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: 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
Rear brake on motorcycle does not stop the motorcycle. After three BMW dealer visits and rear brakes having been bled, the rear brake pedal becomes soft and does not stop the motorcycle. The same problem occurred each time within 2-3 months of the repair. The only way to stop the motorcycle is to use the front brake. The BMW service department cannot explain the reason this keeps happening.
Incident date: Apr 10, 2023
Not sure what causes this failure in the Kicks but if there is any wind at all when driving over 45 mph and/or traveling on a Highway, Interstate the steering becomes super sloppy and the car is difficult to control and maintain lanes in moderate wind conditions. You have to grip the steering wheel hard and fight to maintain your lane in the wind or pull off until the wind is under 10 mph. It is a... Read more
Incident date: May 18, 2023
After three BMW dealer visits and rear brakes having been bled, the rear brake pedal becomes soft and does not stop the motorcycle. The same problem occurred each time within 2-3 months of the repair. The only way to stop the motorcycle is to use the front brake. The BMW service department cannot explain the reason this keeps happening.
Incident date: Nov 15, 2020
The seat belt light stays on even when I have mines on and nobody is sitting in the passenger seat and the airbag light goes on and off for no reason
Incident date: May 15, 2023
I had the steering coupler replaced on 5/9/22 at the dealer. Now the steering coupler is clunking again & the dealer will not cover the repair. My car is now out of the 10 year warranty and the replaced steering coupler only had a 1 year warranty on it. This part should not have to be replaced yearly.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The clutch switch has failed open. If the engine stalls while in traffic, the rider is required to shift the transmission into neutral before the engine will restart. This could be a dangerous situation depending on what terrane the bike and rider are on. The normal operation for restart of the engine in a stall situation is to simply pull the clutch lever in and hit the start button. The starter ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, she heard an abnormal sound near the windshield. The contact then stated that the windshield trim panel detached from the windshield. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was transferred to th... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2023
The headlights and rain don’t mix at all I can’t see 3 feet i from it me and the wipers don’t clear the windshield fast enough they need to have led bulbs or design a new headlight
Incident date: Jun 20, 2020
While in cruise control the vehicle initiates braking rapidly for no reason. This happens at high speeds 55, 65 and 70 mph on clear roads. No vehicles in front of or coming from the other direction. There may be vehicles behind at times. It doesn’t happen all the time but happens enough to be a concern.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
At just under 54,000 miles, noticed a loud hum, thought it was a bad transmission, took it into the dealer (Walser Subaru of South St. Paul, MN) that concluded it was faulty rear wheel bearings on both sides, and told me it was a serious safety issue that should be fixed immediately. Had it fixed for $1,000 plus and problem seems to have been solved, but dealer reported that Subaru would take no r... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
The positive wire attaching to the outside of the battery box shorted against the mounting bolt, creating burn marks on the wire, the nut, the bolt and the insulator. This was discovered during an upgrade. It was hidden from sight by the side of the battery box and appears to have come from the factory this way. It appears that the wire spun during installation, creating a short.
