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: Oct 9, 2023
Car has same issues for 4 years, shaking, stalling, loosing speed while driving. Check engine light on. Light knocking noise while driving can’t go above 45 miles an hour. Also 3 times car smelled like electrical burning. But was told by Kia nothing wrong with engine
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
The Air Bag, Parking Brake, Traction Control/StabiliTrak/Electonic Stability Control lights all came on while operating my vehicle. The lights did not go off, so I reported to the dealership. They determined it was an internal defect in the Inflatable Restraint Sensing and Diagnostic Module. This was not covered under warranty and appears to be a defect in the module. I believe this to be a seriou... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
The Air Bag, Parking Brake, Traction Control/StabiliTrak/Electonic Stability Control lights all came on while operating my vehicle. The lights did not go off, so I reported to the dealership. They determined it was an internal defect in the Inflatable Restraint Sensing and Diagnostic Module. This was not covered under warranty and appears to be a defect in the module. I believe this to be a seriou... Read more
Incident date: Oct 25, 2023
The contact owned a 2019 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that while driving at 15 MPH, the contact's daughter was involved in a collision. Another driver ran a stop sign at 30 MPH and crashed into the front passenger side of the vehicle causing the front wheel to detach. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a lot. The... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Oct 24, 2023
See attached document from complainant
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
I have a 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid that has a problem with its ABS Module. It is overheating and causes my car to stop its brake and motor functions while driving. I contacted the dealership to get a rental or replacement in the meantime and they told me there is nothing they can do and to drive with caution. I called the manufacturer to get a rental for the meantime and they told me the same thi... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
I have a 2017 Ford mustang eco-boost which has a faulty rear view camera. The camera glitches with distorted image with moving horizontal lines. For this exact same issue ford issued a manufacturer Recall Number22S06/22V082, but with a catch. In the recall report they mentioned that camera replacement will apply only for 2015 models. But this issue exists in 2017 models as well and ford need to co... Read more
Incident date: Jul 28, 2023
Vehicle has a delayed response to accelerate as if the transmission doesn’t want to shift or missing the next up shift. Starting from a stop position you have to press further down on the accelerator to get the vehicle to move which could lead you to accident either hit someone in front of you cause the vehicle lurched forward or possibly hit from the side or rear cause the vehicle won’t accel... Read more
Incident date: Oct 23, 2023
I was driving about 35 mph on a residential street on 10/24/23 at approximately 18:30 listening to a podcast steaming from my phone. The Jeep was in BEV mode and the ICE motor was not activated for my entire drive home. A warning chime sounded and I looked at the center display and it said, "Depress brake and shift out of P to drive." I was already driving and the transmission indicator read D3 (... Read more
Incident date: Oct 24, 2023
Car became unresponsive to accelerator while trying to pass on the freeway, lost speed and had cars around me going 65+ mph, this is not the first time this had happened, have filed several reports and have not heard about a fix to this, getting nervous using this car and I don't know what recourse I have, dealer unable to duplicate the problem and almost got involved in an accident again, please ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 24, 2023
Car became unresponsive to accelerator while trying to pass on the freeway, lost speed and had cars around me going 65+ mph, this is not the first time this had happened, have filed several reports and have not heard about a fix to this, getting nervous using this car and I don't know what recourse I have, dealer unable to duplicate the problem and almost got involved in an accident again, please ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 24, 2023
I was driving on the highway and it was raining. I tried to pass another car so I started to accelerate. But during my attempt to accelerate, my 2019 Acura RDX would not respond to throttle response. So I slowly started to loose speed the car. The engine warning light started to flash and the car came to a stop on a dangerous road construction area with no medians. I had to turn on my hazards and ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2023
The contact owned a 2019 Toyota Yaris. The contact stated that after his wife had arrived at her destination, a short time later she was made aware that the vehicle was on fire. Upon arriving on the scene, the contact's wife observed a fire originating in the engine compartment. Local emergency services were called and were able to extinguish the fire. A police and fire report was filed, but no in... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Oct 18, 2023
The speedometer doesn't work in the cold which has happened more than once. This data on the cluster gives data for fuel (miles) amount of fuel in the tank, actual miles driven, percentage of oil… It needs to be addressed as a recall since too many others with the same make and model have this issue…
Incident date: Oct 18, 2023
I just bought a 2020 Dodge Durango GT PLUS AWD on Thursday 10/19/2023. On Saturday 10/21/2023 while driving this vehicle on the highway, it started accelerating on its own. I had not used the cruise control and was not attempting to use it. It accelerated from 42 mph to 65 mph with no assistance from me. I used the brake and it did slow down. However, every time that I removed my foot from the bra... Read more
Incident date: Oct 18, 2023
As I was driving my dashboard lit up with warning lights and audible alarms indicating that I should inspect my regen brake. Safety features such as lane departure, lane assist, blind spot indicator stopped functioning and my speedometer did not work. I stopped the car and looked behind the front wheels and nothing looked “unusual”. I restarted the car and all of the alarms went off again, lea... Read more
Incident date: Oct 2, 2023
The car makes loud noise when the speed was about 50-60 MPH on a highway, the RPM went above 50 - 75. It wouldn't accelerate as I pushed the gas pedal. It's not moving as required. It was scary. It's dangerous. Something is wrong with the system, or transmission. Please fix it. Thanks.
