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: Jan 14, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Acura TLX. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights illuminated and the back-over prevention camera was independently enabled. In addition, the vehicle stalled, and the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle wa... Read more
MINI
COOPER S CLUBMAN
(2011) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 23, 2025
Incident date: Nov 19, 2024
The acceleration didn’t want to pass 31 mph
Incident date: Dec 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Ford 150. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. In addition, the contact stated that the air bags and the check engine warning light were illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the road. The contact turned the vehicle off and allowed the vehicle t... Read more
Incident date: Dec 6, 2024
What Component or system failed or malfunctioned. A control system (I am guessing a computer or software problem occurred. The car had a sudden unexpected acceleration. On [XXX] my 2024 Subaru Forester Sport while completing parking in a parking spot had a sudden unintended acceleration event. My foot was not on the acceleration. The automobile travelled at least 27 feet before I was able to... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 17, 2025
[XXX] at [XXX] (Palisade was in SMART mode). I made a U-Turn and coming out of the turn I stepped in the gas and nothing happened; however, the engine was racing and held steady at 3,000 RPMs. The vehicle did NOT respond after multiple attempts at stepping on the gas pedal or simply stepping off the gas pedal - the engine/transmission was racing loud at 3,000 RPMs for about 7-10 seconds until ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2024
I had several alert messages for weeks and after a service call, they told me that they were no issue. with all this alert messages it is impossible to let my Daughter driving the car. it is too risky.
Incident date: Jan 12, 2025
My wife and I have a 2025 Carnival SX Prestige Hybrid. We live in northern Maryland (lots of cold days lately!). This exact issue has happened three times and counting. While driving, our car will randomly lose all ability to accelerate. You can press the gas pedal all the way to the floor, and it will not gain speed. It seems to happen at lower speeds, around 30mph and it just caps off and will n... Read more
Incident date: Jan 22, 2025
The car is constantly needs a jump start , and the pedal will not accelerate. I have had multiple diagnosis and they don’t know what it is- the cruise control component comes on at the beginning of the jump start until the car runs. Auto Zone and Midas has checked the battery, alternator, did a draw and they can’t find the issue. When driving the pedal will not accelerate- may have to pull ove... Read more
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2021) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 23, 2025
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
I started the vehicle and started to drive. The gear slid to park and stop in the middle of the road. An indicator said to check transmission. After pushing it off the road, the next day is driving again. All the check engine sign went off.
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
I am filing this complaint due to a GREAT safety concern with my vehicle. I am a law enforcement officer as well as a firefighter. I was notified that there was a safety recall on my vehicle. The recall was for the hydraulic control unit ("HCU"). One of the risks of said recall is the loss of ABS/ESC/Traction control may cause a vehicle crash without prior warning. After being notified about said... Read more
Incident date: Jan 6, 2025
On a day which had a high temperature of 16F our Kia Carnival Hybrid SXP, after not being used most of the day, when driving would not exceed 31 miles per hour. The engine would not rev loudly or give any indication of an error but would not go over 31 mph even with the gas pedal fully depressed. After pulling over and turning the car off and on the problem did not repeat.
Incident date: Dec 9, 2024
Today I had an issue with my 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid SX Prestige where it would not allow me to accelerate past 31 mph. I was on an on-ramp to the highway with my baby in the car and I was flooring the gas, yet it still would not go past 31 mph. I put on my hazards and pulled off, and checked that the max speed setting was not on. I even tried setting the max speed to something higher like 50 mph... Read more
Incident date: Mar 11, 2024
My ABS system is not working Anti-traction control and cruise control. Dealer says parts not available for last 2 years. No reasons for manufacturer delays. dealer says part cannot be ordered.
