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
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 1, 2022
Incident date: Aug 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Ford Mustang. The contact stated while pulling into a parking spot at approximately 2 MPH and had not yet placed the vehicle in park, the vehicle had an unintended acceleration. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The vehicle crashed into a light post, ran over the post, and crashed into a back of a building. The vehicle had damage to the hood, grill and bu... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 20, 2022
Vehicle fails to accelerate and breaks for no reason. Driver is not in control of vehicle. Last I checked I have the drivers license not the vehicle, yet I am unable to accelerate when pressing the gas at times. Other times driving 65 on the expressway the vehicle abruptly stops nearly causing me to be rear ended. Nissan isn’t addressing safety concerns. I’m traumatized by this vehicle.
2 injured
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2008) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 1, 2022
Incident date: Jul 14, 2022
the jeep goes into limp mode and gets stuck in 2 gear I have replaced the shifter solenoid and still happens I have read about this happing to the same jeep from 2005-2010 model and this is a safety issue that need to be recalled immediately. I was driving on the highway and the jeep shifted into 2nd gear mind I was going the speed limit of 65 and it went down to 30 MPH and it almost caused a pike... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Maserati Ghibli. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to the dealer where a manufacturer recall was performed and the front driver's side mat and accelerator pedal were replaced; however, the contact stated that while driving, the front driver's side floor mat hooks failed. As a result, the front driver's side floor mat slipped underneath the brake pedal and the ac... Read more
Incident date: Aug 21, 2022
Autopilot's adaptive cruise control has caused numerous sudden slowdowns without any traffic in front. Fortunately there wasn't a vehicle close behind me but had there been it could have caused a collision. I took a 3100 mile road trip and it probably happened between 20 and 40 times. Sometimes it would only slow from 70 to 60, but on a few occasions it was as if the brakes had been applied hard a... Read more
CHEVROLET
TRAILBLAZER
(2002) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 31, 2022
Incident date: Aug 28, 2022
The car rmp goes high when accelerating it's a common problem with the cooling fan which the company is aware of it but aren't held reliable! It's a shame that nhtsa hade many complaining about the issue but aren't holding the manufacturer responsible this could of hade me and my family in an accident!
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2001) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 31, 2022
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
I gave a friend a ride to Wal mart in my 2001 Expedition to buy some power steering fluid, luckily I parked over by the automotive section. I turned it off and waited in vehicle till he returned, about 7 or 8 minutes. I started the engine, grabbed the brake and dropped it in reverse when engine revved sending us backwards completely out of control with both feet on the brakes, spinning rear wheels... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Aug 31, 2022
There is an "advanced" recall on the clockspring contamination on my vehicle. The local ford dealership is stating that they do not have access to the parts to fix this issue, as it's an advanced warning. The issue is that the truck is having the malfunction. The buttons on the steering wheel do not work, which is now causing me to not be able to see the display b/c it's blocked by a warning, th... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2022
The car began to shake uncontrollably on the freeway at 55/MPH . The car then marked "Engine Power is Reduced", causing the car to no longer accelerate more than 5-7/MPH. This is a very dangerous situation because it can cause a terrible accident on the road since it's a random inconvenience. I have heard that many of these types of cars "Chevy Cruze" seem to experience the same type of problem. W... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2022
The electronic brake light and ABS warning goes off intermittent and with hitting bumps. When this happens the cruise control shuts off. This leads me to believe that the antilock brakes and and will malfunction in a panic stop. This is a repeat issue, dealership has replaced the HCU and ABS modules twice within a three year window.
Incident date: Aug 18, 2022
The car does not accelerate or accelerate with jerky motion. Occasionally, the vehicle disengaged out of drive mode and would not accelerate. There seems to be some transmission issues as the vehicles is making jerky movement upon acceleration. Almost cause accident on a turn as it could not move forward out of cross traffics!
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
While stopped at a red light, the vehicle automatically put itself into park, activated the parking break, and turned off. Had to power the vehicle back on while still at the red light, turn off the parking break and put it back into drive.
Incident date: Aug 28, 2022
When I engage the speed control on my vehicle, approximately 15 to 45 seconds afterwards, the system will temporarily disengage without warning, causing me to manually re engage the system. Sometimes it will re engage right away, and other times I need to press the resume button several times for it to re engage. There is no warning before the system dis engages.
MERCEDES-BENZ
S400
(2010) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 30, 2022
Incident date: Aug 27, 2022
Airmatic Suspension sprung a leak and could not be driven safely due to the vehicle getting severely low where the tire and rim tucked into the wheel well. When the airmatic suspension fails the vehicle can get so low that it can scrape the roadway, hit bumps and damage parts under which can dislodge and cause an severe accident or pile up. Requesting a Nationwide Recall on all Mercedes-Benz vehic... Read more
Incident date: Apr 4, 2022
I bought my 2003 Chevy Tahoe used and as is at a dealership for $10,000. Yes, I've been robbed. The truck is in great LOOKING condition. Has a little bit of superficial dings and a couple dents but overall exterior is great. Interior isn't shabby. Has wear on the driver's seat but not bad. The first thing that happened, I was on my way to work at 4 in the morning, turned on right blinker to change... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2020
I have experience phantom braking on my Model 3 many times when I used FSD(full self drive) on the freeway. The car just randomly slows down / decelerates abruptly even if there are no obstacles or other cars in front. This results in a serious situation when the vehicle behind may ram into you causing a fatal accident. I have always reported this issue using voice control REPORT BUG and got ackno... Read more
Incident date: Apr 6, 2021
I have experience phantom braking on my Model Y many times when I used FSD(full self drive) on the freeway. The car just randomly slows down / decelerates abruptly even if there are no obstacles or other cars in front. This results in a serious situation when the vehicle behind may ram into you causing a fatal accident. I have always reported this issue using voice control REPORT BUG and got ackno... Read more
Incident date: Aug 12, 2022
Vehicle sped up/kept going towards the traffic ahead while on adaptive cruise control. Vehicle also started showing “radar disabled” warnings & has continued intermittently (on a daily basis) for about the past 3 weeks. The “forward collision avoidance disabled” warnings keep popping up even while NOT on cruise control. Nothing physical is blocking the radar. The on-board computer does NOT... Read more
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