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: Jul 30, 2022
The vehicle will accelerate all on its own I was pulling into a parking spot and the vehicle just accelerated thank god there was not another car in from of me or I would have hit them. Then later that same day with the cruise on the vehicle just started speeding up. I had to hit the brakes to turn cruise off or who knows how fast it would have taken me
Incident date: Jun 30, 2022
I was driving from a funeral on Saturday July, 30th. 2022. The Car Has Been Fine, & Shown No Leading Hints Of Error. I Did Have A Spare Tire On In Which It Had No Problems Either. After The Funeral I Was Notified My Tire Was Ready, So I Headed Over To Get It Changed. After About 10/15 Mins Of Driving (Taking My Daughter To Work) The Car Started To Pull, & Make A Screeching/Loud Noise. At First I T... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2022
on 3 lane expressway (US422)about 1/4 mile from where the lanes split( see attached). No cars in front of me but cars in the lane to my left slowed. My car suddenly braked causing the car behind me to swerve to my right to avoid a collision. The adaptive breaking (incorrectly) determined that there was a collision hazard, thus creating an actual collision hazard
Incident date: Jul 29, 2022
The driver infotainment system locks up randomly. Which makes all safety features, turn signal indicators, backup camera, reverse mode (mirrors drop), speedometer, collision sensors, etc NON-FUNCTIONAL. Until either the system crashes or finally unfreezes. This also removes one-pedal driving as well when frozen. Version is 2022.16.3
Incident date: Jan 24, 2020
I reported engine stalling after purchasing my 2016 in 2018 they serviced it and never fixed the issue I am wondering if that was issue in my accident
Crash
1 injured
HYUNDAI
SANTA CRUZ
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 30, 2022
Incident date: Jul 30, 2022
While driving between 30 to 40 MPH the vehicle jerks. It feels like the transmission is not getting in gear and it slows down. Then the engine and transmission kind of engage and it goes back to normal. I have tried to figure out as to when specifically it does it but it does it at different time and situations. I have not driven it again in the highway since when it slows down vehicles behind me ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
The Jeep will not accelerate as expected, it may have to do with the throttle bottle. This lack of acceleration or hesitation while accelerating, can lead to unsafe driving conditions. Under normal driving conditions, I need to be able to accelerate to pass a car, to merge onto the freeway, and be able to handle stop and go traffic without hesitation. I am afraid I may cause an accident if I conti... Read more
Incident date: Jul 30, 2022
When the vehicle is in drive, the display will say "reduced engine power" and will drop the car to 25mph even on the highway. I've almost wrecked from this issue. I've seen where GM has had class actions on this prior but it was never recalled.
Incident date: Jul 9, 2022
There was no "incident" but I bought a car from a dealership. The salesman didn't let me take it on the road, only around the parking lot ( so I didn't notice the problem). Since I had driven a similar car at another dealership on the road, I didn't think anything of it. (Dumb, I know). When I drove away, I immediately noticed that the speedometer wasn't working. I turned around at the next exit... Read more
Incident date: May 14, 2022
Engine oil continuously spills onto the engine, and it has caused engine failure. The check engine light and the oil reserve light will come on and it will cause a massive decrease in speed and even shut down. I was coming off the highway when it shut down last time almost causing a massive car accident. We have taken it to the ford dealership, but they told us that we would need a new engine.
Incident date: Jul 27, 2022
I have a 2021 modely Honda Odyssey Elite (purchased in November 2020). This car has 14,000 miles on it as of July 29, 2022. When accelerating from a complete stop or accelerating after slowing down, upon depressing the accelerator pedal the car simply refuses to accelerate for a second or two and simply coasts due to momentum and then after a while accelerates hard causing a sudden jerky take off.... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2022
"VSC OFF, VSC TRAC, and ABS" indicators on the dash. YAW sensor failure which controls wheel speed which will cause vehicle to decelerate and possibly cause an accident. Toyota should issue a nationwide recall. Toyota is aware of the issue but has failed to issue a nationwide recall.
Incident date: Jul 28, 2022
Cruise control malfunction. Multiple times brining you to dealership.
