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
TOYOTA
RAV4 PRIME
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 2, 2024
Incident date: Jul 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Fisker Ocean. The contact stated while approaching a red light or a stop sign at approximately 10 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed while releasing the accelerator pedal, and the contact drove over a pothole or an object in the road and the vehicle accelerated at high speed, and then returned to normal operation. The contact was concerned that the failure might cause a cra... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle was slow to respond. The contact stated that the gears were lagging while shifting. While driving at unknown speeds, the vehicle shut down. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact noticed that the coolant reservoir was empty. The... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
Engine stalled out in the middle of the road immediately after acceleration following a sudden braking event. A car had pulled out in front of my vehicle at an intersection requiring a sudden brake. After the car had passed, a quick acceleration was needed as a car was quickly approaching from behind. It was at this point the engine stalled and the vehicle would not move forward. Pushing the g... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
The contact owned a 2017 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 20-25 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated and crashed into an embankment of a church’s building on the driver’s side of the vehicle. There were damages to the building. The contact stated that he depressed the brake pedal several times; however, the vehicle failed to respond or stop as needed. ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
Numerous difficulties have arisen during the process of driving on multiple occasions. The tablet/Radio continues to reset, and the traction control sensor light continues to illuminate. I have communicated with the GMC service center on several occasions, and each time, no issues were found. During an oil change at another dealership, no service recommendations were mentioned, yet a list of offse... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
I visited Mission Hills Hyundai located at 10240 Sepulveda Bl, Mission Hills CA 91345 on Jul 31, 2024 for recall after appointment. I waited 2 & half hour, and Hyundai told me the recall service completed but not done. It was perfectly lying. Hyundai explained my car's break disc has problem and cut it and then put together, but only done for resurface. They charged $824 as a labor. Please confirm... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
I have now experienced 5 times in one month where my Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Max Platinum will not accelerate after breaking at a stop sign or stop light when the gas pedal is engaged.
Incident date: Jul 10, 2024
My 2018 Ram 2500 has Service Electronic Breaking System and Service Antilock break System, along with the traction control light coming on and off intermittently and will stay on for days the cut off and back on and off. I had a close call when a vehicle slammed on breaks in front of me (who knows why, it could have been a small child in the road) as I pressed the break pedal my breaks locked up ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2023 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to slow the vehicle, with the brake pedal was lightly depressed; however, without a foot on the accelerator pedal, the vehicle inadvertently surged forward. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence, almost causing several crashes. No warning l... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-250. The contact stated that while driving at slow speeds, the vehicle intermittently hesitated upon depression of the accelerator pedal. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the hesitation was temporary before the vehicle resumed normal operation. The manufacturer was notified the failure and the contact was informed that there were no rec... Read more
MITSUBISHI
OUTLANDER
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 1, 2024
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
There's been a very dangerous situation with my truck without any warning, lose all info with it's gauges on the instrument panel and the truck losing power with speed and the transmission locking up or not shifting gears and this causes the vehicles rpm to rev up extremely high to a 4 then sometimes a hard shift can be felt at times . This is creating a very dangerous condition on the highway wh... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
Once I stop my vehicle doesn’t accelerate normally and jerks right after. Also the service shifter light came on and won’t go off.
NISSAN
PATHFINDER
(2019) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Aug 1, 2024
Incident date: Jul 25, 2024
When adaptive cruise control is in use at set speed of 75MPH, suddenly vehicle breaks to slow down to the speed of 55-60 MPH and within seconds accelerates again to the set cruising speed. This happened at least three time in the last three days with no other vehicle ahead of me.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
While driving the vehicle, I received a warning that the clutch was overheated. A few days later, it had no acceleration while merging onto the freeway. Fourth fifth and sixth gears had zero acceleration and I was almost runoff the road. The vehicle would not go over 70 miles an hour And the cruise control failed. It told me service required. I took the vehicle into the dealer and they told me the... Read more
TOYOTA
RAV4 PRIME
(2021) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 31, 2024
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The vehicle has loss of power and goes into limp mode unexpectedly. It has done this numerous times on the interstate and regular roads. It is a safety hazard. This has occurred on several dates and we were lucky to be able to pull over safely. We we traveling in Georgia last month and Nissan didn't even have a qualified diesel tech with 3 hours of where we were. We have had ten of thousands of do... Read more
Incident date: Jul 25, 2024
Good morning, I'm writing with a vehicle safety risk that my wife and I experienced on Sunday while driving home in our 2023 Kia Sportage Hybrid SUV that we purchased new in August 2022. On one of the surface streets in Olympia, WA where we live, I turned on the cruise control to set it at the speed limit for that street. Instantaneously, upon turning on the cruise control, it set itself to 110mp... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2024
