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: Jun 2, 2022
Was driving when the car started to accelerate by itself. Revved up to higher rpm’s. I put the car in neutral when a safety warning message showed on the screen saying, stop safely now. With a red triangle with an exclamation point in the center. I turned the car off and started it again. As soon as the engine kicked in, it started to accelerate on its own again. Stopped again and let it sit for... Read more
Incident date: Jun 4, 2022
NHTSA forced Tesla FSDBETA to remove “Rolling Stop” behavior at clear intersections. This has caused me to be continually honked at, drivers aggressively passing my slow FSDBETA car. The decision by the NHTSA has caused my car to be more UNSAFE by impeding proper traffic flows. NHTSA should be focused on improving safety and not traffic law enforcement. This complaint is directed at the improp... Read more
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The car started giving error messages of systems failing one after another on the highway. It slowed down instantly as if someone pressed the brakes and I could not accelerate. Obviously I did not press the brakes. There were a lot of vehicles behind me and this could have easily caused an accident putting a lot of people at risk. I had to get off the highway asap and get the car towed. The error ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
My car while in auto pilot will sometimes randomly on highways at highway speed, slam on the brakes. It’s dangerous because you will be doing 75+ mph and the car will just slam on the brakes and you have to take over control quickly to keep up speed. It has happened to me on I-25 in Colorado and I worry sometimes that I could get rear ended. It doesn’t happen all the time just randomly.
TOYOTA
RAV4 PRIME
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 4, 2022
Incident date: Apr 2, 2022
We have COMPLETELY lost brakes on MULTIPLE occasions for a few seconds per occasion. Brake loss has occurred upon slow, even braking and on flat, dry, even pavement with no pot poles or loose gravel around. When this happens, an orange light appears on the dash, we lose brakes for a few seconds, the car regains brakes, and jolts forward with no change in foot position on the brake pedal. We have t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 3, 2022
The Navigation system will randomly go blank and then restart while driving. This not only affects any navigation which is currently in progress, but also disables the Cruise Control, Eye Sight, Lane Departure and other Safety devices. This has occurred numerous times while driving on an interstate highway and is dangerous and life threatening.
Incident date: May 29, 2022
While driving using cruise control or auto drive the car randomly brakes while at highway speeds. There are often no cars or objects in front of the car. I have almost been rear ended, because the car hit the brakes to almost stop. This happens every time the vehicle is placed in regular cruise control or auto drive.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
Phantom braking on highway when using ACC and FSD. When going 80 mph car will suddenly brake for no apparent reason. This happened over 12 times in one day on a recent trip. I sent video clips to Tesla for every event. This is the second report of this defect. I have ever had and ACC act this way. I am afraid I will get rear ended.
Incident date: May 13, 2022
The cruise control does not down-shift the vehicle early enough. it does not react for the first 6mph over set point and then when it downshifts it only downshifts one gear. The vehicle exceeded 10mph over set point on a 6% grade and brakes had to be engaged because manual limit did not perform as intended at the moment. This might have been ok in the 90s but all other cars I had handled this muc... Read more
Incident date: Jun 3, 2022
April 2022 Car engine stalls while at stop sign or light. Started happening once or twice every few weeks. Took the vehicle to two repair shops but could not diagnose the issue. Vehicle giving no diagnostic codes or warning lights. May 2022 vehicle is now stalling and losing acceleration while driving on busy highway, leaving me and my children on the highway shoulder. Car loses acceleration and c... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
While on cruise control (autopilot) on the highway, the vehicle occasionally violently slows down. The majority of the time, this happens near or just before an exit/entrance ramp and if the car is in the rightmost lane. It happens regardless of traffic conditions and even if there are zero cars around, it will still "hiccup" and hit the brakes. I've noticed that the cruise control system someti... Read more
Incident date: Jun 3, 2022
While driving on the highway and using the tesla version of cruise control, the car abruptly brakes with no obstacles in the area and the car is within the lane. The braking so abrupt that I think the car is about to cause an accident. This happens consistently in both the cruise control and the autosteer function engaged. Today I had the car set to 75mph with autosteer and no other car on the hig... Read more
Incident date: Dec 8, 2021
I saw the reports on all the auto breaking issues with tesla, and i wanted to report for over a year my car does this ALL the time when auto pilot is engaged. I can remember hundreds of times where there is nothing around and all of a sudden the car auto breaks and its hard breaking as though im slamming on the breaks.
