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: Aug 9, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that their vehicle was parked in their driveway with the vehicle off and unattended, an hour later the vehicle rolled away and crashed into a neighbor’s fence. The vehicle came to a stop in the neighbor's ditch. No warning lights were illuminated. There was damage to the neighbor's fence as a result of the crash. The vehicle was towed to th... Read more
Crash
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLE450
(2016) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 17, 2022
Incident date: Sep 20, 2019
Shifter and speed control car goes into nuetral instead of drive. The car excessively breaks when not necessary. Car stalling and locking steering wheel constant clicking after driving coming from the fuel tank. I use premium gas always the best quality. Problems with the control modules saying transmission not in park will roll away but car is in park the car automatically going into modes with... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 13, 2022
my CVT transmission is not working anymore because of the manufacture defect
Incident date: Aug 16, 2022
The front radar obstruction light on my 1025 Nissan Murano has occasionally come off and on in bad weather (to be expected) and under normal driving conditions. I have had to have it are-aligned previously. Recently however, the light started coming on and off when I was stopped or in park. It would clear when I started driving. Eventually it would start coming on and stay on for very long str... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2022
The throttle control transmission has failed me several times when I’m on the road. Thankfully it’s only left me stranded on the side of the freeway once but has made me stop during oncoming traffic several times. The wrench light comes on when the vehicle decelerates and I’m unable to accelerate. Once the steering wheel even locked. This happens at random times but because the code is pendi... Read more
Incident date: Aug 13, 2022
On numerous occasions, while driving in a straight line with our adaptive cruise control on, our 2022 Toyota 4Runner will automatically actuate the vehicle's brakes when approaching a slower or stationary vehicle that is either to the left or right, but not directly in front of our vehicle. This sudden speed reduction has almost caused any following vehicles to almost collide with the back of our ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ID.4
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 16, 2022
Incident date: Aug 13, 2022
While driving with the adaptive cruise control enabled at 60 mph, I entered a 65 mph speed zone, so I attempted to increase my speed setting pressing the “+” control a couple times on the steering wheel, which should added 2 to 10 mph to the current setting, depending upon how firmly I pressed (+1 for light, +5 for firm press). Instead, it increased to 100! As fast as this car is, it could hav... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2022
The contact owned a 2006 Volvo XC90. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal to park the vehicle when the vehicle's RPMs revved up causing the vehicle to unintentionally accelerate and crash into the wall in front. The air bags did not deploy. After the crash occurred, the low coolant warning light failed. A police report was filed. The contact sustained injuries to their scrotum ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
WINNEBAGO
ADVENTURER
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 15, 2022
Incident date: Dec 1, 2021
Failure ABS, Advanced Trac and Cruise Control. Available for inspection. Braking and Trac control safety. Confirmed by McRee Ford Dickenson, TX. Only inspected by Ford Dealer. Dash lights came on and cruise control loss a couple of hundred miles after we left the dealership. Dealer replaced sensor. Everything working until we hit a rough road and all of the above stopped working. This is not a n... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2022
Have replaced Cam Shaft AND Crankshaft Positioning sensors to no avail. Check engine light will come and go, sometimes with the traction control lights as well if the brake is engaged for any length of time. After these lights come on, the jeep loses the ability to accelerate, leaving the car in limp mode. Light goes off after each sensor is replaced, will drive fine for a day or so, and then will... Read more
Incident date: Jul 23, 2015
Park N Fly Mississauga Canada. Vehicle in parked position. Vehicle reversed from position and driven for 50-75 feet. Driver made a left turn and within two seconds the vehicle started accelerating on its own. Driver’s head and hands bounced off the steering for a brief moment and then returned. Engine could be heard revving continuously in an increasing manner. Nothing on the gas pedal nor was i... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 1, 2022
