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: Sep 30, 2024
It is hard to explain what specific component put my safety at risk. But my car is suffering from unintended acceleration and unintended deceleration, which I've been told is related to my engine/ABS actuator, but Nissan is doing "further investigation" after holding my car for a month and clearing it for use. When I've been driving on the highway my car will decelerate at rapid speed, even with... Read more
Incident date: Aug 17, 2022
This issue is pertaining to the valve body in my 10-speed transmission. While I was traveling home, the truck experienced a “wheel lockup”. The transmission shifted down aggressively, then putting the truck into limp mode. I had to travel the rest of the way home with a max speed of 35 mph. I have been without this truck for 3 months waiting on parts. This is absolutely unacceptable from gm. E... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
Brake Stop Lamps Remain On When I was driving, my car was having throttle/acceleration issues. When I had my foot on the gas, my car would accelerate and the RPMs would rise, but then all of a sudden the acceleration stopped as if I was not applying throttle. I had to constantly take my foot off the gas and reengage for the car to drive home. When I parked my car, I noticed that my brake lights ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2025
On Wednesday, July 16, 2025 I was sitting at a stop light, using the Auto Hold system. A few minutes later, my car took off and accelerated on its own and hit the rear of a truck. I hit the truck so hard as he was sitting at the light as well, it pushed his vehicle into the vehicle in front of him. I was unable to stop my Volvo, it was like it took full control over.
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 11, 2025
Vehicle transmission will instantly drop to gears 3 to 5 (limp mode from what I have researched) & wrench light comes on. Very dangerous on the interstate traveling at 70mph+, seems to happen more frequently on hotter days. You can park & turn off vehicle, then crank back up, & it is out of limp mode but transmission is sluggish. Initially it was happening once per week on avg, now it is a toss up... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2025
2020 infinity qx 60 Bought car used in 2024 with 80,000. There is a hesitation when accelerating and sometimes seems to want to die when idling. There is also a knocking sound at times when accelerating. At times I feel transmission skips. When turning right or left or reversing, the wheels seem to creek and almost grind a bit. I am great about maintenance and called to determine if my vin was... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2025
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fiesta. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic; however, no cause for the failure was found. The mechanic informed the... Read more
Incident date: Jun 29, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated to 70 MPH. The contact immediately depressed the brake pedal; however, the vehicle failed to respond as needed. The contact pulled over onto the side of the road and the vehicle lost motive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact attempted to restart the vehic... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
PASSAT
(2013) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 16, 2025
Incident date: Apr 1, 2013
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated while depressing the accelerator pedal. Additionally, while driving 35-45 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power. The contact stated that the vehicle choked and stalled. The driver was able to coast to the side of the roadway. The contact had since switched to premium fuel. The vehic... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
Cracked exhaust & bracket back in 2023 causing a loud rattling noise. Now catalytic converter is cracked & gasket leak. Dealer does have notes that it was cracked & they noticed it in 2023 at 46k miles & that converter has now cracked causing engine light to turn on. Car does not speed up properly & GM only wants to cover 30 percent of cost.
POLESTAR
POLESTAR 2
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 16, 2025
Incident date: Jul 15, 2025
Unknown or uncertain about needing a recall. Recently my car has been having trouble with acceleration in the sense that either it will lag or stall out and at times will give acceleration even without me trying to depress the gas harder. It sputters like it either cannot get gas or the fuel system is faulty, it keeps throwing codes and the check engine light dings and flashes. Cruise control some... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2025
The Cruze has always been slow to accelerate which made passing a problem. In May 2025 we were driving on [XXX] in Detroit and the engine light came on the dashboard. We were able to drive the car without propulsion to Lansing, a distance of 90 miles. Feldman Chevorolet said the code for the light was engine turbo-charger. That's a $3K repair. We have no choice but to drive the car. INFORMATION ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2025
2018 Ford F150 XLT twin turbo 4wd. Since the day I bought it. Nothing but problems with lurching jerking at stops. Clunking when truck is on AND OFF. We have video of it. Pushing gas pedal and truck hesitates before it jumps forward always the transmission been to every ford dealer in our area they refuse to help or say they DONT HEAR the knocking or feel lurching all lies we have had at least 3 c... Read more
Crash
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 16, 2025
Incident date: Jul 13, 2025
My vehicle abruptly went from 65 to 30 while driving with my children on the expressway. The check engine light and three other lights came on, and the car wouldn't start for an hr or so, and then it wouldn't accelerate past 25-30 miles, while all the check engine light and the other lights continued to stay on.
