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 41,082 complaints for BMW
BMW
550E XDRIVE
(2026) - ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Jun 27, 2026
Incident date: Jun 26, 2026
Monday, June 30th, 2025, while driving on highway trip out of state, the vehicle made severe explosion noise, and sounded like I was dragging something metal under the vehicle for approx 30 seconds. After slowing the vehicle, I confirmed there was nothing under the car and the car seemed to be driving fine. There was zero warning light displaying any type of part failure or warning light addressin... Read more
BMW
550E XDRIVE
(2026) - SEAT BELTS
Jun 27, 2026
Incident date: Jun 26, 2026
The seatbelts in the drivers and passenger sides are disconnecting without pressing the release button
Incident date: Jan 1, 2026
My lift tailgate is malfunctioning. Continued forced opening can cause the hinges to crack and messes with the alignment and closing of the tail gate making it a safety issue.
Incident date: Jun 25, 2026
I was driving and the dashboard went haywire and all the warning lights started going on and off and the speedometer kept going down to 0 while driving. This kept going on and off and the radio would then go on and off as well.
Incident date: May 30, 2026
The sync touch responsive interface for climate control fails. This failure causes the system to repeatedly respond without prompt continually causing the driver to continually attempt to disengage the system causing a significant safety hazard. The chip in the system for the effected buttons is the component that fails. There is no solution. Replacement or upgraded interfaces are not available an... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2026
The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Sonata. The contact received notification of NTHSA Campaign Number: 25V796000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact h... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2026
Bezel flew off on highway. Subsequently, dealer service had to replace both the bezel and grill bc of how it was attached. For some reason the vin was not included in a recall of 70K trucks that were same year make and model as mine. I would like to be included in the recall.
Incident date: May 31, 2026
On June 10, 2026, I attempted to enter my vehicle through the driver's door. The power running board was set to the "Automatic" position but failed to deploy when the driver's door was opened. I stepped toward the vehicle expecting the running board to be extended, as it normally would be, but it was not. As a result, I lost my footing and fell. The fall caused a nondisplaced fracture of my left ... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 22, 2026
My PHEV car randomly and suddenly has loss of propulsion creating a safety hazard in traffic. It seems to occur at low speeds, sometimes from waiting in line at an intersection. This fault produces a solid red battery warning light, but no additional safety warnings, nor an error code for diagnostics. I have experienced this fault randomly in April, May, and June. The worst experience was with... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 2026
My 2016 Volvo XC90 suddenly lost power while I was driving, requiring me to pull over and have the vehicle towed. This is a documented safety issue associated with a known piston ring defect in 2013-2016 Volvo vehicles equipped with 2.0L and 2.5L engines, which was the subject of a federal class action lawsuit ([XXX] et al. v. Volvo Car USA, LLC, Case No. XXX, filed XXX. No there we NO warning lam... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 2026
My 2016 Volvo XC90 suddenly lost power while I was driving, requiring me to pull over and have the vehicle towed. This is a documented safety issue associated with a known piston ring defect in 2013-2016 Volvo vehicles equipped with 2.0L and 2.5L engines, which was the subject of a federal class action lawsuit ([XXX] et al. v. Volvo Car USA, LLC, Case No. XXX, filed XXX. No there we NO warning lam... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2025
Hello, I have a 2022 VW Atlas with 54,250 miles. I noticed today when I started up by car that the DRL (daytime running lights) was dimmed to the point where I didn't even notice it on. This seems to be an issue with Volkswagen Atlas's years 2021-2023. It is currently out and anyone can come look at it at anytime. This seems to be a larger issue, many people complaining about this online and t... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2025
I take pride in keeping my vehicles maintained when needed. Out of nowhere, my vehicle with less than 70,000 miles on it began having a cylinder misfire. Now I’m faced with possibly having to get a new engine because of an apparently known defect for this engine. Ford won’t help and my dealership warranty has run out. But it is well documented that Ford knew about this defect but still sold th... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2025
Rear racetrack style taillight assembly had faulty gaskets when purchased, allowing for water intrusion of the taillight assembly, causing water damage to the electrical components in the light assembly and shorting the LED Lights.
