Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,215,138 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA — including 138,663 crashes, 56,255 fires, and 8,561 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 2,215,138 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 40,555 complaints for BMW
Incident date: Jun 18, 2023
My engine has 98,000 miles and is burning two quarts of oil every 1000 miles. I have no visible oil leaks.
Incident date: Feb 5, 2023
My dash constantly makes this buzzing sound coming around the center of the dash. It is highly distracting and has almost caused me multiple incidents trying to stop the noise and find out where exactly it’s coming from. Yes it’s been reproduced by others.
Incident date: Jun 14, 2023
I am a ASE Master Mechanic and I do my own servicing. Recently I had some bad tires and bought new ones. Since I had the wheels off, I performed a wheel bearing and brake inspection. The rear left wheel had some small wobbling. When I took off the bearing cap I noticed hardly any grease. I took the hub off and there was hardly any grease on the inside bearing also. And I do mean hardly. It was lik... Read more
Incident date: Apr 17, 2023
While stopped at a stop light, the automatic on/off initiated as usual. However, twice in the past 24 hours the engine has stopped and the driver display provided a message stating “engine stopped” and prompting me to depress the brake harder to start the engine—this action did not restart the vehicle and it had to be put in parked and fully turned off and on to restart both times. The displ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2023
Car slips and jerks when accelerating at any speed as low as 10 mph. Check engine light came on, code is transmission failure. The code came on before routine maintenance was required. The car was not fixed and should have not had this issue happen.
Incident date: Jun 11, 2023
I received a warning on my dashboard while driving "Check electric vehicle system". A few minutes later I received the message "Stop vehicle and check power supply". My car would not go faster than 20 MPH, and I had it towed to the dealership. They said it was an ICCU issue and the part was on nationwide backorder. My car has been at the dealership for 41 days.
Incident date: Jun 11, 2023
I received a warning on my dashboard while driving "Check electric vehicle system". A few minutes later I received the message "Stop vehicle and check power supply". My car would not go faster than 20 MPH, and I had it towed to the dealership. They said it was an ICCU issue and the part was on nationwide backorder. My car has been at the dealership for 41 days.
Incident date: Jun 18, 2023
The engine light is on. The car shakes a lot, jerks and acceleration is slow. I don’t feel safe driving it.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2003
Lemon Law Initiated, Chrysler/Mopar Case #[XXX] Support requested for refund of Ram Promaster fleet purchase from Johnson Auto Plaza via [XXX] Johnson Auto Plaza (originating dealer) 112410 East 136th Brighton, Colorado 80601 [XXX] 06/15/2023 Paonia, Colorado RAM would not turn off--keyless malfunction apparently Roamly RV Insurance did not respond to Roadside Assistant I did not know at the t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 19, 2023
While driving off from a red light, we experienced a severe jolt from when the emergency braking system engaged on its own. There was no vehicle in front us at the time of the incident. The sudden stop was so severe, I thought we had gotten rear ended. This is the second time this incident has happened to us in this vehicle. The first time my wife and 3 small children were accelerating from a st... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2023
Shifter cracked under normal use. This leads to unsafe driving as the ability to shift gears is difficult. Shifter slides off rod when shifting
Incident date: Jun 18, 2023
The 2.0T engine failed and the vehicle is currently at Hyundai service department waiting on my warranty company to do an inspection of the engine. My safety was at risk as the engine failed during normal operation of the vehicle on a busy city street near a blind curve which other vehicles travel at high rates of speed. Hyundai Service department has confirmed the engine has failed which it needs... Read more
Incident date: May 19, 2023
My BmW I4 M50 was parked and turned off. While I was behind the wheel the car. Suddenly the car took off and hit a curb and went thru some trees. I took my cat to creviar bmw and an engineer from bmw came to check out the vehicle. The engineer checked out the car, BMW had my car for 3 and half weeks and after told me nothing was wrong with the car. I don’t trust bmw. This is my second EV. I thin... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 19, 2023
Everytime I trun the car off, all the lights, Nav, radio stays on as the car display a message "Shift to Park". This message stays on for sometimes 2 minutes, sometimes 10 minutes. Untill the message gone the car still thinks is on. In 2 occasions I had to jump the car as the battery depelted. This is a major safety issue if my son who drive the car to Detroit and had to stay wait for the car to ... Read more
Incident date: May 19, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Nissan Rogue. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle sporadically swerved into the right lane. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to another dealer, Gerald Nissan of Naperville (1575 W Ogden Ave, Naperville, IL 60540) who informed the contac... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated while his son was driving approximately 35 MPH, he turned on the air conditioning and the blower filled the cabin with a gasoline odor. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated was made aware of the issue by his son. The contact checked underneath the vehicle and became aware that there was a fuel leak running... Read more
Incident date: Jun 12, 2023
Both rear axle tone rings cracked causing inoperable ABS, stability control, traction control, hill start assist, and front camera/lane departure warning system. One incident happened while driving on the freeway at 75 MPH and all above warning lamps illuminated. The right rear hub assembly/axle needed to be removed and the tone ring replaced by the dealer at 73,000 miles, and the left at 95,000... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
The clips that hold the KAFAS camera system are faulty and easily break. The KAFAS unit gets exceptionally hot and damages the clips causing the unit to go out of alignment and then cause all of the safety features to fail. The fact that you have to replace the whole windshield to repair two small plastic clips is an egregious mechanical design failure, waste of resource, and just insane design.
