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: May 31, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light intermittently illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the ignition coil and spark plugs. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure reoccurred an additional four times before the vehicle was taken to the dealer. The veh... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the ABS warning light, 4-WD warning light, and service required message was displayed. The contact stated that the steering wheel became firm. The contact desperately depressed the brake pedal and slowly drove the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle was diagnosed; however, but no failure was found. The contact was advis... Read more
Incident date: May 3, 2023
Paint bubbling on hood near grill
Incident date: Jun 6, 2023
The A-Pillar Windscreen TRIM on each side of the vehicle are a failed Ford design and require pending replacement to prevent them flying off whilst traveling and endangering other road users or pedestrians.
Incident date: Jun 5, 2023
My car has a coolant leak coming from the plastic pipe underneath the manifold. The BMW dealership said this is a common issue with the bmw. You should definitely do a recall on this issue. It costs $1585 to fox a $30 defective part on these cars.
Incident date: May 25, 2023
I bought this car new from a Honda dealer in September of 2021. While driving the car home from the dealership I noticed it did not track straight and well on the highway - I needed to make small steering corrections frequently to keep it centered in the lane. Over the next few months I noticed the steering had small "kicking" motions and seemed to "stick" while driving normally. The car makes the... Read more
Incident date: May 25, 2023
Vehicle Started to shake when stopped at an intersection. Drove it to the local Ford dealer and was informed that I needed a new transmission. If the transmission failed while the vehicle is in motion or turning at an intersection, there would be no acceleration due to the transmission failing and i would not be able to clear on coming traffic while turning. The dealer diagnosed the transmissio... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2023
I carry my family with me and in traffic the traction control light would come on and the car would loose power and not accelerate almost causing accidents I was told it was the speed sensors malfunctioning and the brakes would not work properly when trying to stop
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2007 Ford Edge. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed but failed to stop the vehicle. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact had to pump the brake pedal to stop the vehicle. The contact was able to continue driving to his destination. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagn... Read more
Incident date: Nov 5, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 3500. The contact stated that the fuel tank had collapsed. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the fuel pump and rear fuel tank needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted but no additional assistance was provide... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
On 6/2/2023, my 16 year old Granddaughter was involved in a head on collision involving a driver who ran a red light. Upon impact of the two vehicles, none of the airbags in my Granddaughter's 2022 Hyundai Tucson SEL deployed. The impact was so severe that the Hyundai Tucson was totaled. My Granddaughter and her passenger's safety were severely at risk because of this malfunction! To my knowle... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Nov 10, 2022
As I drive, the car loses the ability to accelerate. It then passively stalls and the automatic steering locks up. All electrical inside the car still stays on. I put the car in park and it restarts on the first key turn. It has happened up to 3 times in a trip, but it is inconsistent when it happens (not necessarily every trip and not at specific speeds (it happeneded going 70 on the highway ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 10, 2022
Engine noise and rattling as well as coolant levels dropping dramatically. Mechanic advised head gasket repair and upon further inspection a NEW ENGINE on a 2018 vehicle. With more research, I see this has affected other Pacifica owners.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The front brakes grab suddenly during low speed braking under about 6 mph causing the car to jerk to a stop. The front brakes will lock up when coming to a stop at higher speeds at about 25 mph if the car is downshifting gears. The low speed issue happens for about 80 percent of the stops and the higher speed braking issue is hit or miss. There are no warning lights indicated on the dash. I took t... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2023
I have a 2015 Genesis Sedan 3.8 My cars instrument cluster glitches! Sometime when driving or only starting the car my cluster lights up all of the warning lights. Also it shows incorrect speed. I have found that Hyundai did recall some of of the 2015 models with this problem but mine doesn’t qualify for the recall! Some of the safety features of the car like the bsd system stopped working cau... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2017
The contact owns a 2023 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the message "Battery Charge, Switch to Park" displayed and the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The contact stated that moments later, the vehicle was restarted and operated normally. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was contacted, and an appointment was schedul... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2017
The contact owns a 2023 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the message "Battery Charge, Switch to Park" displayed and the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The contact stated that moments later, the vehicle was restarted and operated normally. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was contacted, and an appointment was schedul... Read more
Incident date: May 12, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Highlander equipped with Continental Tires, Tire Line: Alenza Sport A/S, Tire Size: 235/55/R20, DOT Number: 1W28AALA12522. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22T021000 (Tires) however, the part to do the recall repair was not available. Several unknown dealers were contacted and confirmed that the parts were not yet available for the recall r... Read more
Incident date: May 16, 2023
My 2021 Kia Seltos S was not a part of the original recall on Seltos & Soul vehicles. My check engine light came on and now my car has been at the dealership for 3 weeks waiting for a new engine. The front collision will randomly activate when there are NO other cars around. It applies the brakes when you are driving at speed on the highway. Luckily no cars were behind me. My seat belt has al... Read more
Incident date: May 16, 2023
My 2021 Kia Seltos S was not a part of the original recall on Seltos & Soul vehicles. My check engine light came on and now my car has been at the dealership for 3 weeks waiting for a new engine. The front collision will randomly activate when there are NO other cars around. It applies the brakes when you are driving at speed on the highway. Luckily no cars were behind me. My seat belt has al... Read more
Incident date: May 16, 2023
My trailer brake system service light is on. This is due to a faulty wire harness. This issue is also causing the Stabilitrak service light to appear.