While slowly pulling into a parking space at a local shopping center, my 2024 Hyundai Tucson Limited suddenly accelerated while I still had my foot on the brakes to stop. The acceleration was so sudden and intense that I had to swerve to avoid a head on collision with a car parked in front of me. It took me a few seconds to gain control of the car, as the engine was revving at a high acceleration ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
The Advancetrac error light comes on and then the ABS system error lights and the cruse control stops functioning
Incident date: Jun 26, 2024
The Nissan Frontier (and perhaps other Nissan vehicles employing the same system) equipped with the 'Intelligent Cruise Control' (ICC) exhibits dangerous behavior when a followed vehicle comes to a complete stop with ICC enabled. When this occurs, the Nissan will come to a complete stop, then a warning chime will sound and the vehicle will immediately start moving quickly forward. Since the ICC ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2024
The vehicle was under full self-driving mode and approaching a shopping center. There was a crossroad with signs on the corner. The vehicle was supposed to turn left but kept slowly approaching the signs on the corner. I was ready to step on the brake to stop the full self-driving mode while expecting the vehicle to turn left or step on the brake. Instead, the vehicle accelerated toward the signs,... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 2, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle sputtered. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion and engine failure. The contact was informed that the eng... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Ford Edge. The contact stated while parking and turning the engine off, the vehicle lunged forward after depressing the brake pedal. The failure had also occurred in reverse while reversing into a parking space, turning the vehicle off, and depressing the brake pedal. On one occasion the failure occurred causing the vehicle to lurch forward and the passenger side mirror str... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2024
On several occasions, the last being July 19,2024, auto correct on steering took control of my vehicle when no correction was needed. I’ve been taken by surprise and struggled on all occasions to gain full control of the vehicle. In addition, my car is not able to receive the over-air update to address the hood latch recall which leaves me more vulnerable to a catastrophic event. I can n... Read more
Incident date: Jul 5, 2022
The vacuum brake pump assembly malfunctioned and I had the vehicle taken to the dealer that did the original recall for the vacuum brake pump assembly and they inspected the vehicle and told me that was the issue along with the nipple inside the pump had broken off and fell down into the engine and had damaged the cam shaft. Exactly what the recall states. Yes the vehicle can and has been inspect... Read more
Incident date: Jul 28, 2024
I was pulling my 2011 Toyota Siena into a parking space. My foot was on the brake and the car was going about 5 mph. The car made a slight sound, along with a perceptible yet small physical shift, and (while my foot was on the brake) independently accelerated with tremendous force. It was like it was ignited. The car hit a concrete pole and was totaled. The acceleration over-rode the brake. No one... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Transmission lead frame - error P072 - traveling on the interstate at 65mph and transmission downshifted in 1st gear nearly causing the car behind me to rear-end me. Lucky i wasnt killed or serioiusly hurt. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? yes Has the problem been reproduced ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 13, 2020
The systems in question are the ABS and Traction Control Systems on my 2018 Ram 2500 6.7L 4x4 Heavy Duty. This vehicle has had issues from the beginning with these systems as the first repair took place at 10,640 miles at the dealership it was purchased from. This took care of the codes/lights for a short period and was covered under warranty but the same issue persisted not too long after mileage... Read more
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
Incident occurred when head-in parking in a space pointed into an stores exterior wall. There were no parking/wheel stops, just pavement then wall. No adjacent cars. I was decelerating with foot completely off accelerator and over the brake pedal. The car is an EV and was in 3rd level of regenerative braking, slowing down quickly. As I completed the turn into the space and began straitening the wh... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 25, 2024
Driving down the highway fling 55 mph and truck shifts into 1st gear and almost makes me wreck. Part previously under recall but Ford says they will not fix. Original recall 19n01. Shut off vehicle and turned back on. I thought everything was normal but then a mild down the road the truck would not shift out of 3rd gear. This is a safety issue. I'm afraid to drive because of the chance of wrecking... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2023
The contact owned a 2017 Ford F-350. The contact stated while driving at 5 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated to 52 MPH. The contact stated that the RPM level increased to 6000. The contact's vehicle crashed into a tree. In addition, the contact stated that the air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard. The vehicle was condemned to total loss. The contact receive... Read more
Crash
VOLKSWAGEN
ID.4
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 28, 2024
Incident date: Jul 28, 2024
Truck downshifts when trying to increase speed. Truck will not shift into all gears, the check engine light comes on, the speed odometer goes to zero and the miles per gallon screen goes blank. All these items happen at the same time while driving. Today the truck wouldn’t take off. I had to shift gears manually to drive it with the console gear shift +/- buttons
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
Vehicle suffers from unintended and sudden acceleration when the "resume' capacitive touch button is accidentally brushed against. The vehicle is subject to injure or kill the vehicles occupants or others struck by the vehicle. Vehicle advised there is "no issue" with the vehicle but they did acknowledge the problem with the design of the steering wheel. The issue is intermittent and has occur... Read more
CHRYSLER
PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID
(2024) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 28, 2024
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
