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 17,413 complaints for ACURA
Incident date: Jun 6, 2025
The contact owns a 2024 Entegra Condor built on a 2023 Ford Transit Chassis. The contact stated that while driving at 10 MPH, the contact became aware of smoke coming from the rear of the RV. The contact had just picked up the RV from the storage facility and while driving pass the gate, the contact smelled and saw smoke inside the cab of the RV and saw flames coming from the RV. The contact pulle... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jun 24, 2025
I own a 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 ZR2 equipped with the 6.2L V8 L87 engine. My vehicle is included in Recall Number 25V274 / N252494000, which addresses manufacturing defects in the connecting rods and/or crankshaft that can cause engine failure. My recall status currently shows: "Recall Incomplete, remedy not yet available." However, GM and NHTSA have already stated the remedy: a VIN-specifi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 24, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that after driving during rainy weather at various speeds, the check engine and TPMS warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed with water intrusion in the canister valve. The water was flushed, and the system was restarted; however, the parts were not available to replace the canister valve. Th... Read more
Incident date: Jun 24, 2025
Bought this car back in December from a used car dealer started misfiring went engine light came on for other things as well as misfires fixed the other things misfiring still happening took car to a different garage was told it’s a head gasket done my own research the head gasket is getting replaced but the problem will come back the engine block needs the remanufactured one since the original ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 24, 2025
The uconnect screen is black, therefore I can use backup camera and see anything on the screen.
Incident date: Jun 22, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle jolted and there was white smoke coming from the exhaust pipes. The vehicle was taken to a local independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with a coolant intrusion and a blown head gasket. The mechanic related the failure to the Customer Satisfaction Program: 21N12. The local dealer was con... Read more
Incident date: Jun 22, 2025
Sun glare from the front windshield makes the visibility low, you see the full reflection of the dashboard of the vehicle, including the reflective silver lining of the infotainment system to the window where the glare from that particular part bounces back to the drivers eye.
Incident date: Mar 15, 2024
Driveshaft coupler failed after they installed a provisional fix on 2018, today they are fixing the problem with a solution but since they did a provisional fix they dont want to fix it at dealer
Incident date: Jun 19, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the vehicle jerked, with an abnormal sound coming from underneath the vehicle. In addition, the contact stated the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to Firestone, where the contact was provided DTC:... Read more
Incident date: Jun 19, 2025
The PASSENGER EXTERIOR A-PILLAR APPLIQUE TRIM CLIP ATTACHMENT broke loose while driving over a year & half ago. Took to Ford for repair but they advised there was a (recall January 19, 2024) but parts were not available yet. Would like to know exactly how much longer I have to drive around with the missing piece and potentially having to worry about the Drivers side breaking off. I've also ha... Read more
Incident date: Jun 19, 2025
Was driving on highway and vehicle went into "engine power reduced" and dropped from 60mph down to 35mph and then steadily decelerated down and wouldn't go over 18mph. Per mechanic it is the engine coolant control valve and the part is not available and could be months to a year before the part is available. Online shows this is a widespread issue with GM / Chev vehicles but no recall has been ord... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2025
The dealership is stating we have bad gas as the gravity of the gas was .74. And that we had bad fuel injectors. Mind you the dealership before this one advised us we had spark plug issues. So we called corporate and explained the situation and they advised we were covered under warranty. Now we tell them to go ahead and get rid of the bad gas and with the understanding we are covered under warran... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2025
I purchased a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee on [XXX] unaware that the vehicle was subject to a federal safety recall and stop-sale order. The recall (NHTSA 24V-838 / Manufacturer 94B) was issued on November 7, 2024, for a defect in the ABS control module that may disable the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), and cause unintended vehicle movement even while stationary. ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 22, 2025
Screen/display has blacked out. Take it to the dealer appeared on the screen. Transmission shifter indicator stopped working. The dealer is charging me $1,900 to repair both.