Incident date: Dec 31, 2024
As you are driving the the car will just say (Brake) on the dash and will quickly apply the brakes when going slow and it's happened at speeds around 65 mph. With the cruise control on. Took car into Honda dealership no issues they said
Incident date: Oct 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Toyota Tundra. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal from a standing stop at a traffic signal, the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that there was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was hesitating before responding as needed and gradually moved forward. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent.... Read more
Incident date: Nov 29, 2024
The contact owned a 2022 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that while idled forward into a parking space at the local car wash, the brake pedal was depressed to stop but the vehicle erroneously accelerated forward and crashed into a brick wall where it came to a stop. During the crash, the air bags did deploy and no injuries were reported. The vehicle was destroyed and later towed to an undisclosed... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Nov 25, 2024
Transmission light frequently comes on, car stalls/sluggish to respond. Has occurred while driving or at rest. No change despite several transmission servicing/towing expenses. Per online research, others experiencing same issues. Often resolves temporarily by turning off engine and restarting car. Recalls issued for other Mitsubishi models, but not for this car. Needs to be addressed to prevent i... Read more
Incident date: Jan 21, 2025
The contact owns a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. The contact stated that while in a parking space and reversing, the vehicle was then shifted into drive and the high gear message was displayed. The vehicle accelerated unintendedly and the brake pedal failed to bring the vehicle to a stop. As a result, the vehicle crashed into a 2015 Chrysler Town and Country where it came to a stop. No warning... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 21, 2025
I have warning lights stating that there is a problem with the antilock brake system, and another warning about the brakes. The electronic stability light is on , and the truck won't allow me to turn the ESL warning on or off. And also, my cruise control doesn't work, which stems from the ABS . There is an existing recall, which includes the year, make and model of my truck, but for whatever reaso... Read more
Incident date: Dec 13, 2024
See attached document for complaint.
Crash
GMC
YUKON DENALI
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 21, 2025
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
The contact owned a 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated causing the vehicle to veer off the road, and the contact lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 14,171.
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 2500
(2025) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 21, 2025
Incident date: Jan 1, 2025
I was backing out of a parking space in reverse as I have done multiple times and the second I took my foot off the brake pedal to go into reverse, my car shot out at a high speed and hit a parked car on the other side of the street. Not realizing that there was an auto malfunction, I attempted to turn around my car to see the damage to the other car and when I went into reverse again to turn aro... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 21, 2025
I drive an 2019 Audi A5 and there is a terrible Auto start/stop malfunction and cruise control malfunction that has made this car unsafe to drive. The Auto start is featured on the A5 to "save gas," but however malfunctions and cuts off while driving or coming to a stop. Tonight on 1/21/2025 at 1:44 am it did just that. While sitting at the light it stalled out, manually crank it up attempt to get... Read more
Incident date: Nov 2, 2023
Hyundai has a service bulletin for their 12V battery but isn’t notifying owners. Today my vehicle stopped working and lost all acceleration on a busy 3 lane street that is 55mph. I was able to limp it to a left turn lane where I had to research the issue and found many others had instances like mine. The battery stops working and subsequently stops the vehicle from accelerating and tells you to ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 18, 2025
My car has failed while driving four different times. Each time I am driving on a busy road, I get a "traction battery fault" warning, then the vehicle loses the ability to drive and completely shuts down. Each time leaving me and my family stranded in the middle of the road. These events have happened on 10/1/2023; 4/1/2024; 7/16/2024; and 12/20/2024. My car is still in the shop undiagnosed from ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2024
My engine burns oil very bad. Black smoke comes out of my tailpipe and I burn through 5 quarts in less than a thousand miles. I just got my oil changed two weeks again and I just had to add more oil to my car bc it was empty. I’ve had to replace the spark plugs twice due to soot build up. I can’t afford a new car I’m 17 and can barely afford the maintenance let alone a whole new engine. Have... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 20, 2025
Incident date: Jan 20, 2025
I'VE BEEN OPERATING MY TRUCK SEVERAL TIMES NOW WHERE THE CRUISE CONTROL HAS WENT OFF OR DISENGAGED WHILE DRIVING, CAUSING A SLIGHT PANIC FROM NOT KNOWING WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THAT MOMENT. THIS HAS ALSO HAPPENED WHILE TOWING, WHICH MADE THINGS EVEN WORSE. MY CRUISE CONTROL IS NO LONGER WORKING AND NOW I AM DEALING WITH THE RECALL WHERE THERE IS A "REMEDY NOT YET AVAILABLE". THIS WOULD BE RECALL MAN... Read more
Incident date: Nov 30, 2024
At various times since we have owned our van, when the gas pedal is pushed, the car will not move for a few seconds. It will then go, but it’s not smooth. I can never recreate this issue, since it seems to happen randomly. I had it happen today, and it lasted longer than a couple of seconds. I was thankful I was just leaving my neighborhood and not trying to turn onto a busy street.
