Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,215,138 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA — including 138,663 crashes, 56,255 fires, and 8,561 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 2,215,138 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 72,878 complaints — component: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
I have been experiencing a noticeable delay in throttle response when accelerating, particularly when attempting to slowly merge into traffic. For example, when I press the accelerator to make a left turn, my Tiguan hesitates for approximately 2-3 seconds before responding, creating a significant safety concern as I find myself stuck in oncoming traffic. I took the vehicle to the dealership for d... Read more
Incident date: Sep 3, 2024
The entire dashboard goes blank and then sometimes resets and other times remains blank until the car is stopped. The speedometer is out as well as all the cameras.
HYUNDAI
TUCSON HYBRID
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 6, 2024
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
On August 1st I was on the highway at 55 mph when my 2022 Hyundai Tucson decelerated to 20 mph and would not go faster. This occurred on the highway at 5:45 pm. This placed myself and others in danger as I was on the highway in the center lane at the time of the deceleration. After turning the car in, the dealership returned the car with no repairs but stating that I engaged a button that caused a... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
In July 2024, with approximately 31,500 miles on my vehicle, I began experiencing issues with the "service electronic braking system" warning appearing on the dashboard. I brought the vehicle in for inspection, and the dealership identified and replaced the tire sensor under my extended warranty. A week later, the warning reappeared, and the dealership replaced the brake master cylinder sensor, al... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2024
Two issues with my truck. #1. The ABS HCU was replaced under warranty once. I am now at 75k miles and it is doing the same thing again. Difference is I'm having to pay for it. #2. The Clock Springs has been replaced once already and now needs it again. I paid the first time and am now having to pay again!!! Absolutely not acceptable!!!
Incident date: Sep 5, 2024
Car stalled on highway. Car would not push pass 20 mph no matter how much I pressed on the gas. Eventually car stopped moving and this happened on the highway while I was driving normally and then it slowed down and then stopped. This happened before about 5 months ago and I turned car off and it drove again so didn't think of an issue until today when it happened again and didn't move. I had to w... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
Warning light came on suddenly. Vehicle lost power. Smoking out of the tail pipe. Very dangerous for other drivers. Took the vehicle to a mechanic, said I have problems with the lifters, and need to replace the engine. I don’t know why Chrysler doesn’t issue a recall for this issue, it seems to happen often. Thank you very much.
Incident date: Aug 16, 2024
Car will not accelerate immediately from a stop; seems to happen more often when on a slight incline. This poses a safety issue when pulling out onto any road. I have asked multiple times at the dealer about and been told they cannot do anything about it unless the car gives a code. They also say it will not reproduce for them, although every time I pull out of their service location (with a sligh... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid. The contact stated that while at a complete stop and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle briefly hesitated before responding to the accelerator pedal being depressed. The contact stated that on one occasion, the accelerator pedal was depressed and went to the floorboard. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a... Read more
Incident date: Nov 3, 2021
The lead frame on valve body in transmission, most fords have this recall, truck gets stuck in gear
Incident date: Oct 19, 2023
Regen braking sometimes disengages at times creating what feels like sudden acceleration. Several malfunctions of the electronic system, including faulty alarms to go off all the time. There have been recalls on this vehicle, but Fisker has done nothing to repair any of these issues. List of authorized service dealers was promised by end of August and there has been no communication. The support n... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2024
Faulty engine design leads to head gasket failure, engine misfire and stall. Engine stall can cause loss of vehicle motive and braking by loss of vacuum assisted braking. Dealer just completed service on this vehicle and reported the failure after completing repair on another defective part, the flexplate assembly. After completing repairs advised it likely has coolant intrusion issue. Did no... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2024
The vehicles transmission malfunctions causing the vehicle to lose complete power, now without warning. We are unable to accelerate and the vehicle comes to a sudden stop. This vehicle shuts down in the middle of the highway causing us to come to a complete stop while driving on the highway, also on back roads one lane roads, the vehicle completely shuts down causing us to block the road and becom... Read more
Incident date: Aug 20, 2024
My 2019 Honda Odyssey was involved in a total loss car accident recently on Aug 20 2024. The cause was delayed acceleration due to a fuel pump recall by Honda Motor Corp from Dec 2023; and to date they have failed and neglected to provide the part to repair. For over a year I have experienced delayed acceleration issues with this auto. I purchased this auto new from the local dealer in 2019 and ha... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
Unintended Acceleration: Vehicle continue to accelerate even after the gas pedal is released or not slow down as expected.