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
It rained pretty heavy last night, and driving to work this morning, the interior lamp lights started turning on by themselves. After a few more minutes of driving, water was pouring out of the roof where the lights are. The water dripped straight down onto all of the electrical parts, USB ports and buttons for auto/on off, park assist, etc. There is an obvious leak coming from the sunroof, and a ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
The contact owns a 2008 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while having an inspection performed on the vehicle, she was informed that the rear sub frame was corroded and had holes. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where the vehicle was repaired under NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V228000 (Structure). The contact stated that the rear support brace was added. The vehicle was repaired but the me... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2023
My Tesla Model Y is experiencing phantom braking, due presumably to a faulty collission avoidance safety system. With cruise control enabled (not autopilot with lane keeping, only cruise control by depressing the stalk once vs. twice for lane keep) the car will phantom brake, where it slams on the brakes thinking their is a vehicle in its path when there is no vehicle in the front lane. This has ... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2023
Death wobble after going over bridge at 70mph, had to stop on the highway
Incident date: Feb 25, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Ram 2500. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V835000 (Power Train) and 23V060000 (Electrical System) however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of... Read more
Incident date: May 6, 2023
The ABS Module has failed, only 20k miles on the truck. RAM advises they have 10 trucks locally waiting on the same part, and advise a national shortage as this part had a manufacturing problem. They will not provide a part # to replace it as they don't know what it will be. Cruise control will not work either due to the safety issue of the problem. I have a safety concern about the use of the ve... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle overheated. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact added additional coolant to the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that an engine replacement was needed. The mechanic informed the contact that coolant was leaking into the engine a... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
I am replacing 3rd windshield since September 2022. This was definitely caused by a rock chip but had been resin repaired. With defroster blowing on a cool morning the windshield cracked across the lower portion. The replacement windshield cracked for no reason other than it was cold during a December night and was replaced in April. That windshield cracked spontaneously while driving in the rain... Read more
Incident date: Jun 4, 2023
The BMW 650i Gran Coupe experienced a trunk release failure on 6/4/2023. The emergency release handle is in the very rear of the trunk. The only release levers to fold the seats down are also in the very rear of the trunk. The only way to access the trunk is thru a small opening behind the armrest. With a loaded trunk there is no reasonable way to open the trunk once the electronic release syste... Read more
Incident date: Jun 4, 2023
Occupant Detection Sensor Mat faulty. Intermittent ODS warning while passenger is seated. DTS B1760 and B1650. Seat has never experienced water damage, but shows staining due to age (7 years at this point). This is an obvious safety concern while driving with my loved ones.
Incident date: Jun 4, 2023
There was no specific "incidence" to report. This is an on-going issue for a long time. Low beam headlights do not illuminate the road sufficiently for safe driving. Have had it to the dealer to insure the lights are adjusted to spec, but it was no better. Asked that they raise the beams; while a little better isibility, oncoming traffic was blinded and flashing me to lower the beams. Had the ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2023
(1) PASSENGER seat airbag status light has been and still is intermittent. This fact is documented with dated pics attached. (4/4/23 and 8/6/23) (2) When the passenger airbag light is off, the airbag will not deploy putting my wife at serious risk. (She is the usual occupant at 98 lbs and 5ft 3inch) (3) Problem/issue has been observed and confirmed by local dealer. (4) Manufacturer has bee... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2016
My daughter was backing out of driveway and said the steering was difficult to turn and felt locked. The steering assist fault came up on screen. She parked car and didn’t drive. My husband tried backing out of driveway as well and said the steering was hard to turn. He then put it in park and tried again and it drove fine.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2016
My vehicle has been in 3 accidents. Being rear-ended at 70MPH, again six months later at 60MPH, then the forward vehicle slammed their brakes, and I hit them at around 30MPH. In any of these accidents, NONE of my airbags deployed.