Incident date: Mar 20, 2025
Failure of brake pump and brake cylinder assembly system, resulting in reduced braking ability and stiff brake pedal. Per Toyota's diagnostic: trouble code C1391 is present, abnormal leak in accumulator, replaced brake ABS actuator assembly, along with brake master cylinder, and bleed the brake hydraulic system. No warning lamps or safety indicators prior to failure. Upon failure (while on freeway... Read more
Incident date: Jun 21, 2025
My seatbelt seemed a bit faulty when I purchased the car. It was slow to retract and at some points wouldn’t retract unless I played with the seatbelt. Three years in to owning the car it still won’t retract fully and is at the point where it won’t come out to a safe distance that allows me to wear my seatbelt. As for the electrical defaults, there are times when I am driving and the display... Read more
Incident date: Aug 27, 2024
I purchased a brand new 2024 Kawasaki ZX-6R. At just 3,500 miles, the engine catastrophically failed while I was riding. The bike seized and shut off suddenly without warning. This was months before Kawasaki issued their official “do not ride” notice for this known issue. I received no prior warning and had no opportunity to prevent the failure. The dealership confirmed the failure and linked... Read more
Incident date: Aug 27, 2024
Intermittent warning “shift to park”. Vehicle doesn’t shut off. It’s in park. Luckily it has a feature that shuts the car off after some time. I have to use the key fob to lock the doors. Began march of 2024 and is still occurring. Known GM issue. It sure why no recall
Incident date: Oct 8, 2022
On April 4, 2025, my wife was driving at about 40 miles per hour when her vehicle struck an obstruction in the road. The impact caused relatively minor collision damage to the vehicle (a bent wheel strut). However the side curtain airbags deployed, startling my wife and limiting her vision on either side of the vehicle. Fortunately She was able maintain control of the vehicle, steer to a safe loca... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jun 17, 2025
on 18 June 2025, i was on I95 driving highway speeds and the engine shut down and transmission shifted to N. i was able to coast to a left shoulder (we were in a construction zone so right shoulder was blocked off). Alert on digital dash said to press start engine again...nothing. i tried a second time and the vehicle started. i was able to drive about .5 miles and the engine shut off again an... Read more
Incident date: Jun 19, 2025
The lower oil pan cracked due to excess pressure in the engine from a broken oil air vent. This is a very common issue in VW tiquans, that VW knows about but doesn't recall. The faulty air oil vent leads to cracked lower oil pans and oil dumps that can damgae the engine and creates dangerous driving situations.
Incident date: Oct 2, 2023
All ADAS systems have failed including the ABS. The safety camera has failed.
Incident date: Jun 18, 2025
As I was driving, I reached out over the dashboard and accidentally lightly bumped the front windshield with my hand. Light enough that my middle knuckle barely tapped the glass, and the windshield spider cracked completely top to bottom, left to right, and every other angle. The force can be compared to wiping or cleaning your dashboard and bumping your finger tips into the glass. The windshield ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated while driving or while the vehicle was parked and occupied, while depress the horn, the horn failed to operate. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle, but the failure persisted. The contact stated that the failure started in 2023. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed and determined that th... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2025
Driving down the highway going 65 miles an hour and the sun roof just exploded out hardley no glass inside,sounded like a shotgun went off. Its brand new Pathfinder called dealer and they said they never heard of that. Have never opened the sun roof window.
Incident date: Jun 18, 2025
Driving down the highway going 65 miles an hour and the sun roof just exploded out hardley no glass inside,sounded like a shotgun went off. Its brand new Pathfinder called dealer and they said they never heard of that. Have never opened the sun roof window.
Incident date: Jun 18, 2025
Recurrent intermittent power steering failure and intermittent engine stall. Steering wheel gets stuck when turning right while driving at speed on highway. Steering wheel gets very heavy and requires some force to get it back to center. If I let go of the steering wheel, it would stay in the same position until I move it back. When driving at slower speeds, usually when navigating around turns ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2025
The automatic emergency braking system in my vehicle has repeatedly activated without any visible reason. The brakes engage suddenly even when there are no cars, curves, reflective surfaces, or obstacles nearby. This has occurred on straight, empty roads and in clear conditions. We have previously taken the car to the dealership for issues related to sensors and wiring, and were even told at one p... Read more
Incident date: Jun 17, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE43. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the engine oil pump control solenoid, resulting in possible damages to the engine. The vehic... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
The car seat was involved in an accident from the side where the child was sitting and inspector came out and stated child seat must be replaced for child safety.
Crash
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
The car seat was involved in an accident from the side where the child was sitting and inspector came out and stated child seat must be replaced for child safety.
Crash
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Audi A5. The contact stated while the driving 35 MPH, the instrument panel was blinking on and off several times and then went dark. A local dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the instrument panel needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired; however, the dealer was waiting for the parts to repair the ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Honda Civic. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the electronic power steering assist was not functioning properly, requiring an increased effort to maneuver the vehicle. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to determine the caus... Read more
Incident date: Jan 27, 2022
On two separate occasions the front windshield wipers have stopped functioning while driving in heavy rains. Seemingly the only way to resume the wipers working was to cycle through "rain sense" options in the vehicles settings menu and turn off and on the vehicle several times. Unclear if it was those actions or simply waiting that caused the problem to abate. Discussed the issue with our dealer ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2025
I was driving on the highway in my car stop going then it start rolling backwards a little then i hit the breaks then put in park in put it back in drive then it started driving again then my brake lights came on and didn’t go off for about a week I have to unhook the battery I have a 8 year old son I was on the way to the hospital because my grand father was on life support when all this took p... Read more
Incident date: Jun 12, 2025
I saw engine warning lamp. It reported Transmission problem.When I press the gas pedal I feel the a lot of shudder .