Incident date: Jul 29, 2022
Multiple Phantom braking events with hard deceleration which nearly caused the car behind me to rear end my vehicle. Car suddenly braked and speed Was reduced from 72 mph to 55 mph before I could disengage the autopilot. At the time nearest vehicle In front of me was a over 1/2 mile away. Was traveling West bound around 0800 issue was severe enough that I did not trust reactivating the system unt... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2022
On July 29th at approximately 8:30pm, I got into my car after exiting the Meijer store and noticed the car making strange noises and was hard to get in gear. I park so I don’t have to back up, so I put the car in drive and it went fast in reverse, when it went forward, it went crazy and I ran into a tree island and busted 2 tires and finally stopped. Fortunately this happened in a mostly vaca... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2014) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 28, 2022
Incident date: Jun 29, 2022
stabilitrak light and engine light comes on causing vehicle to lose power, steering wheel locks up, lights flicking on and off, and time engines shut off...This is an hazard while driving vehicle on highway road and regular streets especially.
Incident date: Jul 28, 2022
2022 AUDI Q7. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO UNINTENDED ACCELERATION. THE CONSUMER STATED THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED MULTIPLE DIFFERENT ISSUES. THE VEHICLE WOULD LUNGE FORWARD WHILE THE BRAKE WAS DEPRESSED. WHILE DRIVING SLOWLY AND MAKING LEFT TURNS THE VEHICLE WOULD ACCELERATE TO AN UNSAFE SPEED. ON A FEW OCCASIONS, WHILE STOPPED AT A LIGHT, THE VEHICLE WOULD ROLL BACKWARDS SEVERAL FEET. WHILE DRIVI... Read more
NISSAN
ROGUE SPORT
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 28, 2022
Incident date: Jun 29, 2022
I was traveling between SC and NY on June 29, 2022. Two hours into the trip I stopped at a rest stop. When I accelerated back to highway speed and entered the freeway the car began decelerating It kept decelerating and I had to pull over to the shoulder. The car shut off. The car would restart and then immediately shut off I tried 5 times with the same result. There were no warning lights displ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2022
Driving on highway and experienced total loss of power. Coasted to side of road. Unable to "restart". Error displayed "Service Charging System" Dealership ran software updates to remedy issue. One week later same issue. Driving on highway and total loss of power., same error message. Towed to another dealership. Diagnosed as dead 12v battery, but I doubt this diagnosis. Battery was not d... Read more
Incident date: Jul 25, 2022
While using cruise control (Traffic-Aware Cruise Control) on a recent road trip in our Tesla Model Y, the car unexpectedly and for no apparent reason, abruptly reduced speed. Our car is available for inspection upon request. Our safety and that of others was put at risk as a result of this unexpected reduction in speed while travelling on the highway. An accident could have occurred if cars t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2021
When driving on the highway the vehicle will desegregate. Check engine light goes on and off and received 5 different codes for the transmission. Tire 🛞 system comes on and off. The engine overheats a lot especially on hot climates. I drove from New York to North Carolina and had to stop 5 times on the side of the road so the car could cool down.
Incident date: May 9, 2022
I own a 2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring with AWD. I purchased it brand new from a dealer--no miles on it. It's been a great car until this Sudden Unintended Acceleration problem (about 60K miles now). It's happened 5 or 6 times--twice when in a drive thru. It seems that if I am idling (not pressing on gas or brake) the car will sometimes suddenly accelerate. I have used suggestions to brake, then pl... Read more
Incident date: Jul 26, 2022
Yesterday on a road trip my car repeatedly slammed on the brakes while in cruise control despite no vehicles or objects in the road in front of me.