Incident date: Aug 16, 2021
We bought a 2016 Ford Escape on 25 June 2021, from Phil Long Ford in Motor City, Colorado Springs, CO. for approx. $21,000. Mileage was 62,783k. In Aug and Sept 2021, we brought the car back to Phil Long and told them there was a transmission issue that intermittently occurred on highway speeds. When passing there was an extremely rough shift that felt like a car ran into the back of us. This crea... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2022
Vehicle derates power when ambient temps are 85* F and up while towing my camp (which is far below the max tow rating) During a couple of these derates I was in areas where the speed limit was 65 and 75 mph, my max obtainable speed was 35mph. I heavy truck traffic i feel that was in danger and a hazard in the road. This vehicle is rated to tow far more than the loads it is actually capable of to... Read more
Incident date: Oct 29, 2021
Re: VIN-[XXX] My wife was driving the car in this accident. I am reporting it as it happened. When: Oct 29, 2021 at about 2:45 +/- 40 minutes. Where: in the parking lot of a shopping center. In Quail Hills shopping center in Irvine, California. Summary of what happened: a) Unintended and sudden acceleration. The car accelerated suddenly by itself and caused an accident when I was trying to par... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving 60-65 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently started to decelerate while the contact was attempting to accelerate. The contact stated that after several minutes the vehicle returned to normal driving. The dealer was contacted and notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
On multiple occasions, I have experienced the "phantom breaking" problem when using either adaptive cruise control or the limited self driving feature on my Tesla. I've experienced the problem when driving in traffic (me in another lane, passing a larger vehicle) when the breaking system will activate and all kinds of warning sounds given by the vehicle. I've also experienced the problem when dr... Read more
Incident date: Mar 12, 2022
I was driving on an Interstate highway with th speed control on in extremely light traffic and very heavy, slushy snow when the brakes were applied full and the instrument panel flashed red. There were (fortunately) no other vehicles in front or behind me. Since there was no reason for stopping, I stepped on the accelerator and the vehicle operated normally EXCEPT that I was no longer able to us... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2022
When using the cruise control or assisted cruise control, the car will brake suddenly and without warning as if there’s an obstacle in front of the car. In every case (more than 20 times) no obstacle is present yet it brakes regardless. In one recent case we were being closely followed and the trailing car had to suddenly maneuver around us into the oncoming lane. Thankfully there was no oncomin... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2022
While driving on the freeway at around 4pm my tesla broke hard on the freeway without me asking it to. The hard braking incident occurred while using autopilot on the freeway.
Incident date: May 10, 2022
After accelerating from a stop and releasing my foot from the gas petal the car will start to accelerate on its own and speed up.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
Purchased new 2020 Honda Accord on September 28, 2020. On October 13, 2020 I was pulling into a parking space at a retail store. Going 2 or 3 miles per hour with foot on brake turning into space on my right with steering wheel turned to the right. Suddenly engine roared and car would not stop even with my foot firmly on the brake until it hit a pole. I have since learned it is called unintended ac... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 1, 2022
The biggest problem is that mechanics don't know how to fix this problem. Traction control needs servicing with causes you to lose acceleration on the freeway. Then sometimes stabilitrac also goes off. Now the vehicle engine keeps running when turned off. The air conditioning sometimes randomly won't work at all, and last the tire servicing system now won't sync.
