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: Oct 1, 2024
My jeep would suddenly jerk forward almost rear ending people at red lights without any warning. While traveling at approximately 45 mph the engine light came on my jeep. As I went to pull over the engine started bucking/jerking then the engine light flashed. I was barely able to pull over on the side of the road before the car completely stalled. I had to have towed to a dealership as it was no l... Read more
MERCEDES-BENZ
GLE 350
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Oct 2, 2024
Incident date: Sep 28, 2024
While in operation the dash cluster goes completely black. Aprox 45mph. Dealer had to replace entire dash cluster
Incident date: Jul 15, 2024
Car parked in driveway; started engine, shifted into gear, and before I even accelerated, the engine roared and the car lunged forward. Lexus traveled approximmately 50 feet and crashed into the neighbor's concrete wall across the street. I was injured (broken ribs, etc.) and the car was totaled.When reporting accident to insurance company (USAA) I asked representative to have car inspected due... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Sep 30, 2024
I took my 2013 Ford F150 in on Feb. 15, 2019 due to a recall. They reprogrammed the software, only took a few minutes. This is recall #19S07. It was due to the truck possibly shifting from any gear into first gear suddenly. Very dangerous. I did not have that problem before or since the recall until one week ago. Pulling onto the highway, RPM's went very high (3500-4000) even though I was on... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2024
car would not speed up no matter how hard i pressed accelerator, vehicle wouldn't speed up kept going at slower speed had to have towed to dealership. Don't know what is wrong. I was scared someone would hit me, or my speed would cause an accident. Only after issue started did engine light come on.
Incident date: Oct 19, 2023
The vehicle shut off while on a freeway. Leaving me completely without power to navigate through fast pace traffic.
Incident date: Sep 15, 2024
The problem first started on 8-8-24 when I cranked up my car & the dashboard lit up with all of these different sensors. I called Leith Honda dealership in Aberdeen, due to that is where I take my car to be serviced at, my customer service rep (Brian) stated to wait to see if they would stay on, because of that type of car will reset itself. So later on, that day they did, go away after driving it... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2024
On three separate occasions, the car started accelerating by itself while speed control was engaged. Once I noticed, I stepped on the brakes and the speed control was disengaged before any accidents happened.
Incident date: Oct 1, 2024
Loss of ABS, Traction Control
Incident date: Feb 14, 2024
I have been getting a number of safety warning lights since about 6 months after buying this car. It is new, under warranty and I am first owner. They were intermittent initially, but have become increasingly frequent and are now associated with a constant warning ping. I have taken the car to FitzGerald Genesis in Clearwater Florida 7 times for this problem. They can reproduce it (and have th... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2024 Buick Envision. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed and became stuck under the floor liner. The contact depressed the brake pedal to stop the vehicle however, the vehicle failed stop as needed. The contact pressed the park button and turned the vehicle off. The contact stated that the engine was smoking. The co... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2024
Speedometer, fuel gauge, mileages, Temperature, not showing up on the dashboard! It’s dark when the car it start up! Just dark screen on the odometer side. It’s start blinkering when you drive for while. It’s happened to the las 3 years and getting worse this year. It’s happened every morning and fewer times in the evening.
Incident date: Sep 10, 2024
●It makes a lot of vibration uphill 25-40mph. ●It feels like hunting gear when itñs shifting to the second gear. ●it got stock in second gear in the middle of the traffic and there was risk because cars where behind me yelling me.
