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
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
I was pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant and stopped briefly to decide where to park. When lightly applying the throttle to pull into a parking space the engine revved up, the bike surged, and my wife and I crashed into a picnic area. This GL1800 DCT motorcycle has no clutch lever or foot shifter because it has a 7-speed automatic transmission. Therefore it wasn't possible to stop the ra... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Feb 22, 2024
Left front vibrations and steering issues. Also start button won't engage even after repair. Trouble stating car and interferes with remote starting.
Incident date: Feb 22, 2024
The rear portion of the hood, closest to the windshield vibrates or flutters at speeds above 30 MPH. At speeds above 50 MPH the flutter becomes very noticeable and actually reflects sunlight into the driver's field of vision. I had personally been blinded by this for several seconds - a very dangerous situation on a busy interstate highway. Fortunately the vehicle's lane keeping assist kept me in ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 17, 2024
The rear door will not open from the inside or the outside. Apparently this is a door lock actuator issue experinced by many volvo owners. It is extremely dangerous not to be able to open a rear door in the case of an accident or other incident where you need to enter or exit the car. Dealer confirms that there is an issue with these. No warning message appears when inoperable.
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
The Tesla recall under NHTSA Recall No: 23V-838 has not been completed by Tesla. The upgraded computer I purchased from Tesla and had installed in December 2021 cannot accept the OTA update. Tesla is requesting that I replace the computer again for 2 thousand dollars for the recall OTA. Telsa said my current computer has an internal bug and needs to be replaced. I should not have to spend 2K for... Read more
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
The Tesla recall under NHTSA Recall No: 23V-838 has not been completed by Tesla. The upgraded computer I purchased from Tesla and had installed in December 2021 cannot accept the OTA update. Tesla is requesting that I replace the computer again for 2 thousand dollars for the recall OTA. Telsa said my current computer has an internal bug and needs to be replaced. I should not have to spend 2K for... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2023
The flex plate cracked in four places. I have images showing the cracks on the flex plate. The problem was confirmed by an independent service center. There were no warning lamps or messages, only a percussive tapping sound caused by the cracked flex plate. This issue could cause loss of control of the vehicle leading to an accident.
Incident date: Oct 20, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Jeep Wrangler. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V787000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle started jerking and the Hybrid mode disengaged intermittently. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road. The co... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2024
On February 23,2024 the driver door started making very loud scraping and popping noises with physical resistance to opening or closing. The drivers power window started working very slowly like it was being dragged on, and then wouldn't go back up. Pushing on exposed window edge got it finally to go up and close. Over the next several days the noise and resistance has gotten worse. Found out NTSB... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact stated that the low oil pressure warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to Valvoline, where an oil change was performed, but the failure recurred several days later. The vehicle was taken to an unknown dealer, where it was diagnosed tha... Read more
Incident date: Nov 8, 2023
I used the remote to open the rear hatch and pressed the button on the hatch to close it. While it was closing it traveled about half way back down and the rear window on the hatch exploded in my face. Glass went everywhere behind the SUV in a 5ft radius. I'm getting it repaired this upcoming Monday.
Incident date: Feb 22, 2024
My car only has 73,367 miles on it and was experiencing a misfire on #4 cylinder. My Ford dealer ran a test on it and said coolant from the 2.0 EcoBoost is leaking into the cylinder and it will burn up the engine which could lock up on me while driving. This is a known defect, but Ford has not done a recall on it. My dealer told me they have heard Ford Co helping some people with the replacement c... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2007 Lexus GS350. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated to start and there was a fuel odor inside the vehicle. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle was jerking while driving. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic, where it was diagnosed with engine misfire and defective fuel injectors. The vehicle was repai... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2024
While driving at speed (~70 mph) on the Interstate, while on a straightaway, the vehicle began to sway as if being pushed by wind or like being passed by a semi truck. The swaying continued for 10 to 20 seconds before the rear passenger tire sidewall suffered a sudden catastrophic failure which made steering the vehicle very difficult. I had not struck any significant road debris prior to this inc... Read more
Incident date: Dec 4, 2023
235/70R16 I purchased 4 Michelin defender LXT tires, on 02/06/2024. I had to have all the tires rebalanced. The tire shop. Said said all tires were 1 1/2 to 2 oz off. This problem should not be occurring in such a short period of time. Repair was made on 02/20/2024
Incident date: Nov 8, 2023
I currently have my service engine light on because of VANOS issues. I took my vehicle to a BMW service center where I was informed that the issue is because of a faulty VANOS unit that would be fixed when the 'Recall Campaign No. 23V-707' has a remedy to be performed. My registration expired January 1st of this year, but can't get a new one since the vehicle won't pass emissions (I live in Arling... Read more
Incident date: Feb 19, 2024
The car died in my garage after only owning it for 4 weeks
Incident date: Feb 16, 2024
Both cams need to be replaced. Upon doing internet research and talking with the service advisor this is a very commom problem and recalls have been done on other years but not 2017. Henry Miller Dodge Ram is where my vehicle is currently at and who advised the issues at hand. The check engine light comes on and computer shows misfire.