Incident date: Jul 25, 2022
I purchased a new 2022 Lincoln Navigator Reserve L and just took a 3000 mile road trip and used their Active Glide driver assistance extensively and have uncovered a MAJOR safety issue with their system. The issue I found is that when using the adaptive cruise control feature the system will sometimes read a car in the adjacent lane as moving in front of my vehicle and apply the brakes very hard ... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLE 450
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 27, 2022
Incident date: Jul 21, 2022
1. FIRST MESSAGE: 48V BATTERY MALFUNCTION 2. SECOND MESSAGE: STOP THE VEHICLE COOLANT IS NOT WORKING VEHICLE IS OVERHEATING. 3. LOST POWER, I COULD ONLY DRIVE 10 MILES PER HOUR. I PULLED TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND WAS ALMOST REAR ENDED BY A SEMI TRUCK. THERE ARE SEVERAL ONLINE OCCURRENCES REPORTING THESE SAME MESSAGES. IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS WHEN A VEHICLE LOSES ALL POWER WHILE ON A B... Read more
Incident date: Jul 26, 2022
All of a sudden my transmission service fault light has came on, my escape won’t shift into gear, and when it is in park it won’t go into drive it any other gear without you forcing it. I have called farina, Effingham, Salem, Centralia, Newton and none of them can get my car in for a month. I am now without a vehicle and I’m needing something done.
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 26, 2022
Incident date: Jul 23, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that while her partner was reversing out of a driveway, the vehicle independently surged backward up a hill as her partner applied the brake pedal. Her partner was able to place the vehicle into drive which sent the vehicle forward. The vehicle hit a tree which stopped the acceleration. The contact heard screaming from inside her home a... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 23, 2022
Driving at 55 and the engine blew. No warning, no check engine light, no sign of anything wrong. Power steering loss, limo mode activation. Almost rear ended during catastrophic failure. 111,000 miles
Incident date: Jul 17, 2022
I have noticed unwarranted braking while using cruise control. I have been able to confirm at least some of it is due reconstruction of the highway. At certain places the car thinks I am on an exit ramp with a 45mph limit when I am actually on the main highway. It then suddenly slows the car until I correct it using the accelerator.
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2017) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 25, 2022
Incident date: Mar 23, 2022
Vehicle was jerking and a wrench illuminated on panel. Was able to get out of traffic to side of road but very dangerous as we had to just coast to safety. Took vehicle to dealership...code threw for throttle active stuck. This happened on March 23, 2022. Than again on July 23, 2022, was on interstate and wrench illuminated and again stalled. 75 Mph traffic and thank goodness we was able to clear... Read more
Incident date: Jul 24, 2022
The Auto-Pilot system, Tesla's version of adaptive cruise control, 'phantom' brakes with no obstruction in the road. It has happened to me many times on a recent long trip. perhaps a dozen times over 1300 miles. It has occurred when I am on the only car on a quiet country road and on busy highways. There appear to be 2 types of braking; one in which the brakes are actually engaged and the... Read more
Incident date: Sep 6, 2021
The contact owns a 2020 Lexus NX. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH and attempting to make a turn, the steering wheel was difficult to operate. There was no warning light illuminated. On another occasion, the steering wheel veered to the left and right. In addition, there was a sudden unintended acceleration. The brake pedal was depressed but the vehicle did not reduce in speed... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Jul 25, 2022
A day of Phantom Braking today while the car was on adaptive cruise: -Going on the interstate up a hill, and on the crest it freaks out and slams on the brake -Going on MN Hwy 18 at 6:30 pm north, and dozens of phantom braking incidents in shadows, dark colored patches of road, and for random reasons. Got so bad I stopped using the feature
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
RA1250
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 24, 2022
Incident date: Jul 19, 2022
While riding this motorcycle, I stopped for gas and then went to restart the motorcycle and the starter just "screeched" rather that starting the engine. On second attempt, the bike started however the normal idle RPMs of around 1200 went up to 4000 and would not drop back to normal RPM. (I have had this bike take as many as 4 start attempts, twice while stuck in busy intersections and previousl... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2022
My 2013 Camaro had 89k miles, garage kept in excellent condition. My vehicle had never given me any issues and has impeccable maintenance records. I was pulling out of a parking spot when my engine started riving and jerking and I accelerated while in reverse and hit a concrete post behind me. I applied the brake and placed the car in drive. My car took off with a high speed of acceleration with m... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 23, 2022
Fault codes: P072C00, P072B00, P174A00, P072600, P179D00, P173400. Name of codes in order above, Stuck in Gear 1, Stuck in Reverse, Valve 3 in partial transmission 1, Engine Speed Inp.Circ., Cooling oil valve, Starter release from the selector level sensor system.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2022
Car is phantom breaking with cruise control set on the freeway.