Incident date: Apr 25, 2022
I believe I received a faulty vehicle from Brooklyn Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram. Located at 2286 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11234. I received this vehicle in October 2021 with a dead battery and a faulty engine. I returned the vehicle, and services claimed to fix all the issues. The next day my car completely shuts down on the highway in the middle of traffic nearly causing an accident. I immediate... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ID.4
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 2, 2022
Incident date: May 31, 2022
While driving, both the driver’s and center console displays stopped displaying information and went blank. The panels were still on but nothing displayed. The ID.4 console panel is known to not turn on or be blank, the solution is to press the console power button for 10-15 seconds to reboot the system. I held the power button and the system did restart and both the drivers and center console ... Read more
Incident date: May 19, 2022
The contact was driving a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while pulling into a driveway, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated, colliding with a vehicle in front. The contact stated that the vehicle then went backward, crossing the road, colliding with the neighbor's garage door, and pushing it to the side as the vehicle stopped once it collided with the parked vehicle in the garage. Th... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 29, 2022
Was Backing up and car started excelling and the throttle stuck hitting 2 cars It was out of control I got it in drive and it took off forward running full throttle up over the pavers around a tree and ran up on the side of a BMW which was sitting on the side of The hostess paved driveway coming down the side of the car My car was on 2 wheels . Came off the BMW and slammed into a tree trunk ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 15, 2022
The problem with the C17F1 cvt judder when pressing the gas the car would not go. So you turn car off. Then restart car pressing gas all the way down, and the car jumps forward and luckily doesn’t hit car in front of you. Nissan is well aware of cvt transmission problems on 2011 and 2015 Altima’s in which now it costs me $5400.00 to replace this transmission. Nissan should of advertised thi... Read more
Incident date: Jan 12, 2022
In lower gears, there is hesitation when accelerating which causes driver to unknowing lurch forward. Sometimes peeling out. In stop and go traffic, the van does not accelerate for a few seconds when gas pedal is pressed. There is sometimes a clunking sound which causes van to lurch when accelerating at a lower gear which feels like someone has hit my van from behind. It is a safety issue beca... Read more
Incident date: May 29, 2022
Phantom Breaking - While utilizing cruise control (not even autonomous driving function) the car will randomly slow down/ apply breaks and decrease speed without warning. This has happened multiple times and there is no warning before hand 1) Looks to be the cruise/ automatic emergency breaking malfunctioning. Yes available 2) Dramatic slow down/ breaking on highways going ~70 MPH with cars be... Read more
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 1, 2022
Incident date: May 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Ford Mach-E. The contact stated while reversing from his driveway, he shifted into drive and depressed the accelerator pedal. However, the vehicle accelerated at high speed independently. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact continued to drive. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred the following day. The contact stated while his wife was exiting the ... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Dec 13, 2021
Adaptive Cruise Control is practical non-functional. There is a major delay when setting the cruise control speed before it actually kicks in. Speed can slow down upwards 10-15 mph below the intended set speed and take roughly 30 seconds. Once it engages its spotty with it's functionality. Depending on traffic scenarios it seems to reset the ability to re-engage cruise control and will again dropp... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
ML350
(2007) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jun 1, 2022
Incident date: May 11, 2022
2007 Mercedes-Benz ML350 DEFECTIVE BALANCE SHAFT CAUSING PAUSE & STOP IN TRAFFIC This is a known defect and has been resolved previously in customers favor in class action and private lawsuits against Mercedes Benz USA. Mercedes refuses to take responsibility for a defective and unsafe build THAT PUTS EVERYONE IN THE PATH OF THIS CARS LIFE IN JEOPARDY. PLEASE FOR THE SAFETY OF THE PUBLIC WILL YOU... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
We are on a cross country trip departed Rancho Mirage Ca on May 25th) for Hobart Indiana We have experienced phantom braking using cruise control at least 4-10x a day) On return trip while in ColorDo on I 86 June 1st @ 2pm the most serious and dangerous phantom braking occurred I had cruise control set att 75 ( speed limit) Road well marked, flat with no car ahead of us within a mile. The ca... Read more
Incident date: Mar 30, 2021
The first sign of a problem was when my touch screen radio would randomly shut off and then turn back on again. As it would get hotter it would happen more often. Then the turn signals would have trouble flickering. The check engine light would show up and I've tried getting that figured out. When I was driving it would tell me "service transmission continue in D. Do not shift or turn engine off u... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2022
At 65mph, I hit a tiny bump. The automatic braking system and collision detection warnings triggered and I lost all acceleration ability. I was nearly hit by a semi while coasting off the freeway in traffic. When inspected by Nissan the first time it happened (9/20/2021), the lights turned off and the computer reset. They did a warranty recall for something unrelated and told me they fixed it. O... Read more
LEISURE TRAVEL VAN
UNITY
(2017) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
May 31, 2022
Incident date: May 19, 2022
I was driving on a highway May 19, 2022 with the cruise on and suddenly the cruise was off, a number of dash indicator lights appeared, i.e. ABS, ESP, collision avoidance indicator. I continued driving and shortly after that the check engine light appeared. These indicators are the same that appeared prior to the recall work performed by Mercedes on December 15, 2021 which replaced the rear whee... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2022
Car displaying parking brake malfunction and and cruise control malfunction intermittent when using the parking break, seem that TSB (T-SB-0168-19) was open for Camay from 2018 to 2020 exhibiting the same issue but not for this car. This a safety concern since parking brake becomes disable, this issue resets after restarting the car again.