Incident date: Feb 16, 2024
Service abs system and traction control
Incident date: Feb 16, 2024
Service abs system and traction control
Incident date: Sep 24, 2023
Driving 35 MPH on a back road, no cars coming the opposite direction, the automatic emergency braking system flashed, beeped and slammed my brakes momentarily. Luckily there was no one behind me. I attempted to pull into a parking lot and the entire electrical system went crazy, all warning lights, systems and sensors went off and I lost power steering. Had I been driving during power steering los... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2024
The incident first happened while on my way to work. After driving about 2 miles I came to stopped at a stoplight. My car completely shut off and the engine died. When trying to restart the car, I got multiple battery failure messages, and it appeared that the battery died somehow. There were absolutely no warnings beforehand. I was also unable to successfully get the vehicle into neutral because ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 19, 2024
The rear tailgate window shattered while vehicle was in driveway as soon as it was turned off. Before it shattered there was an odor of something like plastic burning. Fortunately no one was hurt by the exploding bits of glass. The sound the breaking glass make was loud and startled the passengers. Good thing the vehicle was not in motion on the street or highway. On the internet I saw where othe... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Accord. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V858000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. 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 had not experienced a failure. Part... Read more
Incident date: Sep 6, 2022
I bought a used (7,000 miles) 2020 Nissan Altima 2.5 SV. Bought the car January (18-19th) 2022. The same week I bought it I noticed a noise coming from the right side of the car. I would later come to find out it was a wheel bearing, which when not fixed can lead to some serious safety concerns. The wheel can potentially come off during driving! At high speeds in particular, that is dangerous. I ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 16, 2024
Sync3 system failure Safety risk with cameras being inoperable Problem has been confirmed by dealership Problem was Inspected by Ford Dealership No warnings of failure; Problem occurred after recall 20E07 was performed by Ford Dealership
Incident date: Feb 16, 2024
This vehicle has tow mirrors that are located way too high for the driver to see over them - I'm 5'10" and my son is 6'0" and neither of us can see over these mirrors. Over the past year I have had multiple close calls because of the very large blind spot created by the tow mirrors on this vehicle. There is also excessive plastic around the mirror that excerbates the problem. It is only a per... Read more
Incident date: Feb 16, 2024
This vehicle has tow mirrors that are located way too high for the driver to see over them - I'm 5'10" and my son is 6'0" and neither of us can see over these mirrors. Over the past year I have had multiple close calls because of the very large blind spot created by the tow mirrors on this vehicle. There is also excessive plastic around the mirror that excerbates the problem. It is only a per... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Ranger. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the contact became aware that the interior lighting failed to turn off, resulting in the battery becoming drained. A short time later, the contact stated that the center display failed to display the correct information, after which the vehicle lost electrical power. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was ta... Read more
Incident date: Oct 20, 2023
I scan the truck misfire keep popping up I change four coil packs and all new sparkplugs and the same thing 4cyl misfire again and its paper sucking up thru tail pipe
Incident date: Jan 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Volt. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to pull to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the engine valves. The vehicle was not r... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2024
The contact owns a 2010 Mazda Mazda6. The contact stated while driving 40–45 MPH, there was an abnormal sound coming from the vehicle. The TPMS warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who informed the contact that the rear main sub frame was completely rusted. There was a crack detected in the middle of the sub frame. The vehicle was taken to the local de... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2024
Car makes creaking sounds when going over bumps and turning left or right.
Incident date: Jan 31, 2024
Car makes creaking sounds when going over bumps and turning left or right.