Incident date: Dec 20, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed, and vehicle started losing motive power. The contact veered over to the side of the roadway. On several occasions, the vehicle stalled while driving at various speeds. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic wh... Read more
Incident date: May 18, 2023
Service ABS system message turns on and off continuously while driving. When the warning is active ABS is disabled. Also when the warning activates it will disable cruise control suddenly. It continues to turn on and off. Dealership diagnosed it as ABS control module. They state there are no parts to replace it with at this point in time and no ETA on when a part will be manufactured. They also s... Read more
Incident date: Apr 4, 2023
May 1st, 2023 at approx. 3:30pm There were NO warning lights or messages of ANY kind received. No warning given by mail or phone call from selling agent that was issued March 12th, 2021. Was driving on interstate going south headed home after work. Approx 15 mi from home when smoke starting coming into the vehicle & from under the hood. Traveling in fast lane, appox 70mph in heavy ... Read more
Crash
Fire
1 injured
Incident date: Jan 2, 2023
May 1st, 2023 at approx. 3:30pm There were NO warning lights or messages of ANY kind received. No warning given by mail or phone call from selling agent that was issued March 12th, 2021. Was driving on interstate going south headed home after work. Approx 15 mi from home when smoke starting coming into the vehicle & from under the hood. Traveling in fast lane, appox 70mph in heavy ... Read more
Crash
Fire
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 10, 2023
12v battery died within 6 days and needed to be jumped. Another 4 days and the 12v will not hold a charge at all. This is a new 2023 Ioniq 5 Limited AWD. Odo on the lot was 13 miles. Odo at 10 days was around 280. Waiting to hear from Hyundai, but dealer confirmed 12v is bad. Currently unknown if ICCU is also faulty.
Incident date: May 30, 2023
The contact owns a 2011 Nissan Xterra. The contact received notification of the NHTSA Campaign Number: 23E012000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that an unknown dealer was contacted and confirmed that parts were not available for the recall repair. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for th... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2020
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 25 MPH uphill, the vehicle was bouncing. Additionally, the vehicle was skipping gears while shifting. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the torque convertor needed to be replaced. The contact was informed by the mechan... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The contact owned a 2014 Mini Countryman. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle in his driveway, approximately two hours later the neighbor who noticed the windshield wipers were activated and that the interior of the vehicle was foggy, alerted the contact of their observance. The contact opened the door of the vehicle and discovered smoke and a burning amber-colored dashboard. The fir... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while parked she observed paint bubbles, paint chippings, and corrosion on the hood of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the aluminum paint needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.