Pulling into my personal parking space I applied brake to slow down and come to a complete stop. Car accelerated to an uncontrollable speed, jumped the curb and continued flying whe I constantly applied brakes (approximately 40 yrds) missing the 100 yr old oaks and palm trees. This occurred beginning of July 2022. Happened again 1 week ago as I was pulling into parking space directly behind a pa... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2022
5 times we have experienced P2135 code. 4 times this year, causing the dash warning lights to flash numerous warnings and the vehicle goes into immediate limp mode. Unable to accelerate normally and unable to drive faster than 30-35 mph on the freeway causing us to drive on the shoulder until we are able to safely exit the freeway . This has occurred while on a hill going up to an intersection n... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2022
We have had to replace vacuum pump 4xs ,had multiple engine repairs done, turbo replaced ,jumped time 3xs, replace ABS sensor 2xs, wheel bearings 2xs, CV axels 2xs, since day 1 has been blowing lights in turn signals and brake lights, wiring issue, have replaced control arms,tie rods,tie rod ends, and so much more, have had transmissions since day one, needs evap system repaired again, transmissio... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2022
On August 10 2022 I was pulling slowly into a parking spot with foot lightly on brake to control forward motion car attempted to surge /accelerate . I stepped firmly on brake and since car was nearly stopped I put it in to park. RPM's went up dramatically and then car reverted to normal rpms. I estimate that the entire process.I estimate that the entire process took place in about 30 seconds or... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2022
After coming to a complete stop, the vehicle, a 2017 Subaru Forrester suddenly and without driver input surged forward. It crashed into a large garbage can directly in front of the vehicle, crushing it. It then continued forward crushing two whole-home air conditioning units and driving one of them into a brick wall, dislodging and breaking some of the bricks. The vehicle suffered considerable ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 28, 2022
As I was pulling in slowly (going about 2 miles or less) to a perpendicular parking spot at my apartment complex, I took my foot off the accelerator to brake. And all the sudden my car lunged forward and rapidly accelerated forward on its own. It was completely terrifying to have the car take over. The car jumped the curb and went over a hill. I couldn't stop the car and I crashed head on into a t... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Nov 4, 2021
I drive this V little, but the steering wheel has repeatedly tried to jerk me into the left lane when tuning right and right when turning left! I stopped using cruise, but it still does it. I am an advanced driver, but don't low, if I could overcome this if it acted like some other 2020 Foresters I've read owners state have gone off the road and rolled over! Also the auto stop - start often shuts... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2022
Unexpected acceleration while driving my car at about 20 mph and making a right turn the car suddenly accelerated. Using the brake immediately worked. This has happened a few times with my car. The sudden acceleration surprised my wife and she asked what happened. The car does not have Full Self Driving installed and Autopilot had been off for several miles. There were no warning messages or ch... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2022
When I go over 45 mile an hour it has the death wobble. Have almost had a few accidents due to this. What is the fix for this??
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2014) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 13, 2022
Incident date: Aug 13, 2022
Driving down the road in the middle of the night- the entire dash went black and only warning lights blinking across. Several error messages appeared and went black again.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
I'm not sure if it's the cruze control or just the the accelerator that is causing the problem. I'm driving along and then the truck kicks into high speed almost throwing me off the road. At times it's slow then it kicks in. Very scary.
Incident date: Aug 4, 2022
After updating to Tesla software 2022.20.6 (and 20.7 and 20.8) sometimes the regenerative braking fails to activate when lifting your foot off the go pedal. Sometimes the car just coasts at full speed, and sometimes it almost feels as if the car continues accelerating after the pedal is lifted. This obviously creates serious safety issues -- if you are expecting your car to brake after lifting you... Read more
Incident date: Aug 12, 2022
Delays in acceleration. When operating the vehicle. At a complete stop. When I depress the gas pedal there is a few seconds delay before the vehicle starts to accelerate. No warnings appear on dashboard. No check engine light, no visible indication of problem.