Incident date: May 15, 2025
my explorer has a 10 speed transmission, and its REALLY heavy on shifting like it is missing shifts or slipping, it will shoot up in rpms to the 7-8k mark and jerk forward, this will happen every few minutes when varying speed, driving through residential areas or normal trafficways not including the highway, however on the highway it has a tendency to feel as if it loses power and regains it, ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 30, 2025
Since we purchased the vehicle we noticed that power outlet would not work. We have taken this vehicle back to the dealership and even though they "fix it" as soon as we drive it out within in one or two hours it will give out again. The last time we took it they said not to use "off the market" cellphone chargers because that is what is making it not work. Then the AC has also stopped working a c... Read more
Incident date: Jul 7, 2025
BACK UP COMPUTER SCREEN NOT WORKING EVERY TIME VEHICLE IS PUT IN REVERSE. TALKED WITH SERVICE MANAGER -ABOUT 6MONTHS AGO TOLD IF UNIT DOES NOT MALFUNCTION WHEN BEING TESTED CANNOT CHECK PROBLEM.BUT IF I WOULD LEAVE CAR FOR A DAY THEY WOULD TRY AT VERIOUS TIMES TO SEE IT NOT WORKING.NO WARNING ONLY SCREEN TELLING US BACK UP SCREEN NOT WORKING OR SCREEN GOES TO BLUE SCREEN WITH NOTHING ON IT.
Incident date: Jul 8, 2025
While driving along a few roads using Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) or AutoPilot (AP), the car will suddenly brake for no reason at all. Speeds reduced from 75 to 50 in 2 seconds. Had there been a car close behind me, we may have collided. I am able to reproduce this on several other roads as well. I have not yet reported this to the manufacturer, but a review of internet forums shows th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic; however, a diagnostic test was not performed. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repa... Read more
Incident date: Nov 17, 2023
The turbocharger failed on my 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport 2.0T. It is still on the vehicle and available for inspection upon request. The turbo failure caused a severe loss of engine power, making acceleration dangerously slow and unpredictable, especially when merging onto highways or passing vehicles. This sudden reduction in power could have caused a rear-end collision or made it impossible to ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2025
I have serval codes from varies companies, O'Reilly's, Luther Nissan Dearlership from April to June 2025, the code is P0012, camshaft. The vehicle intermittently does not have power and I could easily be rear ended. Even thought Luther Nissan has had code P0012, camshaft they have not fixed it. I brought it to Luther Nissan 3 times since 4/22/25 to 6/2/25. Luther said,"Valvoline put transmission f... Read more
Incident date: Jun 2, 2025
Getting engine power reduced messsge in shop 4th time now in 3 weeks, 2 service bulletins, now they want to put new engine, found over 800 complaints about same issue on car complaint.com website and more on Reddit of same issue . Car wouldn’t go more than 5mph extremely traumatic on highway my son won’t get back in the car he is too scared.
Incident date: Jul 13, 2025
Subject: Possible Design Flaw in Accelerator Pedal – Kia Soul 2015 Dear Kia/NHTSA Representative, I am the owner of a 2015 Kia Soul and would like to report a concern regarding the design of the accelerator pedal. I have observed that when the vehicle is turned on and in “Park” mode, the accelerator pedal can be easily pressed unintentionally simply by moving the foot slightly while seekin... Read more
Incident date: Jun 19, 2025
The transmission control valve is taking over the truck. It is a huge safety concern. You have NO CONTROL over the vehicle when it happens.
Incident date: Jun 20, 2025
I own a 2014 Ford Fiesta. On June 23, 2025, I brought my car to McCarthy Ford in Chicago due to a check engine light and other concerns. I told them I didn’t know what was wrong and paid for a diagnosis on my car. They fixed the hood and only mentioned the issue with my catalytic converter, which I could not afford to repair at the time. However, they never mentioned or inspected the Transmissio... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2025
Drivers display with vehicle speed and ADAS state goes blank while driving resulting in inability to see current speed or ADAS speed set point. After rebooting the system as previously advised by Volvo, the ADAS speed set point showed "00" while maintaining a speed of 70mph
Incident date: Jul 13, 2025
The vehicle gear selector had reverse (R) selected and pressing the accelerator pedal caused the vehicle to drive forwards. This appears to have been a result of enabling the "one pedal drive" function from the infotainment display while the gear selector was already in reverse. The mismatch of selected / indicated direction vs the resulting direction is a safety issue
Incident date: Jun 1, 2025
I leased a 2023 Audi A4 with 0 miles. At ~10,000 miles my car automatically shut down electronically I have photo evidence of this. This happened again recently at ~45,000 miles, I almost got into a severe car accident and possibly died. This happened on the highway driving in the left lane. I tried to remedy this situation before and was ignored by Aud's service center. I am scared I can die on t... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 14, 2025
Incident date: Jul 14, 2025
My 2020 Kia Sorento engine light came on and not able to accelerate more than 40 mph. The code when I went to an auto repair shop says knock signal range/ performance. I had it reset by the mechanic and the engine light still on. The engine is also eating through oil very fast. We have to fill the car with oil frequently in between oil changes.
MERCEDES-BENZ
E 350
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 14, 2025
Incident date: Jul 1, 2025
At approximately 10 pm driving on the interstate at approximately 65 mph, I was attempting to accelerate to 70 mph and my speedometer was decreasing in speed even though I had my foot on the accelerator. I had to pull off to the side of the interstate that has a very narrow shoulder. My car was not able to accelerate. I had to turn it off and turn it back on and then it appeared to work as usual. ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 12, 2025
2021 Ford Ranger with 10R80 transmission showing following codes P0733 P0734 90,000 miles on truck. jerky and slipping gear change between 3-4 and 5-6 occasionally no drive. have service records showing my truck was maintained properly.