Incident date: May 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the braking system failed to operate as designed with the anti-lock braking system (ABS) and electronic stability control (ESC) warning lights illuminated. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to the dealer where two attempts were made to replace the ABS; however, the failure persisted after the repair. The manufa... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2023
I had the Emergency Brake Module replaced in Nov 2020 at a cost of over $900, plus a rental car for 2 weeks. Yesterday, 05/28/23, my emergency brake started setting itself AGAIN, plus the dash shows same error codes as before. Being a holiday weekend, I took it to the only place that was open. They cannot fix it. It requires the dealer. It’s the same issue as before. The emergency parking brak... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2020
Noticed gasoline dripping under the vehicle just behind the driver side rear door. Upon investigation discovered steel fuel line has corroded between a plastic support bracket and fiber heat shield. This seems to be due to a design that allows moisture and road debris (salt) to accumulate, leading to corrosion. This could lead to total loss of power to the vehicle, and poses a risk of fi... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
While driving in extreme rain downfall at night my windshield wipers stopped functioning. I could not see the road. Luckily I had just exited the highway when this happened. Therefore I was able to move over to the side of the road turn on my hazards and wait an hour for the rain to settle before driving to a near by gas station. Otherwise a fatality would have been likely being on a busy inters... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Started the vehicle and shifted into gear and the vehicle started to shake and vibrate. The engine was knocking and running very poorly. Within a minute the service engine light came on. We were able to get the vehicle back in to the garage. I opened the hood and checked the oil. The dipstick was dry. The end of the dipstick appeared to have burnt oil on it. I took some pictures and a video ... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
While reversing out from a drive way and turning to get into the lane the cars velocity massively increased from no throttle coasting to approximately 20 mph. Panic braking and enough space due to it being a cul-de-sac saved us, but we were launched forward in our seats and slammed back during breaking. we were very fortunate not to have anyone or anything behind us as we nearly went over a curb... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Driving north on a southern California freeway at 65MPH and the engine lost complete power. The "Check Engine Light" immediately came on and I was able to safely coast off the freeway. I did not try to restart the car but instead had it towed to the nearest Hyundai dealer. The dealer replaced the spark plugs, performed a diagnostic test, and determined there was "low engine problem" and stated the... Read more
Incident date: Mar 22, 2023
The drivers headlight has developed significant condensation on its interior caused by a failed seal which in turn damaged or short-circuited the modules disabling my daytime running light, low beam, high beam, and turn signal
Incident date: Mar 22, 2023
While driving on the freeway at a high rate of speed in Pensacola, FL, my 2014 BMW 328d broke down. After several attempts to restart, the car was started in "limp mode" and we took it to a certified independent BMW mechanic, but could only drive at about 20mph in traffic with hazard lights flashing. Multiple error codes / mechanic inspection diagnosed a malfunction of the exhaust system overheati... Read more
Incident date: Mar 22, 2023
Warning light for “power steering assist fault” came on last night and this morning the steering is hard to control when turning.
Incident date: May 5, 2023
Leaking at the hatch watering getting into electronic parking brake module causing the parking brake to lock up and catch fire..
Fire
Incident date: Mar 27, 2023
Driving at 75 mph on highway, tire "exploded". Tire air pressure immediately dropped to zero, resulting in some lack of steering control. Warning message on dash appeared upon tire failure. Drove with caution lights to open gas station. A 4-inch slash was visible in the sidewall of the tire. Car was towed to dealership and tire was replaced at my expense.
Incident date: Apr 7, 2023
Driving on highway at 75 mph, tire "exploded" resulting in immediate loss of air pressure and some lack of steering control. Road conditions were optimal with clear sunny weather and no road hazards. Dashboard warning light appeared upon tire failure. Drove with hazards to dealership who replaced the tire at my expense. (P225/45R18) Dealer made a video of their findings which revealed a 6- in... Read more
Incident date: May 12, 2023
Approached my parked car and noticed a 2.5-inch gash in the sidewall of the tire. No warning light in dashboard. Tire pressure remained at recommended pressure. Previous driving was on 35 mph local roads with optimal driving conditions--clear weather and no road hazards. Drove vehicle to dealer to have tire replaced. Tire was covered under warranty but incurred labor expenses. (P225/45R18)
Incident date: May 26, 2023
I was sold a vehicle from a dealer in Arizona that online says they only sell to government or law enforcement
Incident date: May 26, 2023
The Castle Rock spare tire failed while on the rim mounted to spare tire holder. Tire was covered 24/7. Size st 205/75r14 Failure was in belts on tread. Large bubble on inside of tire under treads with outside of tire deformed. Pictures available Tire was never used. Air pressure checked with other tires before usage.
Incident date: May 22, 2023
I was traveling in the rain and a CHECK FORWARD SAFETY SYSTEM warning appeared on my dashboard. There was nothing in front of me to set that off. I notified the dealership and they said it was an alignment code and must have gotten hit.( Which I doubt) so wasn't covered under warranty.
Incident date: May 22, 2023
I had issues with the horn blowing itself when I made certain turns and when I took my car to Honda they told me the spacer between the horn and the airbag had disintegrated and they found no evidence of it even being in there they don't know what happened but there's no recall they're only fix unless I paid thousands of dollars to replace the airbag was unhook the horn now I'm having to drive aro... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2023
VEHICLE STALLS OUT AND SLOWS DOWN WHILE IM DRIVING AND WANT SPEED BACK UP. ONLY GOES 30 IN A 70 ON THE HIGHWAY.
Incident date: May 22, 2023
Steering wheel randomly gets tight and difficult to turn. Eventually gets to a point where it won't turn. This doesn't occur all the time but randomly. No warning lights go on. Took to mechanic. Didn't happen to them when tested. But they flushed steering fluid and refilled. Taking the car back home. Again steering wheel got tight and difficult to turn. Got to a point where you couldn't t... Read more