Incident date: Jan 23, 2023
Heading westbound on I-70, taking Exit 29 off ramp from highway, I drove over uneven pavement. My traction control, ABS and brake lights illuminated, the brakes suddenly felt mushy. As I approached the stoplight at the end of the exit ramp, I questioned whether I would be able to stop. Scared me immensely. Luckily no cars were near me. I now do not have ABS, Traction Control, stability control OR ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2024
I have a 2012 f 150. I am the second owner of this truck. going down the road a wrench appears on my dash board. The issue seems to be Safety recall notice 16s19/ NHTSA recall 16v-248. The software update was done in 2019. The problem started 4-5 months ago. Ford tells me they dont have to fix the problem now because the it is out of the extended warranty they put on the vehicle. They admit the... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2023
On 9/18/24 I was driving my Chevrolet 2018 Volt on a freeway, traveling at approximately 55 mph while starting to exit the freeway. In the middle of fast-moving traffic, on the freeway offramp and starting to decelerate, the car suddenly displayed a message saying "Propulsion Power is Reduced." A micro-second later, the displayed message changed to read "Action Required: Shift to Park" and in that... Read more
Incident date: Sep 16, 2024
Loss of Acceleration in 2022 Ford F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid I am writing to report a safety issue with my 2022 Ford F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid, which has been experiencing acceleration lag and loss of power during regular driving conditions. Component/System that Failed: The powertrain system, specifically related to the integration between the electric motor and gasoline engine, appears to be malfun... Read more
Incident date: Sep 16, 2024
While driving the car will not accelerate past 49mph in turbo mode and 61mph in regular mode and rpm will not go above 1800. And it jerks and studders. Blinking check engine light and consumes a ridiculous amount of oil even though regular maintenance performed. I have read several engine issues with this model and cannot find recall info
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 30, 2024
Incident date: Sep 30, 2024
I started getting an intermittent error code on my truck with only 36k miles on it. the traction control, abs and cruise control wont work when the service electronic braking system code is present. I have done a lot of reading and this seems to be a very common issue with the 2017 and 2018 ram trucks. It is so common that I called my local dealer and the part is on back order for months. I a... Read more
Incident date: Sep 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that upon shifting into drive, the vehicle unexpectedly lurched forward. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified... Read more
Incident date: Sep 29, 2024
While driving the speed suddenly reduced and brakes locked up on me. I was lucky enough to be able to veer to the left and get off the busy street without crashing into anyone or anything. When I stopped the car cut off and would not start back up even with a jump. This happened to me twice before and they did a recall on the same part. I need ot fixed again. I also had to replace the battery ever... Read more
Incident date: Sep 30, 2024
The cruse control comes one when it wants to this is an intermittent problem and gives no warnings it has happened several times since we bought the truck
BLUE BIRD
ALL AMERICAN SCHOOL BUS
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 30, 2024
Incident date: May 1, 2024
it happened again. While traveling at highway speeds behind a slow poke, 2 cars passed me on either side at nearly the same time. this caused the auto braking system to activate, abruptly slowing my car for now reason. Luckily no one was tailgating me at the time. This is the 4th time the car has braked for no good reason on the highway (see previous reports) and the 2nd time when 2 cars passed ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 30, 2022
i was driving on the highway at 50MPH in 5th gear. the truck goes in neutral on its own and then 1st gear for about two seconds and then back to 5th gear. the ground was wet and the rear tires skid. i believe that's what prevented the tires locking up and getting out of control it was a very scary situation that could have ended very bad.
SUBARU
XV CROSSTREK
(2013) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 30, 2024
Incident date: Sep 29, 2024
While driving on highway , I attempted to accelerate to pass , as I did all warning lights came on and I lost ability to accelerate. The car went into “limp mode “ . Took it to local mechanic, the to Honda dealer . I was told I need a new engine , at a cost of over $16k .
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
When attempting to accelerate the vehicle does not respond and experiences a three to five second delay. The delayed response began occurring shortly after purchasing the vehicle in 2018 and has only increased in frequency. This issue appears to be systemic with this model and year and the dealership has no remedy to mitigate this safety issue / concern.