Incident date: Aug 26, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at 15-20 MPH and attempting to come to a complete stop, the vehicle suddenly accelerated on its own. As a result, the driver briefly lost control of the vehicle before coming to a complete stop by intentionally running into a curb on the side of the roadway. The air bags did not deploy. No warning lights were il... Read more
Crash
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS CROSS SPORT
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 3, 2024
Incident date: Sep 3, 2024
My 2007 Lincoln MKX was in Drive with the brake depressed waiting to back up into a traffic lane from an angled parking space in front of a small shop in our historic downtown area. Suddenly, the vehicle accelerated forward at a high rate of speed jumping the shallow curb and slamming into the cement foundation of the store. Continuing to depress the brakes made no difference in stopping the jar... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
I purchased a brand new Cadillac Lyriq on July 1, 2024, and have encountered several severe issues that compromise the safety and reliability of the vehicle: 1.Display Failure: The display frequently flickers, flashes, and sometimes completely blacks out, causing the loss of critical information such as speed, backup camera, navigation, and other vital systems. This makes the vehicle unsafe to dr... Read more
Incident date: Sep 3, 2024
See attached document for complaint.
Incident date: Jun 13, 2024
When I was driving suddenly vehicle shakes and gas/acceleration paddle stopped working middle of the road. I pulled my car side of the road, put it in park and turn off vehicle and start it back on gas/acceleration paddle work again. Problem is this happened several times last few weeks.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
while driving N on hwy 75 in Dallas, I was traveling at posted speed- 70- in the 2nd of 4 lanes when I was passed on either side by cars 10-15 mph faster than me. they passed almost exactly at the same time. This confused the cars auto breaking feature. The lane ahead was clear for over 100 yrds. My car braked hard and beeped a warning. There was no reason for the car to do this. This is the 3rd ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2024
ABS pump motor control and anti-lock brake hydraulic unit is out again. first time replaced at dealer on 12/27/2019 second time8/10/2022 and now ABS light flashing again for about 3 weeks now with code c0020-01. This should be a recall it is very dangerous to be hauling heavy equipment with this reoccurring problem approximately every 20,000 miles or so.
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
Throttle cable pulleys made of plastic have cracks. Catastrophic failure will eventually occur with zero warning, causing total loss of power. [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
ABS / TRACTION CONTROL AS WELL AS SERVICE ABS SYSTEM. AT TIMES IT COMES AND GOES AND MOST TIMES NOW IT STAYS ON. DISABLES CRUISE CONTROL AND AT TIMES EVEN SAYS 4 WHEEL DRIVE UNAVAILABLE. THIS SEEMS TO BE A KNOWN ISSUE WITH MY YEAR MODEL RAM AND I'D LIKE TO REMEDY THIS ISSUE ASAP.