Incident date: Jun 26, 2026
The contact owns a 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle jerked and shuddered and lost motive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the contact was initially informed that the failure was not related to the transmission; however, the dealer later diagnosed the vehicle with transmission failure... Read more
Incident date: Jun 26, 2026
The factory-applied Super White (paint code 040) paint on my vehicle has peeled down to bare metal on multiple exterior body panels. The peeling is not the result of any collision damage, scratches, or external trauma — it is consistent with the known factory paint adhesion defect that Toyota itself acknowledged through Customer Support Program ZKG, which covered this exact vehicle model, year, ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 26, 2026
The car will occassionally lurch forward while braking. It's somewhat random but most often happens when going down a slight hill. My best guess is that there is an issue with the transition from regenerative braking to mechanical braking. It feels like the vehicle momentarily looses contact with the brakes and that the brake pedal has to be pushed down another inch or two to reengage. My concern ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2026
The vehicle stalled at a traffic light and would not go into park or shut down to restart for about a minute. There were no warning signs or warning lights. It is a safety issue due to this potentially happening in the middle of an intersection while waiting to turn. The vehicle is being taken to the dealership on Wednesday, July 1st.
Incident date: Jun 6, 2026
The vehicle stalled at a traffic light and would not go into park or shut down to restart for about a minute. There were no warning signs or warning lights. It is a safety issue due to this potentially happening in the middle of an intersection while waiting to turn. The vehicle is being taken to the dealership on Wednesday, July 1st.
Incident date: Jun 25, 2026
This complaint is a follow-up to NHTSA Complaints #11714226 and #11730299 regarding the same unresolved safety defect. Since those complaints were filed, the vehicle has now been involved in a SECOND defect-related crash. I repeatedly begged Genesis not to return this vehicle to me because I believed it was unsafe to drive. They refused to state the vehicle was safe or unsafe. No risk to them.Gen... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jun 23, 2026
I was traveling at a steady speed of 35 MPH approaching an intersection with a red traffic signal. There was a single vehicle already stopped at the light, but it was positioned a significant distance ahead of my vehicle. Without any warning, driver input, or hazard present, my vehicle initiated an uncommanded emergency braking maneuver. The vehicle forcefully decelerated from 35 MPH to a complet... Read more
Incident date: May 29, 2026
I am submitting this complaint regarding my Volkswagen vehicle because it has experienced two recurring defects during the warranty period that remain unresolved despite repeated repair attempts by the dealership. Issue 1 – Excessive Oil Consumption The vehicle has had a persistent excessive oil consumption problem since the warranty period. The dealership has attempted to repair this defect si... Read more
Incident date: Feb 26, 2026
The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Genesis. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle in a nearby parking lot, upon returning, there was heavy black smoke coming from under the front passenger’s side seat. Upon further inspection, the contact burned his right hand while attempting to check for the source of the fire. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer while the black smoke was present,... Read more
Fire
1 injured
Incident date: Jun 24, 2026
Transmission is acting up causing vehicle to jerk in traffic and makes a loud clunking sound in 3-4 and 8 gear. I’m afraid it’s gonna fail one day and cause an accident. I hear from other Ford F150 owners this is a widespread issue with these vehicles.
Incident date: Jun 24, 2026
The shifter assembly/electronic transmission control in my 2023 Nissan Rogue failed after alleged liquid intrusion from a foreseeable spill near the cup holder. The shifter is positioned adjacent to cup holders and appears inadequately sealed, creating a risk to the driver and the vehicle that ordinary vehicle use can disable the ability to shift/operate the vehicle.”