Incident date: Feb 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) 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 made aware of the issue. The contact had n... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2024
The VIN is a RAM Promaster, but it is a Winnebago Travato 2022KL built on the Promaster chassis. Winnebago routed the electrical cables from the engine compartment to the Volta battery system through the passenger wheel well. When making a left turn, the tires rub on the cable and wear away the protective sheathing, leaving the wires exposed. This can cause a failure of the battery system, or wors... Read more
Incident date: Nov 21, 2023
As I was driving, my engine coolant temperature gauge went from normal level down all the way pegged to C. Message appears on my dashboard "Steering Assist is Reduced. Drive with Care". Also, radiator fan continuously runs as if the air conditioner was turned on, which it was not. After searching the internet and confirmed by dealerships and the shop I had my car repaired, this same issue with th... Read more
Incident date: Nov 21, 2023
As I was driving, my engine coolant temperature gauge went from normal level down all the way pegged to C. Message appears on my dashboard "Steering Assist is Reduced. Drive with Care". Also, radiator fan continuously runs as if the air conditioner was turned on, which it was not. After searching the internet and confirmed by dealerships and the shop I had my car repaired, this same issue with th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 25, 2023
The truck flashes service antilock brake system, service eletronic brake system. It cancels the cruise control on truck. On several occassions it shuts off cruise while on the interstate. You have to react very quickly to avoid having an accident. A couple of times its happened while pulling a travel trailer and nearly got rear ended by semi truck. Thats really scarey. It started about 8 months ag... Read more
Incident date: Nov 27, 2023
The automatic braking component has braked, repeatedly, when there is nothing to brake for. Today, I was approaching a green light, no one was in front of me, the lane was clear, but the car suddenly braked. Fortunately, the person behind me did not hit me. It was a hard full stop. This has happened often enough, now, that I think I should turn that feature off. In the past when this happened, I ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 13, 2024
During a rainy evening I could not see with the wipers on max speed and the headlights on low beam. I couldn't see the road unless a car was in front of me or I turn on my high beams. My son was in the car with me and several times I had to go at a crawling speed and still barely stayed on the road because of low visibilty. This has happened more than once and I feel unsafe driving now because I f... Read more
Incident date: Feb 13, 2024
Hcu, hydraulic control unit, no abs, no traction control, no cruise, no 4x4 and emergency brake light on won’t go off and part is not available been waiting for over a year and a half
Incident date: Feb 13, 2024
Hcu, hydraulic control unit, no abs, no traction control, no cruise, no 4x4 and emergency brake light on won’t go off and part is not available been waiting for over a year and a half
Incident date: May 18, 2023
1. Uncertain which part failed. 2. safety was put at risk due to car not able to accelerate. Car would not go over 20 miles an hour on the interstate access road where traffic was going by at 50 –60 mph - four-way flashers were on and had to pull off at the first available turn but it was scary 3. Contacted local Hyundai; they are investigating a possible loaner, but haven’t said what they wi... Read more
Incident date: Dec 13, 2023
2017 Ford Edge 2.0 Ecoboost engine failed. Car is 6 years old and two shops have confirmed it needs to be totally replaced due to coolant intrusion. Currently still drivable, but is burning through Coolant and per dealership can be a fire hazard. Confirmed by Ford dealership. Check engine light turned on and car has 72,000 miles.
Incident date: Feb 13, 2023
I am experiencing sudden braking, without me using any of the braking system. Scared my wife and I. Our safety was at risk 3 times, when this sudden braking happened. Sent a message to Tesla but did not get an answer yet. The warning lights were activated when the sudden braking happened. my first sudden braking happened on January 17th 2024, and then 2 more the following two days of the same... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2024
1. Uncertain which part failed. 2. safety was put at risk due to car not able to accelerate. Car would not go over 20 miles an hour on the interstate access road where traffic was going by at 50 –60 mph - four-way flashers were on and had to pull off at the first available turn but it was scary 3. Contacted local Hyundai; they are investigating a possible loaner, but haven’t said what they wi... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2024
The transfer case is shot. As well as the rear differential. As a result of the transfer case messing up, the transmission is tore up. We need struts as well.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
Main Fuel Pump and accompanied electrical connect. The fuel pump and electrical wiring harness is available upon request. My safety was at risk due to a faulty electrical connection inside the fuel tank. My vehicle made a loud hmming sound at a stop sign, upon continuing forward the vehicle shut off randomly. Upon inspection, the fuel was not sending to the engine. We bought a new fuel pump and r... Read more