Incident date: Jul 28, 2024
There was a SUDDEN and UNINTENDED acceleration without the driver input while braking to park going approximately 1 - 2 MPH. Our safety was at risk. The vehicle was not in our control. A police report was generated. Rather than stopping we crashed into the apartment building causing significant damage to both the apartment and our vehicle. There were no warnings, no automatic braking to avoid... Read more
Crash
VOLKSWAGEN
TIGUAN
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 2, 2024
Incident date: Aug 29, 2024
The Distronic Cruise Control stops working and then will start working again several times on long trips. After research it appears if the radar doesn't detect anything in front of your vehicle for an hour it thinks it is inoperable and and shuts the Distronic Cruise Control off and it cannot be reengaged. If it detect a vehicles in front of you for four minutes or more it will reset the radar a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2024
Acceleration issues, this is the 3rd time it has happened since we've owned our forester in 2018. Yesterday morning my wife was pulling out of our driveway and while she put it in reverse and started to release the brakes to naturally roll back, it hard accelerated and shot us out into the road until she fully pressed the brakes in. I was already aware of this issue, so I looked over as this was h... Read more
Incident date: Apr 18, 2022
This happens consistently,while driving with the cruise control,the truck takes off and speeds up almost causing the truck to ram other vehicles. Then the truck shudders and surges before throwing up several codes. I have read this is a problem with many Ford trucks. I feel like our lives are in serious danger . I was hoping there would be a recall because this is leaving customers in situations t... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
2023 Tesla Model Y has frequent phantom braking issues when using cruise control. Let me clarify I am not using any sort of auto-pilot or self driving options. I am simply using cruise control. The incidents that cause many braking issues are unjustified to the point I have no idea what the Tesla may have recognized to make it slam on brakes. Very dangerous
Incident date: Jun 28, 2024
Mazda Radar Cruise Control - while on [XXX] and passing a truck that is in the right-hand lane, especially on curves, my CX-90 PHEV system brakes, but there is no vehicle in front of me. It has difficulty determining what is in front as opposed to on the side, especially through curves. This happened more than once. I almost got rear-ended due to this issue. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE F... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2024
Code C0020-01 appears and ABS service light appears - the vehicle is equipped with a defective and dangerous hydraulic control unit (HCU) module and anti-lock braking system (ABS) module. Anti-lock braking, traction control and speed (cruise) control are inoperable. Causing a safety concern
Incident date: Aug 29, 2024
In heavy traffic, we were rolling slowly along, when all of a sudden the engine began revving on its own, against the brake. I quickly moved the shifter into neutral, and the engine revved wildly without my pressing on the accelerator. We couls have easily slammed into the car in front of us had I not moved the selector to neutral.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
After getting into my parked car and starting it, the Stabilitrak warning message came on my display. This is the 2nd tike that this occurred. The first time it occured, my mechanic diagnosed it as a failed throttle body, which I replaced myself, (easy removal/installation). Now, a couple of months later, it occurred again. After doing some online research, it seems as though the position sensor ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2024
Vehicle stuck in 7th gear upon starting.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
Electric Throttle Control. It will stop working randomly and when accelerating on the highway on the on ramp it will die down and go no more than 35 mph and will also do this when merging into traffic.. very dangerous
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
PTU completely bad...just purchased the vehicle and it went bad less than a month after
MERCEDES-BENZ
SPRINTER 3500
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 30, 2024
Incident date: Aug 22, 2024
The extreme acceleration delayed in responding. It has happened on a few occasions causing me to have to quickly brake the vehicle once it finally responds to avoid hitting any traffic in front of me, but one of the occasions was When I tried to make a left turn in an intersection, I pressed on the accelerator and the car moved forward very slightly then stopped and would not move forward, I attem... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2024
The clutch will not disengage every time and never fully disengages. I noticed my car had a recall for this problem in the past, so before doing the work, I called a dealer for Chrysler and was informed that the recall had already been performed. So I took it upon myself at my own expense to have the clutch replaced. It worked fine for a few months, but it started doing the same thing again.