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2025) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 20, 2025
Incident date: Nov 23, 2024
FROM TIME TO TIME AS IM DRIVING TO EITHER SPEED UP OR SLOW DOWN, MY CAR HAS NO POWER AND THEN WITHIN 2-3 SECONDS IT HITS HARD BACK INTO GEAR. I RESEARCHED IT ON LINE ABOUT OTHER LEXUS AND IT STATED THAT THE PROBLEM IS IN THE COMPUTER AND IT HAS A GLITCHES IN THE SYSTEM THAT NEEDS TO BE RESET/CLEARED , THERE ARE TIMES WHEN IT HITS SO HARD THAT IT FEELS LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN REAR-ENDED AND HURTS YOUR B... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2024) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 20, 2025
Incident date: Jan 14, 2025
[XXX] while driving on [XXX] myself and my family in our 2022 yukon 6 lane highway 65 mph the engine lost power with no warning at all and left us with no power steering ,or brakes. This was in heavy traffic with other vehicles on our right and left side. I was able to put 4 way on and carefully move to the right lane and then barely to the burm. Vehicle would not restart and the sound of it was o... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
E350
(2014) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 19, 2025
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
While driving on the highway at approximately 60MPH, both display screens went completely blank. The A/C stopped working and radio speakers also stopped working. After about 30 seconds, the system had reset and came back on as if it was the start up sequence. I could not tell if it affected steering/braking since I was on a relatively straight road and light traffic but it was highly disconcerting... Read more
Incident date: Nov 11, 2024
Vehicle is tramaling or wandering at 50+ mph speeds. Making it dangerously difficult to keep between the lines without constant steering corrections. I have had car aligned and changed the tires. Still issue persists. There are several post online about this issue with the infiniti Q60 and Q50 models.
EVENFLO
EVERYSTAGE
(9999) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 19, 2025
Incident date: Jan 16, 2025
Abs Failure, at around 80,000 miles, Truck is unusable , brake drags and causes overheating, can not get to dealer unless towed. All ABS system lights and failure warning lights are on Have been paying on vehicle which has been unusable since 6/2022 Dealer says parts are not available
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 18, 2025
Incident date: Jul 6, 2024
When turning on to another road and accelerating, engine will suddenly loose all power. releasing accelerator will regain some power until vehicle speed increases. Throttle control is often erratic and transmission shifting is inconsistent resulting in hard clunks during shift. Pulling into traffic with a sudden loss of power leaves me vulnerable to a collision.
Incident date: Nov 1, 2020
While driving, the vehicle's engine light will randomly turn on and when it does, the car will lose power; meaning, when this occurs, and I press the accelerator pedal, it does not put out the normal, expected amount of acceleration. This problem will persist until I pull over, turn off the vehicle, and turn it back on. However, this does not always fix the issue. Sometimes, when I turn the car of... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2024
I was getting off of work to go home when I got on the main hwy my car just started to slow down and would not go over 10 mph and the speed limited on that hwy is 45 mph so I had to get off the road before I was hit from behind.
Incident date: Dec 17, 2024
Trying to take off from a parking spot the truck would not shift from first gear. The exact same thing has happened about four or five more time since the first always in the same manner. One time it shifted into third gear and stuck there. When this happens the dash cluster does not read anything. it just shows what gear it is in. No rpm, no speed.