Incident date: Oct 21, 2023
We were turning onto a crowded street, and halfway through turning the power steering suddenly failed. We couldn't get the steering wheel to move. We were facing perpendicular to the street and several cars were within inches of hitting us. We got out of the car (in the middle of the crowded street) and back in, at which point the steering worked again. We thought this was a one-time issue, but as... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2023
Two days after purchasing the light warning alert system started coming on. CHECK SYSTEMS HEADLIGHTS WARNING comes on EVERY MONTH THEN THE HEADLIGHTS WILL GO OUT first the left them the right…Ford can’t fix the problem because they don’t know what and why this keeps happening. The lights have been replaced 4-5 times and reprogrammed. I have took it Ford dealership 7 times, and the last t... Read more
Incident date: Sep 24, 2022
Got the recall letter but kia dealer and customer service have no info about when the remedy will be available. This is a major issue as I need to sell the car now to use the cash for other urgent matters. Dont even think the dealer will give a decent wholesale amount or take them on a trade. It is lowering the value and decreasing the demand as its a safety hazard for the vehicle which isnt fair ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 13, 2023
Vehicle started having rough shifting., code for shift relay (P0760) . Relay was replaced .sometimes drives ok other times just goes into neutral when driving, even the shifter in on D position.
Incident date: Oct 13, 2023
DEATH WOBBLE Driving 70-75 mph . Speed limit. I hit some some rough patches on the interstate and the truck shook uncontrollably. It’s happens twice in 30 miles. Very scared.
BMW
K 1600 GTL
(2022) - FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Oct 21, 2023
Incident date: Oct 6, 2023
This car is not safe. First, the Takata airbags are in it. I drove my daughter, my mother and my little dog in this car! I can’t believe the used car dealership did not let me know that. Then the car starts shifting funny. Also dangerous. There should be a recall for transmission. There are over 500 people affected by this. I’m trying to enter a highway and I need to pick up speed, because the... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2023
The engine has failed in my 2018 Hyundai Tuscon. I was driving the car daily since purchasing in July of 2023. Everything was fine until the first week of October, I had just picked up my son and was getting on the interstate when my check engine light came on and my oil light would flash on and off occasionally not persistently. I had the car checked immediately and there was no oil in the car... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2023
See attached document from complainant
Incident date: Jul 12, 2023
Pulling and catching often making me go right at higher speeds(Highway) Hard to keep carin lane and centered
Incident date: Mar 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Camry. The contact stated that the dashboard was melting. The contact stated that the sun was reflecting on the dashboard, which caused the driver’s view to be obstructed. There was a sticky substance on the dashboard. Additionally, the air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was determined that the dashboard neede... Read more
Incident date: Oct 12, 2023
My 2020 Explorer ST has been in the shop off and on for three months. The engine had to be replaced at about 45K miles. The transmission whines. The latest issue occurred while driving in downtown Chicago. I was coming up on a light and moved to the left turn lane to turn into oncoming traffic. When I went to go - I pressed the pedal and nothing happened. I ended up rolling into oncoming traffic... Read more
Incident date: Oct 12, 2023
The car stopped working all of a sudden, I was driving the car with no issues that morning and parked & shut off car to go to my appt. I turned the car back on and worked fine as I was putting in my address on the GPS my car just stopped and shut off by itself. I pushed the start button and it sounded like it wanted to start but it wouldn't and the whole engine shooked. Called GM and car still und... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2023
I know it’s the transmission because it gears just goes and the car doesn’t go anywhere. Now I have my car parked
Incident date: Mar 19, 2023
The contact owned a 2015 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 58 MPH, another vehicle crashed into the rear center passenger side of the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle rolled. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained injury to the lower back, head, and neck that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repa... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
Engine suddenly overheated while driving. My safety, and the safety of my family, was put at risk as I barely had time to pull over off the interstate before the vehicle completely shut off. My vehicle shut off in the middle of the exit lane, putting us at an increased risk of an accident. The vehicle only had 55k miles and no previous issues with the engine, nor were there lights on until right a... Read more
Incident date: Nov 12, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Buick Enclave. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. An undisclosed dealer was contacted and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made... Read more
Incident date: Oct 19, 2022
Intake manifold part number 14001-7FH0C broke down while driving. Vehicle would not accelerate, when taken to mechanic, the code indicated that the intake manifold needs to be replaced. Nissan is aware of this and i have a case number with them. Case # [XXX] I was on the freeway when this happened, me and my wife were both very worried because there was no exit nearby as we were going up and down ... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2023
The vehicle starting making a clunking noise while doing turns. While making a right hand turn, the steering wheel stuck and I had to yank it back (left) which caused a loud popping noise. Took it straight to the auto shop and next day was notified it was the steering rack and pinion.