Incident date: Aug 25, 2024
The transmission does not shift from first to second and created several dangerous situations in whichI tried to enter the highway. I called the corporate headquarters to make a complaint and was sent to the dealership to file a lemon law complaint. The Transmission specialist at AAMCO said the transmission parts are in good shape, but the problem is that there is too much clearance between the tr... Read more
Incident date: Aug 21, 2024
I recently experienced “safe mode” in my 2022 Nissan Rogue while driving on the highway at 80mph. My car suddenly lost power and would not accelerate or brake. I had to have my vehicle towed off the side of the highway as it was not drivable. My car is currently under diagnostic at Nissan where they are unable to reproduce the error codes. They notified me of $4,000 in repairs that would be co... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2024
ON thursday night at about [XXX] i was driving in the carpool lane going north.in the [XXX] , with full tank of gas ; suddenly i felt and here a noise, and the vehicle (2021outback base) start losing power, at the point that totally stop. call 911, and few minutes after the hway patrol came and push us out of the freeway, there was not any shoulder to be safe out. when the police officer try to ... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE HYBRID
(2024) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 29, 2024
Incident date: Jun 3, 2024
Forward attention warning camera continues to malfunction stating camera is obscured even when not. If cruise is allowed to be engaged the camera will randomly decide it doesn’t detect your face and will hard brake to stop the car. This has happened multiple times to me, narrowly avoiding collision from behind. Hyundai refuses to address the issue because their technicians can’t duplicate the ... Read more
HONDA
ACCORD HYBRID
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 29, 2024
Incident date: Aug 29, 2024
Today I was driving my 2023 Honda Accord Touring hybrid with 8k miles on it. Out of the blue, a bunch of warning messages / lights came on ("Brake System Problem. Brake performance may be reduced. See your dealer."; also tire warning symbol). Car automatically decelerated (wouldn't accelerate). This would have been very dangerous happening on a freeway.
Incident date: Aug 2, 2024
At around 36,500 miles, my Toyota Corolla began experiencing issues with the coolant bypass valve, leading to engine overheating. This malfunction has significantly impacted my ability to drive safely, as the vehicle displays a notification every five seconds, obstructing my view of the digital speedometer and making it difficult to accurately monitor my speed. The issue was not indicated by a che... Read more
DODGE
HORNET PHEV
(2024) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 29, 2024
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
on 07/29/2024 while driving in heavy rain, the entire instrument panel went completely dark. Re-illuminated when car was started on 07/30/2024. On 07/31/2024 at moment car came to full stop in parking spot, the car SELF-ACCELERATED, while brake was still applied, and CRASHED into concrete block supporting a street lamp. 3 young children were in car with adult driver. No injuries to children. Dr... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Volkswagen ID.4. 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 failure had occurred three times. In addition, the contact stated on one of the two failures the vehicle lost motive power. The contact stated on the third failure, the vehicle comp... Read more
GMC
SIERRA 1500
(2014) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 29, 2024
Incident date: Aug 4, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle surged forward and accelerated before coming to a stop. The failure occurred intermittently; however, the failure seemed most pronounced while decelerating from highway speeds. There were no warning lights illuminated. The dealer was informed of the failure; however, the vehicle ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 3, 2024
Attempted to make right turn onto busy road. Tried to accelerate to move with the traffic, when the car would not go any faster then 20MPH. Could hear cars braking behind me. Pulled over to the side. Message appeared on speedometer, " Limit 20MPH" with green Speedometer. Shut the car off tried to find problem in the manual. Didnt find anything. Turned car back on, it ran normal. Took it to... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2024
The master central screen as well as the passenger screen that contains all features for radio, navigation, control of reading road signs, climate control and the like go BLACK randomly during the four weeks I have owned the 2024 E Class Mercedes. It will reboot after 2-5 minutes with no lost data. Dealer in Cherry Hill, NJ did major software update not completed at time of purchase. But inciden... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
E350
(2006) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 29, 2024
Incident date: Aug 28, 2024
The engine in these cars are defective and can cause serious harm due to a part that was put inside the motor made of plastic. There was a lawsuit but if you didn’t get in on it you losses out for not knowing. I was recently at Mercedes dealership to fix recalls and they brushed me off. The car can catch fire and I’m already experiencing engine failure after only owning the car for a year. The... Read more
1 injured