My Ariya lane assist almost crashed me outside Philadelphia on I-76 (a notoriously congested and hazardous road). My hands got sweaty (I have sweaty palms, it's a medical condition) and it suddenly couldn't detect my hands. It quickly went into the "retake control" alert and I tried tapping the break to disengage it but that didn't do anything because it thought I wasn't driving the car so it kept... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
This car will suddenly slow down for no apparent reason when driving with the speed control set. I have experienced this multiple times at 2 specific intersections. It has also happened at other times but on roads I have traveled on less often. Traffic aware cruise control is always enabled on this car. There isn't an option to turn it off. I scheduled a service visit with Tesla explaining wha... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2024
Unintended acceleration event. Initial condition: Cruise control off. Steering wheel turned 270 degrees ccw, turning left, at a complete stop, released brake, rolling forward at less than 5mph in a confined parking garage. Continuing to turn wheel to left, my right palm accidently engaged the cruise control button on the steering wheel. Cruise control automatically set to 15mph and began to acce... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
TAOS
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 28, 2024
Incident date: Jun 21, 2024
On highway for 2 hours, pulling 5th wheel trailer. Diesel Particulate Filter Cleaning alert went on. Immediately truck lost power, a few other alerts flashed on the screen that couldn't read in time then alert that truck was being put in Neutral which it did. Smoke coming out of engine compartment. Barely coasted to stop on side of freeway. Quickly turned from white smoke to brown. Barely enough t... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Dec 9, 2023
Check engine light blinks on and off intermittently, vehicle shakes and feels as if it’s going to stall. From time to time when going to accelerate I pulled out on a main roads and the vehicle lost all power my kids and I flew forward. While idling at a red light, the vehicle started to shake as if it was going to stall and jerked forward and hit the car in front of me. I brought this to the att... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
Abs and traction control lights come on, simultaneously canceling cruise control. Vehicle speed immediately slows, and traffic behind me catches up quickly as it takes a few seconds to react and get the vehicle back up to speed. Also, no abs in wet condition, etc. Bumps in the road cause the system to go out and come back on. It's become such a problem that I've had to pull the fuse for abs, which... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2024
We receive a ABS/ECS, electronic brake control warning intermittently. This also makes the cruise control shutoff. We had the ABS control module replaced once at roughly 12000 miles under warranty but it now is giving the same warnings and the truck currently has 22000 miles on it. My dealer stated this was a known issue and stated it’s fairly common on my model truck
Incident date: May 18, 2023
While driving the vehicle, the cruise control disengages, the traction control light comes on, and the ABS light comes on along with a warning bell dinging incessantly! It may stay like this for hundreds of miles or may be intermittent. Sometimes I can restart the vehicle and it will reset and sometimes it won’t. I haven’t been able to replicate it for the dealership…although it’s been occ... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
I have a 2018 RAM 3500 with ONLY 20,000 miles on it. ABS and HUC critical parts are faulty, and I have no way to even purchase one until a recal is issued. Class Action Says 2017-2018 Ram 2500, 3500 Equipped with Defective Anti-Lock Braking Systems. No current part that resolves this issue. Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups are unsafe because they’re equipped with defective hydraulic control units (... Read more
Incident date: Jul 27, 2024
Infotainment screen and instrument cluster turned off mid driving. This lead to complete failure of speed indicator. There is no speedometer available while driving. While be has an open recall it has failed to provide a solution in a timely manner.
Incident date: Jul 26, 2024
When accelerating from a complete stop, there will occasionally be significant hesitation in the car actually accelerating. For example, I was at a stop sign then attempted to make a left turn when there was a break in the oncoming traffic. My car would not accelerate, almost as if it shut off. It then begins to accelerate. On another instance, I was at a stop sign and when I had the right of way,... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
S550
(2016) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 26, 2024
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
LED speedometer in dash showing incorrect speed or unreadable. Advised of chip malfunction.
JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE
(2018) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 25, 2024
Incident date: Dec 21, 2023
While driving, all the light on the dashboard come on. When this happens the speedometer is not working the windshield wipers come on. The emergency brake light is on, the car shifts out of gear and the turning signals don't work and the hazard lights won't work. This is all happening at the same time. I'm unable to inform people on the road that I'm in distress because my hazard light won't work ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
LANE DEPARTURE RANDOMLY DEPLOYS ALSO THE CARS COLLISION STOP HAPPENS OFTEN EVEN WITHOUT BEING NEAR OBJECTS AND/OR PEOPLE.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
Clock spring on vehicle has failed. This is a known issue with many VW vehicles, but I have been told my vehicle is not on the extended warranty program. 2017 VW Passat - approximately 150,000 miles. This eliminates all steering wheel controls, horn, cruise control, and air bags.
FORD
EXPEDITION
(2023) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 25, 2024
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Prius Prime. The contact stated while driving 45–50 MPH and approaching a stop sign, the brake pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to respond. The driver continued to pump the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to respond and depressed to the floorboard. The vehicle accelerated, veered across the road, jumped the curb, and stopped. There were no warning lig... Read more
CHEVROLET
TRAILBLAZER
(2022) — VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Jul 25, 2024
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
Front Camera failure resulted in failure of Adaptive Cruise Control Automatic Emergency Braking Blind Spot Warning Forward Collision Warning Lane Departure Warning Lane Keeping Assistance Parking Collision Warning Rear Cross Traffic Warning