Incident date: May 19, 2022
The Tesla Autopilot system in my Model 3 repeatedly malfunctions by way of "phantom braking".The latest incident I was luckily able to capture on camera. In this incident, my vehicle is driving down a Nevada highway in the heat, with no oncoming vehicles and a vehicle in my lane well over a mile away and increasing (they had just passed me a few minutes prior). With the speed set to 74mph (driving... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2022
The car, when using its "traffic aware cruise control" exhibits extreme sudden breaking for no reason (phantom braking). On Thursday, I was on a major interstate in the middle of the day, perfectly marked lanes, no gradient changes, no weather or visibility issues, with absolutely nothing in front of me. The car would suddenly brake aggressively for no reason, sometimes hard enough to hurt my n... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2020
The contact owns a 2019 Nissan Rogue. The contact stated that while attempting to stop or make a turn, the vehicle inadvertently downshifted when the brake pedal was depressed. The accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to respond. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehic... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2022
While towing a trailer the vehicle suddenly reduces power to less than half and multiple check engine lights appear. This seems to happen only when outside temperatures are above 80f. I went from going 65mph to 45mph within 1/4 mile which caused sudden traffic issues behind me. I have had the vehicle to the dealer multiple times and they do not find anything even though there are multiple engine... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2022
This is a sudden unintended acceleration accident. I was driving into a hotel parking lot. I turned right at less than 5 mph for about 15 feet and then made another right. Suddenly, the car accelerated at very high speed. I was able to steer but can't stop the car until 200 yards after I made a turn into the bushes and knock down a tree. At about 50 yards the vehicle also banged into three park... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 26, 2022
Electrical system has mysteriously drained 2 batteries, the exterior lights vary on which will work despite the bulbs being good, the electric power steering comes on then off at inopportune times makes steering heavy and difficult to maintain Speed fluctuation the car will jump into gear or rev up to appropriate gear.
MITSUBISHI
OUTLANDER SPORT
(2015) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
May 31, 2022
Incident date: Apr 4, 2022
Purchased my used vehicle at my local dealer, in which,they just received into inventory and had not been reconditioned at all ,prepping for Resale,but this vehicle was still offered to me in a nonformal fashion; since my low credit,low deposit,and prior repos that It be best if I choose that one. the vehicle has displayed symptoms of shuddering since day one. Test drive was uneventful since we r... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA CRUZ
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
May 29, 2022
Incident date: May 18, 2022
Upon accelerating vehicle jumps rpms6000-7000 and does not accelerate. Vehicle needs to be turned off to function properly again, it gets stuck in high rpm’s with no acceleration.
Incident date: May 27, 2022
While driving down the highway at the speed limit (75 mph), my truck suddenly lost power and partially lost braking. The engine was still running but was running at an idle speed RPM. Both an audible voice and a message on the driver information panel said "drive mode not available, service is needed" Braking power was partially lost at the same time. Steering power seemed normal but braking power... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2022
I’ve brought the car in for the same thing “engine power reduced “ and they never were able to fix has been going on since February of 2019. codes related to the engine power reduced still occurred and are occurring on my vehicle, reported it to Gm ( have the emails) they offer me $2500 for a new car but won’t put it towards fixing this car, as it’s not a guaranteed fix as the vehicle ha... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2022
We were driving on interstate. We had cruise control engaged but had accelerated to pass a vehicle. The car rapidly braked with no warning, to at least 10 miles lower than our cruise control speed. There were no warnings associated with this rapid braking and there were no risk factors around us at all. This is fortunate, as if someone had been close behind us an accident could have very easily ha... Read more