Incident date: May 5, 2023
5/17/23 took vehicle to Dick Smith Hyundai for navigation issue, after being asked to park in a different spot brakes failed and car crashed into one of the dealer cars. Since owning the car for over 14 months without any brake issue I thought maybe my foot slipped off the brake. When leaving the dealer I tried braking several times with no issue. 5/26/23 while parking the car at a restaurant the ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 27, 2023
My 2019 Mazda CX-9 Signature has developed a coolant leak at the back side of the engine that is consistent with Mazda TSB 01-013/21. Coolant leaks down onto the oil filter and the exhaust where it's burned off. Currently, I can drive the vehicle, but I need to refill the radiator and coolant reservoir. I'm concerned about this developing into a catastrophic leak that could seize the engine or... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
I was driving and put on the air conditioner when a decrease in the engine power occurred. Then all the safety features installed on the car rotated on the dashboard, in addition the check engine light and all the other yellow lights were on and there was a lot of white smoke coming out of my exhaust.I then took it to my mechanic who diagnosed it as a turbo booster failure. It is a safety issue du... 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: Mar 22, 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 22, 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
My ball joints on both sides were completely gone, my struts have given out repaired all at the same time, because of those things going out it completely ruined my tires to where they squeak down the road. Both differentials are leaking and my transmission shutters, I also had to replace my water pump that was leaking cooling everywhere
Incident date: Apr 7, 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 12, 2023
Air bag light comes on intermittently. Current mileage 62,094. Noted 21 prior complaints on your site. Brought to dealer who told me the problem was with a wire harness failure. None of the safety air bags will operate/deploy when this light is on. A faulty harness that had failed will put me and my passengers in serious jeopardy of injury or death in the event of an accident. This diagnosis cost... Read more
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
Mercedes Benz via American Service Center in Arlington, VA regarding the service they performed on my 2015 C300 W4 4Door Sedan AWD the following issues have presented: ISSUE: 03MBZZWARN1 ENGINE LIGHT TECH: 901844 PROBLEM: ENGINE HARNESS, ENGINE CONTROL MODULE, CRANKCASE VENT VALVE, AND O2 SENSOR BANK 1 CAUSE: FOUND OIL IN THE ENGINE HARNESS AND ENGINE HARNESS. OIL IS ENTERING THREW [SIC] THE... Read more
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 22, 2023
When driving at certain lower speeds the vehicle is jerky. The car will go into high RPM's when excelerating even when not fully pressing the gas pedal. The engine is burning through oil very quickly. In less than a month from my oil change I have had to put 5 quarts in. When the cruise control is on it sometimes excelerates faster than what it is set for. This has been ongoing for about a year.... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2023
On 5/24/2023 while driving with a front passenger, the passenger seat belt warning light, chime and airbag warning came on for no reason. Stopped the car at a red traffic light and turned ignition off and then on to hopefully clear the warning. There was no power to any system. The ignition switch did not work and I could not get the transmission out of park to push the car off the road. Could not... Read more
Incident date: May 22, 2023
Truck completely lost power while driving on the highway 4 times and 4 other times during morning commute through busy streets. Dangerous circumstance to be put in while driving. Codes given at Auto Zone: P2112 U3013-16 U0401-02 U0401-00 U0131-00 U0151-00 U0100-00
Incident date: May 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 1500. The contact stated that on multiple occasions while shifted in reverse, the rearview camera displayed a blue or distorted screen. The contact stated that an un-named dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact to not take the vehicle in to be diagnosed since the VIN was not included in a recall. The contact was advised to call the NHTSA Hotline. Th... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2023
My vehicle malibu2020. When I park sometimes It says shift to park sign. On dash board. The makes it difficult for car. To shut. off i have to keep pressing the plus and minus sign on the gear shift to cut off.
Incident date: May 23, 2023
While driving at approximately 40mph, the power steering system failed without warning causing the vehicle to cross a double line into the oncoming lane. The vehicle was very difficult to steer. The message "Service Power Steering" appeared on the dashboard. The vehicle has not yet been independently inspected, but an online search revealed hundreds of similar cases of the electronic rack and p... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2023
Under acceleration the vehicle will sometimes enter into limp mode. Vehicle will violently brake and come to a halt and the driver can only accelerate up to +/-5MPH to be able to pull off to the side of the road. The deceleration when this happens is sudden and violent. During this event the steering wheel is difficult to turn. ALL dash warning and fault lights flash during the malfunction. Y... Read more
Incident date: May 22, 2023
While stopped at a “STOP” sign, the Subaru Forester unintentionally accelerated into a tree although the brake pedals were repeatedly utilized; it was totaled.
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Apr 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Honda Motorcycle Talon 1000X. The contact stated that while driving at a speed unknown, when it was placed into low gear and drive it would disengage from low gear causing the side-by-side to flip downhill. The contact hit another motorist and came to a stop. The contact received injuries to their hands however due to them being harnessed in they did not receive many injuri... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the sunroof exploded. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 19,000.