Incident date: Aug 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2009 Pontiac Vibe. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with the vehicle speed control (VSC), ABS, and check engine warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who was unable to duplicate the failure; however, the independent mechanic replaced the heat shield. The dealer was not notified o... Read more
CHRYSLER
PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 12, 2022
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
Driving on a major highway with little to no shoulder, we were accelerating up a slight incline going 65 miles per hour on a route loaded with semi trucks. As we accelerated the engine cut off taking away the ability to accelerate. We had to pull to the shoulder and the vehicle kept cycling all of its lights on and off. We were able to get the car moving again and within 5 minutes the same thing h... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle emitted an abnormal winding sound. The vehicle decelerated independently, failed to accelerate and stalled without warning. The contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The contact had to push the vehicle out of the highway. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The local deale... Read more
Incident date: Jul 7, 2022
The accident with my 2016 Subaru Forester happened on 07-07-2022. It happened in daylight on our farm. I was the only person in the car and was wearing my seatbelt. I had slowly pulled into a parking spot, had my foot on the brake and had essentially stopped at the 6x6 piece of lumber that was marking the spot. As I was stopping the car accelerated out of control and sped down a very narrow pa... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 7, 2022
On 7 Aug 2022, I lost cruise control, Navigation function (GPS0 and had problems with other elecrical functions on instrument cluster. I took truck to my local ford dealer; they rand Ford diagnostics on truck and it had 3 module errors listed. They cleared the codes and tried to get me to accept the vehicle. Road tested it and there efforts of clearing the codes did not fix any thing. Brought ba... Read more
Incident date: Aug 10, 2022
PCV MY safety of my self and my 5 yr 17 yr I use my BMW X5 to take my kids or doctors and school and I work too and something need to be happen about this bc My family are AT RISK OF GETTING CAUGHT ON FIRE when iam starting up the car black smoke or white smoke comes out and when iam driving and people who are behind in they car get smoke out my lots of smoke that comes from my car in back and... Read more
MERCURY
MOUNTAINEER
(2005) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 10, 2022
Incident date: Jul 4, 2022
started losing power ,did not want to go pas 30 miles per hr ,then it ramed up and came to a stop with no acceleration ,i shut it off then start it again and was able to get home at a low rate of speed while continuing to have these problems, another day while far away from home the engine rammed up again minimizing my speed as the transmission was slipping and not go fast then my O/D over drive w... Read more
Incident date: Aug 9, 2022
The contact owns a 2000 Ford Ranger. The contact stated after a short drive at approximately 30 MPH, the contact parked the vehicle at his residence. The contact heard a loud bang and observed through his residence window that the vehicle was on fire that was confined to the engine compartment. The flames eventually spread to the passenger cabin. The fire department was called. The fire was exting... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jul 17, 2022
The GPS is malfunctioning- showing the car in a random location, direction and speed. All automation needs to be disabled. The car will attempt to make a non-existent turn based on where it thinks it is, or will speed up or will suddenly decelerate because it thinks it is coming up to a cross street or traffic control.
Incident date: Jul 13, 2022
The abs and traction control light is on and chimes non stop and my cruise control will not work when the abs and traction control is defective.It needs the abs pump replaced as do many of these trucks. The next issue is the computer sceen is delaminated and is wanting you to adjust the time and chimes non stop, so it will not allow you to turn on your defrosters so you can see the road. This tru... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
A. 3 or 4 times while I was driving on the highway with cruise control the car very suddenly de-accelerated even though the road ahead was completely clear. This happened before. B. Also later on the same trip the car hit a part of a tire tread left on the road. The underside of the car was apparently damaged. The screen message was "okay to drive. power reduced". Over next several hours the powe... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2018
Over 400 power train codes since day that it was purchased. Kept getting run around on issue. Finally was “fixed”. Now a new power train code. Vehicle has reduced power mid drive and has trouble accelerating from a stop. Both issues have almost cause accidents. Car has had several times where vehicle would have a clicking sound when trying to start and has not started at times. Dealership now ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 4, 2022