Incident date: Jun 4, 2025
First incident. Driver side sliding door lock failed. Sliding door could not be unlocked and opened from inside or outside the vehicle. Had to use other sliding door to exit van. Door had to be dismantled and failed latch replaced. Approximately 7 years old and roughly 52,000 miles. This was around 9/2023. Second incident. Passenger side sliding door lock failed. Sliding door could not be unlocke... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2025
The digital instrument cluster (Electronic Vehicle Information Center – EVIC) on my 2020 Jeep Wrangler has failed, and no longer displays critical vehicle information. This includes fuel level, engine and oil temperature, mileage, tire pressure, and other key dashboard data. This failure creates an unsafe driving condition due to the inability to monitor vehicle speed, engine status, or fuel ava... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2025
While going on the highway it braked hard and displayed service stabilitrak light with traction control light flashing went away after 10 seconds. Then I pulled into my driveway and it snapped the wheel out of my hand forcefully almost breaking my wrist and wouldn't let me turn right. Towed it to ford where they claim a loose battery terminal was present. No warning at all before this. Upper engin... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, there was white smoke coming from the engine compartment and exhaust. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an unknown local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and was... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2022
Component: Power Transfer Unit (PTU). Jeep has issued a recall for the same year and model as my 2019 Cherokee, but my VIN is not included in the recall. However, the power transfer unit is failing as verified by the Jeep dealership. This appears to be a manufacturing defect identical to those listed under the recall. The warning that lead me to take it to the shop said 4WD not available service ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2022
Got error message "Check Electrical vehicle system" when I was driving on 06/03/2025. After driving few miles, then get other error message on dash - "Stop Vehicle and check power supply". After restarted the car, drove few miles and got the error message again. Luckily I got back home with my kids safely. When the tow truck came to take my car to dealership next morning 06/04/2025, the car starte... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2025
Engine oil cooler lines leaking. Known issue with 2019 Silverados. Needing replacement before engine failure occurs.
Incident date: May 28, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH, the driver's side B-pillar trim detached from the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that on another occasion, the passenger’s side B-pillar trim became loosened. The contact removed the passenger side B-pillar trim due to safety concerns. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2025
Just like the same era's Honda CR-V (the Honda Element's sibling car with many of the same components), the undercarriage rust on my vehicle is excessive: as described in the same era Honda CR-V's NHTSA Recall (23V-228). Large sections of my car’s rear frame are completely missing, as shown in the photographs. My car is now undriveable. I had it towed to two Honda dealerships at my expense and b... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 2025
About my 2017 Ford Escape 2021 engine failed and was replaced. 2025 transmission failed. Repairs cost too much! Car is now junk. $500 to junk it! Body and interior are fine. Ford Escapes as I now understand, are a terrible car from what I have witnessed, read AND heard from others. Ford is not right on this car, and I will not buy another Ford. I see there are no recalls on this car but ther... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2025
Just like the same era's Honda CR-V (the Honda Element's sibling car with many of the same components), the undercarriage rust on my vehicle is excessive: as described in the same era Honda CR-V's NHTSA Recall (23V-228). Large sections of my car’s rear frame are completely missing, as shown in the photographs. My car is now undriveable. I had it towed to two Honda dealerships at my expense and b... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2025
Just like the same era's Honda CR-V (the Honda Element's sibling car with many of the same components), the undercarriage rust on my vehicle is excessive: as described in the same era Honda CR-V's NHTSA Recall (23V-228). Large sections of my car’s rear frame are completely missing, as shown in the photographs. My car is now undriveable. I had it towed to two Honda dealerships at my expense and b... Read more
Incident date: Jun 11, 2025
The model/year Mercedes-Benz are well known for experiencing this/these particular issues. My research has shown that these year/make/model vehicles are experiencing the same type of mechanical failures nationwide. The issues all relatively begin around 75,000 miles. I've only had my car 3 years putting 30000 on it hardly driven/cared for **Issue Found:** Oil was leaking onto the ignition coil ... Read more