Incident date: May 10, 2023
I purchased this vehicle from carmax in November. I didn't even have it for a month and there quite a few things wrong. When I took it back to the dealership they "Couldn't recreate the problem" but wouldn't Give me Back my car. They kept it for 6 months. In that time they ended up doing a bunch of repairs, including putting in a new transmission. I have not had it back for a full week and drivi... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2023
I recently traded in my 2017 Tesla Model X for a 2023 Tesla Model X. I am concerned the falcon wing doors on the 2023 Model X do not have the same safety features they did on the 2017 Model X, posing greater risk of injury and harm. My 10 year old daughter suffered a concussion when the falcon wing door opened, failed to detect her standing nearby, and hit her on the head. I brought the car in... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: May 22, 2023
Starting in June 2018, I have had seven episodes of unintended acceleration. (I have owned the car, purchased in private sale, since June of 2013.) There were common elements to each incident:1. gradually slowing; 2. foot on brake; 3. engine accelerates sharply, a moment before complete stop in first six, a moment after in seventh and last. In each incident able to maintain control as foot alrea... Read more
Incident date: May 22, 2023
On May 5, 2023 I was driving home when my new 2022 Ram 1500 ECODIESEL truck broke down. It has been at the dealership ever since then. The high pressure fuel pump went out. The dealership requested that I call Chrysler and request a buy back process because the pumps has a recall on it. So I called Chrysler and requested the buy back process and was informed by Chrysler today since they don’t ha... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2023
‘’’’’’FRAME’’’’’’I was heading to work and and something snapped while driving. I then brought vehicle to fire stone in Kingsport tn. I was told it tie rod end had it replaced well the sound was still thier. Then I returned with vehicle pitman arm and bracket replaced nope banging noise was still there. I then called corporate up spoke Mike I was told to return the vehicle... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 19, 2023
At 35,000 miles on vehicle the ABS and service braking system started alarming and illuminating, stopped for a couple of days then started again, this is a daily driver vehicle. (ABS Module/HCU ?). The alarm is becoming for frequent.
Incident date: May 20, 2023
Hybrid battery overheats after an hour of driving at high speeds. Car battery shuts down and becomes immobile.
Incident date: May 15, 2023
The vats system is the problem on my 96 Impala it just shut my car off for the past 3 mos
Incident date: Apr 1, 2023
2022 Audi S4- letter from lawyer representing consumer in reference to the Ohio Lemon Law. Consumer is requesting refund of purchase price of vehicle. Purchase agreement and repair invoices attached.
Incident date: Apr 30, 2023
- Sensor in seatbelt, causing airbags not to deploy (airbag light is on) -Since the airbags will not deploy, this is a danger -The dealer, Avalon Honda, confirmed that replacement of this part is warrantied for life by Honda. They are willing to replace it at no cost but the part has been on "Critical Back Order" status since the problem emerged for us (November 2022). Avalon Honda has not been ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while driving at highway speeds, the vehicle failed to drive in a straight line. Additionally, the vehicle would not immediately respond while turning the steering wheel in either direction. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. Additionally, while driving 70 MPH,... Read more
Incident date: Nov 14, 2022
Service electronic brake system/antilock brakes comes on and off with disabling of antilock brakes, cruise control and anti skid while driving.
Incident date: Feb 14, 2023
Front left window trim coming off.
Incident date: Apr 30, 2023
Vehicle safety concern, door lock actuator FAILS to lock or unlock. Hardware affected: Electrical Door Lock Actuator Vehicle has a recorded mileage of 30,000 miles when incident occurred. Description of issue, unable to lock/unlock using the key fob, unable to lock/unlock using the door switch, walkaway function inoperable, no audible beep when locking/unlocking, remote start inoperable, unabl... Read more
Incident date: Apr 30, 2023
New battery, plugs and wires, new alternator. It will run for 5 seconds after jumping, then lights pop on and it dies. When jumping the negative also throws a spark while trying to start.
Incident date: May 14, 2023
March 2020, first time the Power Steering Fault message appeared on the Instrument Message Area. I have immediatly contacted Ford in Germany. They said there is no recall for my car regarding steering items. November 2020 onwards until April 2023 the message Power Steering Faul appeared every 3-6 months. Again. November 2020 I have contacted Ford without success; the answer was the same: No recall... Read more