HONDA
CR-V HYBRID
(2020) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 29, 2024
Incident date: Sep 29, 2024
The two noted open recalls on my 2021 ID.4 have no fix. There has already been one battery cell replaced and another has gone bad. The vehicles lease ends in two weeks and the dealer, understandably, cannot take it as a trade for another vehicle, sell it to us, or resell it as it will sit on the lot until it is picked up by Volkswagen and totaled out due to it being unsellable. However, Volkswagen... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
The main display of the vehicle which shows Speed, Range, Blind Spot Cameras, etc - essentally all the critical vehicle information needed to drive - goes blank randomly. While the vehicle is driveable during this time, the driver does not know their speed, range, any other alerts/warnings that would typically be shown on the guage screen (including seatbelt warnings, mechanical failure warnings e... Read more
Incident date: Jun 17, 2024
The driver side seat belt wont click and stay in almost half the time i drive my car… after reading other complaints its looking like this is a common thing. Within the past year ive noticed lots of times that when im going to lock my car with my fob, it wont lock and its because the passenger side lock button on the inside of door is in a stuck between lock/unlock position… resulting in me ha... Read more
Incident date: Sep 27, 2024
I am writing to complain that VW has not offered any assistance or solution to the electronic software failure noted in NHTSA Recall # 24V344. I have been experiencing software and electrical failures that affect the center and dashboard displays. I have no speedometer or rearview camera display, no warning systems, no cruise control, etc. Also, the car periodically locks itself and won't al... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
On September 8, 2024, I started getting intermittent ABS and Traction Control light with “Service Electronic Braking System”. Code C0020. When the light is on I lose cruise control. There is no specific condition that will cause the light to come on; i.e. bumps in the road, a certain speed, or setting at idle. The first instance of the light coming on, I was turning around in a parking lot, le... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
On July 29, 2024, when my husband backed the vehicle out of the garage slowly, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and it hit the stone column causing a big damage to the car. I believe the pedal speed control and emergency brake have problems. When I reported to Tesla, they said the vehicle was not at fault. They said the issue had been resolved remotely by the engineer and cancelled my service appo... Read more
Crash
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2019) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 27, 2024
Incident date: Sep 27, 2024
Getting error P2602 Low Voltage Coolant Pump. No visible sings of failure or damage to the pump or wiring. Tested power, ground, and signal and found them all to be ok. Vehicle has 133,000 miles. Engine is not running hot at all. Very cool to the touch, error P2602 causes car to go into limp mode and can not drive past 40 mph. Issue could be from Pump recalls from other honda models that use... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2024
Driving at highway speed, went to accelerate and pass another vehicle on a four-lane highway with my vehicle ending up in the far left lane attempting to pass. Truck lost all power, began to shake violently like it was misfiring, got an illuminated wrench on my dashboard, and at that point began to coast with no power being supplied by the engine. Miraculously I was able to coast across three lan... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
The car lost power gradually ;when I was driving ; We were on the freeway and I couldn’t continue driving 60 miles per hour , therefore I turned on the turn signals cause I just could drive at 35 miles per hour and the car just start shaking ; I just look for the next exit by the time We were on risk on the emergency lane for along time cause the next exit was to far from there .and the car ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2024
Our 2023 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid developed an issue with the forward radar. At speed, the car produces a warning ding and then a warning message is displayed stating, "Critical Forward Safety functions are limited. Radar blocked." If the adaptive cruise control is engaged at the time of the warning, it immediately disengages, forcing the driver to quickly respond. If there is a vehicle in the adjace... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2024
Case number 240821-000271 was opened on 8/21/24 with Volvo Car USA Support. I have three main concerns: 1) The infotainment system losing the favorites that I have saved in the Sirius application. This had been an intermittent problem that I had been having since I purchased the car. I finally took it into the service department at Volvo Cars of Gilbert on 1/7/23 for this problem (Invoice Numb... Read more
HONDA
ACCORD HYBRID
(2024) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 26, 2024
Incident date: Sep 25, 2024