Incident date: May 26, 2025
Cruise Control Not Working. Traction Control Light Active, Brake Light Active, And Light Active The cause was diagnosed by Toyota of Paris. TSB for C1391 Code abnormal leak in accumulator. The corrective action is to replace brake booster assembly with Master cylinder and Brake Booster pump Assembly.
Incident date: Jul 12, 2025
i was driving my truck down the highway and all of a sudden my rears wheels locked up making me lose control of my truck take goodness i did'nt rollover no my transmission is shifting threw gears from 1st to 6th to 3rd this is my second f150 that i have had my old one had the same problem but my old one didnt lock up my tires my phone number is [XXX] [XXX] but please text because at work you ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
For the 3rd or 4th time since I have own this car I experienced a loss of acceleration when attempting to make quick acceleration while attempting to merge with traffic. Acceleration is fine around town where quick acceleration is not appropriate. But the first attempt to merge with flowing traffic the car will slowly accelerates to about 30 mph and no more regardless as to position of accelera... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2025
Infotainment system crashing post most recent software update causing main dashboard to stop showing information and make critical information difficult to see because of washed out background. Malfunctioning Components: Infotainment system. Available for inspection. Safety Risk: Difficulty seeing speed, unable to see warnings Dealer: No Inspection: No Warnings: No
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 13, 2025
Incident date: Jun 10, 2025
Notified dealer roughly 9/27/23 of issues with dodge hornet . The car went into reverse instead of forward causing significant damage to another car we own . Dodge pulled the black box and gave findings that they weren’t liable however here we are in 2025 an issues we complained about are in recall without a remedy to fix .
Crash
Incident date: Jul 1, 2025
I do not feel engine braking effect when I apply brake instead I have to press brake hard to hold until engine idles. It is a serious issue in older cars. My car has 153000 miles.
Incident date: Jun 11, 2025
my Kona sputters when I put it in gear EVERY TIME. I have purchased gas at several stations so getting bad gas in the tank cannot be an issue. I’ve also had to replace the coil packs twice within 6 months. December 2024 and July 2025
Incident date: Jul 13, 2025
2/24/2025 Safety Recall work performed at Honda Marin; change Fuel Pump per recall. 4/28/2025 I reported vehicle stalling/misfiring, decelerating on its own and all lights keep coming on as a result of Fuel Pump change. Marin Honda performed cleaning of battery cables; technician claims nothing is wrong with the car. [XXX] car stalled at intersection, I went back to Honda Marin and reported vehi... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2025
1) Rear passenger window failed a couple months ago. I believe it was regulator, not 100% sure. Cost me a couple hundred to fix. Now, few months later, the driver side rear window has failed. I rarely use the windows so I believe the failing parts are Kia known manufacturing defect. The dealer acknowledged that it’s a known problem with the vehicles like mine and even suggested the other one is ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2025
Timing chain issues, motor oil circulation problems, that Volkswagen has recalls out for 2.0 cc turbo 2013.
Incident date: Jul 3, 2025
Brakes went out abs/traction control/tpms lights on. Brake pedal goes to floor 50% of the time. Have to downshift and use engine brake to stop.
Incident date: Jul 9, 2025
I’m pretty sure the tcm went out because the check engine light is on and it is shuddering and losing power randomly. Also will not go into reverse unless I shut car off.
Incident date: Jun 26, 2025
System keeps saying that I am not watching the road, which I am. No eye glasses or sunglasses on. This causes the cruise control to suddenly disengage creating a safety hazard. SUV is up to date on software/firmware.
Incident date: Jun 17, 2025
Front camera failure causes multiple safety issues. Lane keep assist collision mitigation road departure mitigation high beam problem This is a known issue and the dealership knew about this immediately hearing the multiple warning signs. Cost of replacement is over $2000.
Incident date: Jan 6, 2024
I purchased a 2017 Nissan Rogue used from a Nissan dealership with 58,617 miles. At around 99,000 miles, the vehicle began experiencing dangerous hesitation and shuddering. A certified Nissan dealer diagnosed a failure of the CVT transmission, specifically citing Code P17F2 (Judder Condition). I was quoted over $6,000 for the repair. This issue matches known Nissan CVT defects that have been sub... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 11, 2025
Incident date: Jul 11, 2025
This vehicle has been driven only on highway and local paved suburban roads. Fully maintained per Manufacturer recommendations. This vehicle has never been used to tow. Transmission suddenly failed during driving creating an unsafe condition on a 55mph busy road.
Incident date: Apr 19, 2025
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds and attempting to make a left or right turn, the steering wheel made an abnormal whining sound. Additionally, the contact stated that while accelerating from a stop, the vehicle hesitate. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed. The c... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2025
Ford supposedly repaired my truck via recall 24S37 on June 6 2025. However, while driving at approx 65 mph 2 days later, my truck downshifted again to first gear. This went on for another 2 weeks until I took it back to Crossroads Ford in Henderson NC again and they notated that I have a code P1500 AND CODE p0722 WHICH IS A LEAD FRAME IN TRANSMISSION ISSUE but they did not repair it..AGAIN. It ... Read more