Incident date: Oct 18, 2023
My wife and I Were driving then all of sudden the engine light would come on and the car would hesitate and go then at anoqtpher time it stopped on my wife we travel often back and forth to the veterans hospital for treatment and we don’t feel safe any longer. We had it at the dealership about three times. Faulkner Hyundia. We thank you for your help
Incident date: Oct 17, 2023
I submitted a complaint regarding traction service/escape alerts at any given time of my 2010 Chevolet Malibu and have not received an acknowledgment of my complaint. Therefore I am hoping it has been resolved. Thank goodness, the car passed inspection on 10/17/2023 for which the complaint of the traction service alerts have affected my yearly inspection for at least 3 years. I am asking... Read more
Incident date: Sep 17, 2023
The CVT transmission is believed to be the issue, and it is available to be inspected upon request. While driving at highway speeds or up even a small hill the car suddenly and without warning loose power and acceleration, not accelerating past 3,000 RPM. There are times when I’m either stoped at a stop sign or merging lanes and power ceases causing other vehicles to preform an emergency stop to... Read more
Incident date: Oct 28, 2022
Driving at highway speeds, power steering disengages. Drove for about one mile and it reengaged. This repeated itself multiple times and at multiple speeds. Was able to steer but vehicle had no power steering assist. This posed a high risk of accident with injury or death. Have not taken vehicle to the dealer as of yet. Power steering warning indicators displayed during incident.
Incident date: Oct 28, 2022
I was in a major car accident. My Honda CR-V air bags did not deploy. Due to the accident I have a neck and back injury. My insurance company has declared my vehicle a total loss. Millions of Americans are driving Honda CR-Vs and due to air bag failure their lives are at risk in the case of a collision. I have called Honda and asked them to investigate the failure of their air bags deployment. The... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Oct 28, 2022
Bought the truck new in 2018 from Planet Dodgein Miami. One year later (2019)the service braking system light came on. Dealer fixed the issue under the warranty. One and a half years later (2021, same issue and the dealer fixed the issue under the warranty at Napleton Dodge in Clermont Florida. 1.5 years later (2022), same issue. Dealer (Advantage Dodge Mount Dora Florida. said they needed to re... Read more
Incident date: Sep 30, 2023
This is the second time I am reporting this issue in the past few months. Three times this week my car has gone into the "gas saving" mode at a stop sign or red light and has not turned back on. I get a warning and need to turn the car off and then back on. This has put me in very u safe situations as people assume I'm going to start driving once the light changes and I've been nearly rear-ended m... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2023
Message”stalbility track needs service” while driving, speedometer and rpm hands become unstable with lights for traction coming on. Then car shuts down with no acceleration. Have brought to GM service several times and they can’t find the problem.
Incident date: Oct 16, 2023
Received a Front passenger safety restraint system fault warning on my Tesla that went away but the service tech claims that they don't see that warning when brought to service center. I am concerned that they are not transparent or not seeing something that I clearly saw. Or if there is some software/technical glitch that displayed it. They were not clear on why it showed to me. The other issue i... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2023
Summary of complaint: We own a 2007 BMW X3 SUV that we have taken to the BMW Mt. Laurel NJ dealership for service since we bought the car over five years ago. On August 15th 2023, we took the car for a scheduled service and oil change. We paid $3000 + and brought the car back home first week of September when the car was purportedly repaired. My husband noticed that the car was not driving quite... Read more
Incident date: Sep 10, 2023
Car started smoking while idling, fire department called. Did not have check engine light on smoking from left tail pipe
Incident date: Aug 30, 2023
Several issues. At 1100 miles the sound system or the 12” touch screen locks up sometimes so that touch screen doesn’t work, stereo turns off, a sudden loud tone comes on from all the speakers at full volume and the volume control, screen nothing works to turn it down and you have to turn the truck off completely and wait 5-10 minutes before turning it back on and then everything works. Toda... Read more
Incident date: Oct 11, 2023
I have errors popping up on my dashboard. It says “travel assist is currently not available “ or “emergency assist is currently not available “ . This does not happen every time I drive the vehicle but it happens quite frequently. When it happens It flashes and beeps constantly for a couple of minutes or even longer. Sometimes it beeps during the whole 30+ minutes trip. There is no way... Read more