knee pain. I asked the Premier Subaru of Fremont, where I le... Read more
Incident date: Jun 19, 2022
I just completed a round trip from Minneapolis to Oregon. During cruise control, the vehicle frequently suddenly braked at highway speeds for no apparent reason. This was extremely dangerous a few times. I have put in a service request with Tesla.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2018
My vehicle stalls whenever I am stopped, and will not move , then it accelerate really fast, sometimes it loses speeds in which I can not accelerate the vehicle. I have taken this vehicle to 3 mechanical shops and no can tell me what the problem is. I have had this problem since I purchased the vehicle.
Incident date: Jul 11, 2022
While driving in Highway, Interstate or Freeway with cruise control enabled with or without autopilot the car suddenly breaks for no reason. It is a clear phantom break. It happened many times in different occasions even on the I40 with no car around in the middle of the Desert. In a couple of times a big truck was following and I was almost rear ended because this.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2021
Have experienced myself that this motorcycle, which utilizes a DCT clutchless system for gear changes, is prone to stalls when taking off from a stop at low throttle inputs. A benefit of the DCT system is it's purported not to stall. This is very different than the fuel tank / filter issue which resulted in a recall of 2020 models, that affected bikes at high speed. I have spoken to several ow... Read more
Incident date: Nov 21, 2021
I purchased my vehicle in oct of 2021 in Nov 2021 is when my car started failing my car started to lose power also started smoking from the lower passenger side no warning lights came on besides the oil warning light since Nov 2021 my car has been losing power it only goes up to about 40 m.p.h I have been smelling fuel coming from some where my tail and license plate light and back driver side in... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jul 6, 2022
While merging onto the highway, I got into the right lane. While in motion my car stalled and went from 70 mph to 40 mph almost instantly. There have been many other times of engine stalling that has made me fear to drive this vehicle with my child. I noticed that " engine stalling" and the engine in general have been a common issue specific year make and model while researching this vehicles hist... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2022
powertrain , speed control transmission slipping won't go forward or reverse slow
Incident date: Jun 29, 2022
The vehicle was on cruise control (NOT auto-pilot). Driving on Freeway approximately 82 mph when the vehicle slowed to 60 mph instantly numerous time within my 160 mile drive. There were no vehicles in front or beside me. There were no obstacles in the roadway or on the side of the road. Sunny day with no clouds. There were no warnings lamps or messages that would indicate the car was going ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2022
My Nissan 2017 rogue has unexpectedly lost speed (from 60 mph to less than 20 mph in less than 5 sec) on the highway with no chance of recovery and little time for other drivers to avoid my Nissan Rogue. This is an extremely dangerous scenario. There is no way to correct the situation without stopping car completely and restarting the engine on the highway.
Incident date: Jul 9, 2022
on 7/9/22 @ 6:00p I was with my wife & 2 grandsons going into a diner parking lot. as I was slowly going into a spot the car suddenly and without warning accelerated causing the car to drive over a cement parking stop, over a 1foot high cement wall, through a chain linked fence which had privacy covering, down into a 12 deep ravine. after shutting off the car my grandsons, wife & myself had to cra... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 12, 2022
My car is experiencing phantom braking nearly every time I use cruise control. It only happens when there are no cars or other obstacles in front of me. It happens at various speeds. The braking slows the car to a stop within seconds if I don’t immediately disengage the cruise control, even at highway speeds.
Incident date: Jun 26, 2022
Speed Control may have misfunctioned. I do not really know. When driving, the car randomly drops down to 5 mph and continues on its own at 5mph. The only way to stop is to turn off the engine. The car is not safe to drive This defect puts me at risk and all the cars following me at risk. This defect has not been independently verified but it is easy to reproduce. Check Engine was on due to prob... Read more
Incident date: Sep 30, 2021
The Auto Start and Stop feature has malfunctioned multiple times. Safety was put at risk due to car stalling at multiple red lights and shutting off while driving down the road. Problem has been reproduced by dealership. No warnings at all prior to the failure.