Incident date: May 19, 2024
The forward collision sensor failed to work after 2500 miles, disabling my ability to use adaptive cruise control. I've thoroughly cleaned the area where the two sensors are and it made no difference.
Incident date: Jan 15, 2025
Vehicle began to rough idle, and then while driving the vehicle MIL came on, as well as a "Engine overheat throttle limited" error. Pulled over and vehicle would not move. Tried to power cycle the vehicle and would not start back up. Had it towed to dealer and was told this was the long block coolant intrusion problem that leader to my engine completely failing. I was made aware of Ford TSB 19-23... Read more
Incident date: Dec 18, 2023
THIS CAR HAS LESS THAN 2,500 MILES ON IT, AND IT FAILED TO GO INTO GEAR WHEN PULLING OUT ON A MAJOR HIGHWAY. WHEN IT DID SLIP INTO GEAR, IT WOULD ONLY GO 10 MPH THE WHOLE WAY HOME. MULTIPLE ALERTS WERE SENT TO MY PHONE; SEE BELOW FOR SPECIFIC ALERT INFO. THE DEALERSHIP SAID IT WAS A LOOSE WIRE AFTER TELLING ME THEY WOULD REPLACE THE CAR, AND OVER 60 SENSORS WENT OFF. ALERTS: SERVICE ENGINE WARNIN... Read more
Incident date: Dec 5, 2024
While traveling at highway speeds between 65-75MPH the vehicle with violently shake while shifting and then lunge forward. However, during the shaking the vehicle is hard to control and feels like it is going to just shut off. This scenario primarily happens on flat roads at the above mentioned speed. However, we have noticed an issue with the vehicle while turning corners and accelerating, as wel... Read more
Incident date: Jan 9, 2025
Car will stop abruptly even when simply reversing out of my garage when there are no obstacles behind me. This poses a safety risk to me and others. Car has not been inspected. I was told by the dealer this is a known complaint. No warning lights or messages.
Incident date: Jan 7, 2025
Driving down CR 230 in Wyoming, the situation started if I have to estimate, 7 miles west of Woods Landing, I heard a metal on metal grinding noise from the engine bay, and a loss of power on the throttle. I look at my RPM gauge and notice it is a zero. No check engine light, all electronics working as normal along with the brakes, and I slow the vehicle down to 30 MPH. Shortly after noticing, I g... Read more
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2014) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 16, 2025
Incident date: Oct 22, 2024
On 13 August 2024 I was driving my 2024 Honda Prologue when the DIC and infotainment screens went blank. At this time with no information displayed on any screen, the car was unsafe to operate. I drove the car straight to the local dealer, Tony Honda. The dealer was unable to diagnose the problem. After contacting Honda Tech support, they decided the audio control unit was defective. After 65 days... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
On January 15, 2025, my front panel went completely blank (black screen) moments after driving off a parking lot. I pulled over, turned the car off to try to reset it, but didn’t work. Tried this 3-4 different times in different locations. I also had no exterior lights working. My main lights, brake and headlights were not functioning. This was very stressful and luckily it was still daylight, s... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2025
Transmission is not shifting correcting. Will be traveling down the road and loses power, loses it's acceleration. When trying to proceed after making a stop at a light, car will not go. Bucks hard when putting in reverse. I heard there was a recall on the torque converter's awhile back, but I never received any notification about it. Now that I know, the ford dealerships are telling me there are ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
PASSAT
(2013) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jan 16, 2025
Incident date: Jan 10, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Cadillac XTS. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal became stuck, and the vehicle accelerated excessively. The contact stated that the failure had occurred several times. The contact stated that the failure occurred o... Read more
Incident date: Jan 8, 2025
During acceleration to pass another vehicle, my engine had lost all power and acceleration and I had to make a split decision to brake and maneuver my vehicle back into my lane behind multiple vehicles who were behind me before I attempted to pass. Had there have been oncoming traffic within that mentally unaccounted time that I was in the opposite lane, I could have been in a very large deadly ac... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2025
Did not control speed sometime up and down engine.
Incident date: Oct 17, 2024
See attached document for complaint