On 4 Aug 2022, at 10:24am (CST), while traveling northbound on Hwy 287 just south of Henrietta, Texas with the Tesla Autopilot speed set at 80mph with a posted speed limit of 75mph, the car was in the left lane of a two-lane, high-speed highway, when the car suddenly and unexpectedly slammed on the brakes, gave a "TAKE CONTROL IMMEDIATELY" warning and rapidly shifted its lane position, almost caus... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2021
I was driving down the interstate for my work commute apx 70 mph when HEV warning light engaged and vehicle went into limp mode. Had vehicle towed to dealership after running several tests determined the engine was knocking and needed replaced. After 2 months reman engine placed in vehicle. Vehicle function apx 6 months when the exact same problem occured on the highway traveling apx 60 mph. Vehic... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2008) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 9, 2022
Incident date: Aug 6, 2022
Vehicle abruptly malfunctioned (lose of power) while sitting at the traffic light during a heavy storm. Fortunately, I turned the vehicle off and restarted it, which gave me enough engine power to get a a safe place. I had the vehicle towed to Love Chevrolet, Columbia, SC. Dealership stated the entire wiring harness needed to be replaced. The replacement cost would be $3500. They also stated ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2020
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V413000 (Power Train) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that prior to receiving the recall notification, while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration after taking her foot off the brake pedal. The vehicle drov... Read more
GENUINE SCOOTER
NIU MQIGT EVO
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 8, 2022
Incident date: Jul 23, 2022
The throttle has become unpredictable at best. First a check engine light and error 142 code appeared, then the throttle issues began. Sometimes the scooter wouldn't move at all, sometimes the throttle only works at the halfway point, and worst is at times the throttle goes from 0 to 100% no matter the throttle position. The sudden acceleration is particularly scary as this electric scooter has... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2022
Dash cluster showed brake light and BAS light on, tachometer and speedometer dropped to zero while going approx. 40 MPH.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
While in cruise control, which is adaptive, vehicle will abruptly slow down for no know reason. Usually there are no other vehicles, no highway obstructions, nothing that I can see. Tesla finally told me that this is a "known issue", after making a service appointment, and them calling me to cancel the appointment.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
Vehicle's cruise control got stuck and would not turn off by the brake, the cruise control off button. The only way it would shut off is by swtitching the car into “B-(Low Gear/Engine Braking). Was cruising at 70 mph, and then the cruise control kept speeding the vehicle up to 100 mph, until I switched it into the “B”-(Low Gear/Engine Braking). Now if I wasn’t familiar with this type of ca... Read more
Incident date: Aug 6, 2022
I was on the expressway and all of a sudden I couldn’t accelerate. The engine completed died. I just used a little smarts to get off before it completely stopped. No warning lights no warning at all.
Incident date: May 12, 2022
On May 12, 2022 I was driving our 2022 Rav4 Hybrid. At about 10 am that morning I arrived at the Sherwin Williams store in Chandler, AZ. I applied the brakes and put the car in park. But the car did not stop! It continued to forge ahead, smashing into the building barrier and even then it kept trying to move forward. 1.The whole front end was smashed. 2.The first responders had to pry open t... Read more
Crash
1 injured
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2016) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 7, 2022
Incident date: Oct 31, 2019
Transmission shifts hard and seemingly late and early (sometimes to the extent where it feels like someone is slamming into the vehicle). This has happened since purchase in 2019 ( when I told them about it them about it they tried to tell me it was normal and acted like I was a fool), continues to get worse especially in stop and go traffic at lower speeds, but does it at all different speeds.
Incident date: Jun 12, 2022
My truck malfunctioned at an automatic car wash. It has approximately 54k miles. I had no warning lights or system alerts on vehicle or Uconnect app. I stopped in the parking lot & put the Gladiator in Park, I left the ignition on. I got off truck & got a towel to clean interior.There are several spaces to vacuum. I put the vehicle in DRIVE to move forward & out of the way of a patron that was go... Read more
Crash
1 injured
FORD
MUSTANG MACH E
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 6, 2022
Incident date: Aug 6, 2022
Adaptive cruise control fault, pre-commission sensors not working, anti-lock break fault, restraint fault, tire pressure fault, dash turns off while driving which makes unable to see speed driving.
Incident date: Aug 6, 2022
The vehicle without warning will lose all power; "Accelerator System Malfunction Output Power Reduced Visit Your Dealer" and "Pre-Collision System Malfunction - Visit Your Dealer" are the warning messages that appeared when power was lost. The "Check Engine" light also illuminated as well as a collision error light appeared. The vehicle has done this twice; the first time, the dealer found a rec... Read more