About June 2024 when I was driving downslope at about 30 MPH, when I hit break the car accelerated. Fortunately, nobody and no car were around and I gained control of the car by pumping the break. I did not think much about this issue to report it. On August 23, 2024, I was driving home. I was very close to my home at very low speed (about 1-2 MPH). I hit the break and the car accelerated for the ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2024 Toyota Rav4 Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving into a parking speed at a low rate of speed, the contact pressed the brake pedal to stop but the vehicle suddenly experienced unintended acceleration. The contact indicated that the vehicle accelerated forward and crashed into the parked vehicle ahead. During the incident no injuries were reported and a police report... Read more
Crash
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2022) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 26, 2024
Incident date: Sep 11, 2024
While cruising at highway speed with adaptive cruise control enabled, the vehicle will incorrectly detect traffic/speed signs and will rapidly decelerate on a highway in traffic. I believe that the message that displays after detecting the new speed limit (improperly based on a sign other than a highway speed limit sign) without giving the option to reject using the "resume" button before. There ... Read more
FORD
MAVERICK HYBRID
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 26, 2024
Incident date: Sep 3, 2024
vehicle suddenly lost power while travelling at freeway speeds, and decelerated to 35 mph with no speed control. All electrical systems showed warning lights, and I was suddenly driving 30 mph under traffic speeds at a freeway interchange with no escape lanes or emergency lanes for half a mile. I am a paramedic with extensive EVOC training, and I can say with my extensive experience that this was ... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ATLAS
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 26, 2024
Incident date: Sep 26, 2024
Vehicle was travelling on freeway at freeway speeds suddenly without notable cause the vehicle electrical stopped, giving multiple warning in succession, cutting speed rapidly to 35 mph, with no acceleration pedal response and an automatic speed of 35 on battery power with the ability to break, but with no control of speed and only regulated by break pedal. Pulled vehicle to side of road and put i... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
We were driving my Ford Mach E when the vehicle disengaged the accelerator pedal and accelerated forward in which we had no control of. Pressing the break would cause the vehicle to accelerate faster almost causing multiple accidents at a high rate of speed. Multiple sensor malfunction even after being “ fixed “
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
Upon getting a recall done for the OSS downshift my truck has been acting up. While in motion at about 40 mph yesterday my truck automatically downshifted into 1st gear. My tires skid and it jerked me really hard. I though I had hit something. If someone was behind me at that moment or I was going faster it could have caused a wreck. The transmission also does not shift out of 1st gear sometimes a... Read more
Incident date: Sep 25, 2024
I had multiple occasions where the car would blink lates and make screaming noises when acceleration. The vehicle never had a smooth process of stopping and going. When stopped at a light, you could press the acceleration and it idle or not speed up than rev the RMPs and start to catch speed. It was very unsafe, I tried several attempts years ago at getting the vehicle maintenanced but only got ro... Read more
Incident date: Sep 25, 2024
I've had two issues with my 2023 Kia Sportage cruise control. 1. When I press the 'set' cruise control button, it will set at a speed far grater than I'm driving and escalate to that speed. Example: I'm driving 65 on the highway. I set the cruise control. It sets to 100 mph and quickly gains to that speed. This has happened about 5 times. It doesn't happen every time I try to use cruise contro... Read more
VOLKSWAGEN
ID.4
(2023) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 25, 2024
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
The vehicle do unnecessary abrupt breaking in the highway when the road are reduced due to reparation. In addition in two times, when I tried to park to my garage in the back of other vehicle the breaking system related to collision is activate. This area of my garage is an inclined drive way zone and I put the vehicle back to other. In occasions when I go out to my residence, I need to go thru a ... Read more
CHEVROLET
SILVERADO 1500
(2018) - VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Sep 25, 2024
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The car accelerated of its own accord, I had been driving 30-35 miles an hour when it accelerated suddenly and caused me to wreck.
Crash
Incident date: Sep 23, 2024
Thai dang ABS going out in these trucks. And still no fix. Went out when going down the high way. Kicked out Cruze co trip 4 we and all sensors. Almost died this is crap that nothing is being done to fix this and get a part that fixes this for the customers that bought these trucks. I have a 50k truck I can’t drive. Have not driven it’s in almost a year now. SOMETHINGS NEEDS DONE
Incident date: Sep 20, 2024
This has happened many times throughout my ownership of the vehicle. At times, when trying to accelerate into traffic, changing lanes, etc. The vehicle make a loud clunking noise when it tries to downshift. The transmission acts as if it has no idea what gear to go into. A "system fault" with a wrench appears on the center display along with an audible alarm. The vehicle either loses power a... Read more