Incident date: Jun 18, 2026
The engine throw a P303 Code with a cylinder 3 misfire. Using coolant at a rapid rate as well. We have change the spark plugs numerous times, put in new coils and replaced the fuel injectors. This is with all Honda OEM Parts. There is an issue with the Headgasket. The car looses power and has left me sit on the side of the road. I will not drive it as this time due to safety concerns. The CRV is ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2026
There’s more Thant went wrong but won’t let me add them. My front camera seems to be the issue but many are having the same exact issue. I just bought it not too long ago. Worked fine until this recall came out.
Incident date: Jun 22, 2026
Loud knocking noise started while motor is running. Took to dealer who confirmed the noise and inspected. Metal confirmed in the oil pan and throughout motor. Service advisor said a new motor will be needed and has sent info to GM. This vehicle was checked per the recall and passed the pico test. Oil was changed to new GM 0-40 by dealer.
Incident date: Jun 22, 2026
My 2022 Acura AWD MDX with 95795 miles lost the power to the rear wheels. The spline between the transmission and the transfer case stripped. The transmission and transfer case had to be replaced for $14,442.37. I had Assurant for extended warranty, and they reluctantly paid most of the repair. The shop said this was the first non-turbo (sport) model they have heard of breaking. I believe there ar... Read more
Incident date: Jun 22, 2026
The engine in my 2018 Hyundai Elantra suffered a sudden internal failure at 118,444 miles. The vehicle began knocking, losing power, and running roughly. A dealership inspection confirmed heavy scoring on cylinders 1, 3, and 4, oil intrusion into the cylinders, and piston top slapping. The engine is not repairable and requires full replacement. This failure matches the known defect pattern of Hyu... Read more
Incident date: Jun 23, 2026
I had a misfire on cylinder three. All vehicle lights came on. Vehicle had spark plugs and fuel injectors replaced. The problem persisted and the next code I received was a turbo burst under pressure code. So turbo and water pump were replaced. This made the problem worse because the new turbo made the head gasket leak. Now after paying $4000 in repairs I have to have the head gasket replaced f... Read more
Incident date: Jun 23, 2026
The auto Start/Stop feature doesn't work as needed. It will randomly lurch, turn the car off make me put it in park and then have me restart it. Sometimes the car does not start right away and I am stuck on the road until it decided when and if it will restart. Myself and my family of 5 are not stuck in the road scared of getting smashed into by other drivers unaware that we are stopped or antic... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2026
My 2025 Honda Odyssey Elite repeatedly shuts off completely while stopped, with the Auto Idle Stop feature engaged, and fails to restart on its own. The engine dies at a complete stop and will not restart until I shift the vehicle into Park and manually restart it. This has happened more than six times. It occurs only at complete stops such as traffic lights and stop signs. No warning light illumi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2026
ACC and LKAS light come on and blink non-stop in sequence
Incident date: Jun 22, 2026
Driving home from work, went over train tracks and heard a pop from the passenger air bag. It did not deploy all the way, just came open. I looked online for a recall and although its very common, there wasn't one. It's a plastic peice that let go and it needs complete replacement.
Incident date: Jan 9, 2026
Driver side seat rocks back and forth when braking and cornering. Feels loose
Incident date: Jan 9, 2026
Safety Complaint Regarding Engine Oil Leak – Same Defect as Recall N763 (23V044000) Vehicle: 2019 Range Rover Sport | VIN: [XXX] Description of Problem: My vehicle is experiencing an oil leak from the engine area. Upon inspection by my mechanic/dealer, the failure was diagnosed as a blocked or improperly machined oil channel in the engine cam carrier, which is causing oil to leak externally. ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 9, 2026
Safety Complaint Regarding Engine Oil Leak – Same Defect as Recall N763 (23V044000) Vehicle: 2019 Range Rover Sport | VIN: [XXX] Description of Problem: My vehicle is experiencing an oil leak from the engine area. Upon inspection by my mechanic/dealer, the failure was diagnosed as a blocked or improperly machined oil channel in the engine cam carrier, which is causing oil to leak externally. ... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2026
EGR pre conditions to pass CA state smog emissions test will not clear. Have changed entire EGR system and have drive the recommended Chrysler Drive cycle for my car with hundreds of miles on it since replacing battery with no luck. All other system checks clear.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2026
Out 2026 Tiguan Se line the first day when we drove the veh home it had a bad vibration and brake problems hvac system locking up unable to control the fan speed was raining out and the fan speed was inoperative had to pull over due to fogged up windows . The brake system when stopped at a light in traffic it will not hold the veh moves forward while the brake pedal is depressed firmly and in sto... Read more
Incident date: Nov 3, 2025
Intermittent severe shaking in steering wheel while driving at various speeds. No warning. Vehicle has less than 500 miles.