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
I HAVE FIXED EVERYTHING UNDER THE HOOD AND MY VEHICLE WILL NOT ACCELRATE OVER 60. IF ACCLERATE TO 61MPH IT WOULD DROP DOWN TO 40MPH
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
When turning on vehicle the lightning stalls to come on properly. The dash board and radio is completely off even when vehicle has started. Speedometer does not have an accurate reading of how many miles per hour I'm truly going in which I don't feel safe due to the fact that I'm more likely to get pulled over for speeding or not driving fast enough while on the road. No one has inspected the veh... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2022
I was at a stop light when I slowly started to lift my foot from the brake pedal. The engine started revving up and accelerate. I pressed the brake pedal normal , then harder when it would not stop revving. I looked down to see if I was hitting the gas pedal by accident. I was not, about after 5 seconds it stop revving. I went about a foot and nobody was in front of me. I going to have it checked ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2022
Car wasn’t always turning over right away. When it would, sluggish acceleration meaning gas pedal to floor and slow acceleration. Could have caused major accident when crossing traffic or joining traffic. Car turned off when at busy intersection twice when idling. Could have caused to be rear ended. Auto shop cleaned terminal 6. Stated if happens again, go to Kia to have board replaced
Incident date: Jul 24, 2022
Airbag light , traction control light ,abs light , brake light all are on
Incident date: Jul 22, 2022
While driving the Vehicle at 9:30pm on 7/22/22 the vehicle suddenly accelerated on its own at a very fast rate after I sped up to yield over into another lane coming off the highway. There was luckily no vehicles ahead of me and I was on a straight away or else I would’ve hit someone. I pressed the brakes down but they wouldn’t bring the vehicle to a stop. I placed the transmission in neutral... Read more
Incident date: Jun 25, 2022
I brought a lemon from premier auto kc out in Kansas city, Kansas! I was sold a lemon and have had major problems with the car since
Incident date: Jul 22, 2022
I recently purchased a 2012 ford escape, and the engine runs loud, and after researching, I feel that the throttle body is not in working condition. I looked up recalls on this vehicle and there is an incomplete throttle body repair/replace open recall, but when I looked it up via NHTSA it said no recalls. I would like this issue resolved. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2022
The car overheats due to the water pump and coolant leaks .
Incident date: Jul 3, 2022
THE TRANSMISSION SLIIPPED SO BAD THAT IT LURCHED ME FORWARD AND ALMOST TO STAND STILL TRAFFIC ! I NEARLY HIT OIL TANKER I WAS. ABLE TO GET THE VEHICLE SAFELY OFF THE ROAD THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME AND I WAS BARELY ABLE TO GET IT IN THE PARKING LOT !! THIS CAR IS DANGEROUS I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AFRIAD TO TAKE IT TO DEALERSHIP BECAUSE SERVICE DEPARTMENTS ARE TRAINED TO SCAM CUSTOMER I HAVE HAD REGUL... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2022
The first incident occurred sometime in late June/early July...indicator lights mentioned below came on and I cleaned off sensors and indicator lamps disappeared on this occurrence. On July 13 2022, I was driving on a busy local road when the following malfunction indicators were displayed: brake system warning, 'check' engine malfunction indicator lamp, electric power steering system warning, pa... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2021
While driving on the interstate both adaptive cruise control(ACC) and regular cruise control have disengaged on multiple occasions. Once this occurs the cruise control will not engage regardless of whether I try ACC or regular cruise control and I receive a message "Cruise Control Off" and a beep when I try. The only consistent solution seems to be to turn off the car and turn it back on. There... Read more
Incident date: Jun 27, 2022
Vehicle parked and unattended. Shifter control unit failed and vehicle rolled away. Vehicle front damage.
Crash