Crash
Incident date: Jun 4, 2023
While driving with auto-idle on, anytime I come to a complete stop and the ide engine engages it fails to restart when I let off of the break.AI message stating accessory mode comes on the screen and the car completely shuts down, requiring me to power off the car completely and push the start button on the car again. It takes a few tries for the car to start. I feel like it is very dangerous for... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-150. The contact stated that upon cold starting the vehicle, an abnormal cranking sound was coming from the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and the contact was informed that the cam phasers needed to be repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not under recall. ... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2023
Headlights are dim. Visibility is very low. Acura acknowledges issue but says customer has to replace whole headlight system at a cost of approximately $2000
Incident date: May 21, 2023
Started months ago on the highway, now in the streets too. Press the gas, car goes then suddenly loses power. Going at 60 mph on highway, car suddenly starts to go slow, and pressing the gas doesn't move the car not even a mile higher. Semi trucks begin to honk horns at you. Afraid now to take highway again. Soon as I exit highway, press the gas and the car doesn't want to shift, almost as if it g... Read more
Incident date: Jun 7, 2023
Consistently breaking differential bolt that hold the rear differential in place, very widespread issue as well as being consistently noted in forums. Also a high number of differential completely failing across all years. Mine failed recently, two other vehicles at the same dealership had a broken differential. There needs to be a recall on both of these issues.
Incident date: Jun 2, 2023
My vehicle has had a multitude of errors for 5 months now about the safety systems being disabled, seat controls malfunctioning, etc. Tesla refused to repair the car (despite only being months old) because I had requested a buyback due to other electrical issues with the vehicle. The driver facing errors (ones shown on the screen that the driver would see) simply said "Safety systems disabled". I ... Read more
Incident date: May 7, 2023
Engine burning oil so much that it destroys the catalytic converter leaving me stranded middle of a highway.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while driving 75 MPH with cruise control activated, the cruise control system inadvertently deactivated and the vehicle lost motive power before going into LIMP Mode. The check engine warning light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who inconclusively diagnosed a possible failure wi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2023
I had my 5 year old in the back seat we had just left gymnastics. I was about to pull out on to state route 87 and my car just stops running. Everything shut down, no power steering, was hard to brake, and engine stopped. The dashboard lit up with all the lights anti-theft, oil, traction control, engine. I couldn't get it to turn over and when I tried it made no noise at all. I was in a dangerous ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 6, 2021
Rear differential disconnected from vehicle due to mounting bolt snapping, rear differential was also previously replaced by bmw before I purchased vehicles due to rear differential failure
Incident date: Jun 4, 2023
When driving my 2009 Toyota Avalon my headlights sporadically go out. Mostly on the drivers side. I have replaced the headlight on 3 separate occasions with in the last 3 Years and each time it cost me $185.00 for labor and the headlight. I also got stopped by the POLICE for it! Now in 2023 the right head light goes on and off sporadically since March 2023. Again, I got stopped by the POLICE! Now... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
Almost a year ago I noticed my check engine light came on and so I checked the codes which is P1450 - Unable To Bleed Up Fuel Tank Vacuum - Ford - Powertrain. Everytime I fill the gas tank the engine studders and fails upon startup, usually on the 3 or 4th start the engine finally idle and I'm able to change gears. I thought this was the issue that was supposed to be resolved back in 2019 when I t... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2023
On 5/10/23 I was driving approximately 50 mph on a highway when my car slowed to 15 mph. I stepped on the accelerator and nothing happened. On the dash screen there was a warning which stated "drivetrain malfunction. Driving not possible. Call Roadside assistance". So I was stuck with a sudden deceleration on a busy highway and had to creep over 2 lanes to the shoulder and put the car in park. It ... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while her daughter was driving 55 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact's daughter was able to maneuver the vehicle into a nearby parking lot, where the vehicle failed to shift into drive. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the contacts home and later towed to the dealer to be diagnosed. T... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2023
I was driving down the interstate, no one around me at the time when a loud boom happened and my sunroof had exploded. Nothing hit it. It just bam, exploded shattering the whole thing. And the quote I was given for replacement is crazy expensive. $2500+ and can’t be replaced before we head home, we are on vacation so we have to figure a make shift solution to get home without suffering more dam... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2023
1. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The Air Suspension Compressor needs to be remove and replace. Left Rear Air Bag is Leaking. Tires have 3/32nds tread remaining which is unsafe. 2. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Might cause accident when driving especially in freeway. 3. Has the problem been reproduced or... Read more