Incident date: Nov 14, 2024
This is a brand new truck with 22,000 miles, a rod came loose in the engine when i was driving it, and blew a hole in the engine at 65 MPH, the rod then shot through my oil pan, I lost all drivability, no steering, no gas and I could not see due to black smoke. I almost died! I was able to pull over all the way to the left by the grace of God, not being able to see and having cars driving by at t... Read more
Incident date: Nov 14, 2024
While in Full Self Driving mode in my Tesla, it was making a right turn into a parking lot when it suddenly violently accelerated. Before I could gain control it crossed the parking lot entrance, climbed the curb, and came to rest on a lawn in front of a business. Luckily no one was hurt. It appears the car will be totaled by the insurance company at the completion of their investigation.
Incident date: Mar 11, 2026
The contact owns a 2021 Audi Q5. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and the vehicle decelerated before the vehicle stalled. During the failure, the check engine, oil, and coolant warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was later towed to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The dealer determined that the engine bearings had failed, causing c... Read more
Incident date: Jun 5, 2026
On June 7, 2026, while Full Self-Driving (FSD) was engaged, my 2025 Tesla Model Y drove itself forward out of a parking spot and struck a stationary landscape rock directly in its path. The vehicle did not slow, brake, or steer to avoid the obstacle before impact. The rock was a fixed object roughly 20 inches tall, clearly visible in the vehicle's forward (windshield) camera from a complete stands... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Nov 26, 2025
There doesn't have to be a vehicle or obstacle in front of the vehicle and the brake system will automatically apply. This is extremely dangerous as vehicles behind the CRV have no warning the brakes are being instantly applied on the highway and/or street roads. Practically slams on the brakes.
Incident date: Nov 26, 2025
There doesn't have to be a vehicle or obstacle in front of the vehicle and the brake system will automatically apply. This is extremely dangerous as vehicles behind the CRV have no warning the brakes are being instantly applied on the highway and/or street roads. Practically slams on the brakes.
Incident date: Jun 20, 2026
3 times to date (10,000 miles/8 months) I have failing abs speed sensors. If I stop moving when all lights come on dash the truck is in operational. I cannot shift gears, put in park or turn engine off. Loose traction control, ads, 4wd, stabiltrac, speedometer. All assitive and braking functions. Code U1412. Dealer replaces speed sensors but problem returns.
Incident date: Sep 19, 2022
My wife was driving the vehicle after dropping off my kid at a swim meet in Dearborn heights MI, the Side curtain and all the passenger side airbags deployed after what she thinks is hitting a pothole. She heard big sound, she initially thought that the window glasses were broken but later realized that all the passenger side airbags deployed. She immediately slowed and took a right on the neighb... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2026
The vehicle’s front bumper under the passenger side keeps becoming loose with a large noticeable gap even after fixed by the dealership. Appears to be weak clips used by Toyota during the manufacturing process. Vehicle is new, purchased 1/2026 and this recurrent issue showed up at 1567 miles, vehicle has never been in an accident. Safety is at risk as in a matter of time I believe the bumper wil... Read more