Incident date: Jul 12, 2022
Recurring Phantom braking every drive
Incident date: Jul 3, 2022
The front radar distance sensor becomes blocked and unavailable while driving. This happens every time I drive the car. Several times the warning message came on and the car tried to briefly brake. I took my car into the Nissan dealership and they confirmed the sensor has failed and recommends replacement. This is a known issue with Several models of Nissan cars per NHTSA NTB19-033A. This has ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2022
My car has been in and out of the dealership since I purchased it back in 2017. The vehicle shuts off while I am driving it. The first time this happened I was on the highway with my 5 year old son. I completely lost power and had no control being my steering wheel locked. Since then I have repeatedly had the same issue. Each time calling the dealership and each time they find either nothing wrong... Read more
Incident date: Apr 26, 2022
While im driving the stabilitrack warning will pop on then the engine light & immediately after my car will jerk to a almost stop. Then when I try to press on the gas peddle it will go slow but my peddle power goes to a 4. The dealership said it was my tire speed sensors so I got them replaced all to STILL have the same problem. It will also read power stirring not available & shift to park even t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 12, 2022
Car breaks heavily without warning or cause. No cars in front view yet applies breaks like avoiding an accident. Almost caused me to get rear ended multiple times.
Incident date: Aug 5, 2021
All of a sudden the pre-collision system malfunctions and stops working and the lights go on in the dashboard and then causes the cruse control to stop working as well. I took it to Toyota and they stated they did not know what the cause of it would be.
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2013) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 12, 2022
Incident date: Jul 8, 2022
While driving my check engine light came on and then the electronic stability control light came on to show the system was off. I tried to accelerate but the car would not go any faster. I let off and moved to the right lane then pressed the gas again. It struggled to go but eventually did resume speed. This problem is intermittent because after I stopped for fuel, the light went away. After a few... Read more
Incident date: May 13, 2022
Engine power reduced notification came on the dashboard and car deaccelerated down to less than 25 miles an hour on the highway on multiple occasions. On the last occasion about 2 months ago the notification came on again, the car stalled and would not start up again. This was in ongoing traffic and I could have been seriously injured if people behind me were unable to stop in time. I sat in the... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2022
Throttle stuck and vehicle accelerated out of control. Had to brake hard and turn off engine to prevent crash. Speed Control Cable disconnected from cruise control. It has been repaired since the incident. Yes, was reproduced by the tow truck driver as well as at a service center. No warnings, only high engine revving noise as it happened, high RPMs and high speed noticeable on dashboard as my car... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2022
Travelling at highway speed with cruise control on, the brakes came on hard as if there was an upcoming collision, slowing the car by 25-30 mph. But there was no car or obstacle ahead of mine. I was able to immediately accelerate back to speed without further incident. And fortunately, the cars behind me were able to slow down without hitting me. This is the third (3rd) time this has happened. Th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2022
Shifting delays that cause loss of power for the past 2 years. I would have reported sooner but did not know how until now.
Incident date: Jul 1, 2022
When I was driving to work, a light appeared on my dashboard stating that my "Engine Power Reduced". When I was in the left lane passing a vehicle, my car slowed down to 40pmh instead of accelerating when I had pressed the gas pedal. The car behind me almost re ended me in the process. This has happened now on a couple of occasions afterwards.
Incident date: Jul 11, 2022
Experiencing unexpected braking on freeway while on cruise control. Car brakes for apparently no reason. There is no warning, vehicles in sight, on clear sunny day. Has braked up to 3 times/hr on two different days on road trip. No indicators say that anything is wrong with the car or its cameras. It is jarring and scary for both driver and passenger. Collecting info for Tesla service appt in Au... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2022
Cruise control stops working. It is not a fuse per dealer maintenance services. It is the steering column wiring harness for the cruise control and they reported that they see this issue a great deal in the RAM trucks.
Incident date: Jul 10, 2022
While driving on a highway with adaptive cruise control set and no visible vehicles or obstacles on the roadway, the vehicle slammed on the brakes and slowed to about 2/3 the speed. I disengaged the cruise and took over and was able to then speed back up. My concern is that had someone been close behind me they would have for sure ran into me! At highway speeds this could seriously injure or kill... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2022
While traveling on interstate highways over a period of 2 days both in overcast and sunny conditions the vehicle initiated braking multiple times in cruise control only (not on autopilot). No other vehicle nor obstruction was near when this would happen.
Incident date: Jul 9, 2022
Sitting in line to get gas and when I put car in Drive it went to full throttle and struck two vehicles in front of me. Car ended up on resting on driver's side and had to be towed.
Crash