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: Sep 8, 2022
Diesel Emissions System is producing an error code due to incorrect coding by the manufacturer for US grade Diesel fuel. Check engine light has come on. There are warranties out for the model years just slightly older than mine. I have read many threads with people talking about having the same issue.
Incident date: Jun 9, 2022
Active Air Flap fault, Upper and Lower Actuator is not working and that is why engine is overheating. BMW has extended this warranty to 10 years/120K miles for 750 and 550 series manufactured up to Aug 2019. But they have not done that on 740 series. My vehicle has the same problem and should be covered under the same in order to avoid engine damage. Please advice the next step. The fault code are... Read more
Incident date: Mar 28, 2022
The electric parking gear shift slipped out of park on it own. When I stepped out of the car and the gear was placed in P park position, I got out the car was completely in park and not moving, I went to open my garage and planned to come back and drive car in garage. The car automatically with no one driving slipped into another gear on its own, I looked up as I was opening garage the car was dri... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Mar 28, 2022
The electric parking gear shift slipped out of park on it own. When I stepped out of the car and the gear was placed in P park position, I got out the car was completely in park and not moving, I went to open my garage and planned to come back and drive car in garage. The car automatically with no one driving slipped into another gear on its own, I looked up as I was opening garage the car was dri... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Mar 28, 2022
The electric parking gear shift slipped out of park on it own. When I stepped out of the car and the gear was placed in P park position, I got out the car was completely in park and not moving, I went to open my garage and planned to come back and drive car in garage. The car automatically with no one driving slipped into another gear on its own, I looked up as I was opening garage the car was dri... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Sep 5, 2022
Date of complete failure noted below (09/05/22) On 2 previous occasions, approx. 7 days earlier and a week earlier as car was making a slow left turn, not from a stop, one rear wheel shuddered, and the engine seemed to rev as if missed a gear. I lifted off the throttle, and then the car operated normally. The complete failure occurred (3rd occurance) on Sept. 7. Accelerating slowly from a traff... Read more
Incident date: Sep 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 BMW 535D. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V907000 (Fuel System, Diesel) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The dealer was not made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distributio... Read more
Incident date: Nov 19, 2021
The contact owns a 2014 BMW X5. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V907000 (Fuel System, Diesel) 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 dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer w... Read more
Incident date: Sep 7, 2022
There is a transmission recall on 2022 530i vehicles and my VIN number needs to be included. My vehicle constantly jerks forward and the vehicle dashboard does not set off any alerts.
Incident date: Aug 14, 2022
Hi, I have bought BMW x5 2017 from certified dealer in Nov 2020. From the beginning, vehicle is giving me problems. I spoke with BMW customer care and they are not helping me much. Below are the problems that vehicle has given me. They are so many other problems but I am noting the major problems. 1. Vibration during acceleration 2. The rear suspension got broke 3. Vehicle stopped on the road... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2022
Hi, I have bought BMW x5 2017 from certified dealer in Nov 2020. From the beginning, vehicle is giving me problems. I spoke with BMW customer care and they are not helping me much. Below are the problems that vehicle has given me. They are so many other problems but I am noting the major problems. 1. Vibration during acceleration 2. The rear suspension got broke 3. Vehicle stopped on the road... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2022
Hi, I have bought BMW x5 2017 from certified dealer in Nov 2020. From the beginning, vehicle is giving me problems. I spoke with BMW customer care and they are not helping me much. Below are the problems that vehicle has given me. They are so many other problems but I am noting the major problems. 1. Vibration during acceleration 2. The rear suspension got broke 3. Vehicle stopped on the road... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 BMW X5. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V907000 (Fuel System, Diesel). The contact had suffered a failure when the vehicle overheated. The contact drove the vehicle to a dealer who diagnosed that the EGR cooler needed to be replaced; however, the part to do the recall repair was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceed... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2021
i was told by BMW that my vehicle doesn't qualify for RECALL 21V-586. however my high pressure fuel pump failed at about 130,000 miles. i am trying to be reimbursed for my cost of parts under the TREAD ACT but BMW says my vin wasn't included by NHTSA. the recall seems to cover all BMW diesels from 2014 to 2018. please help. Michael Kanterakis, [email protected] 973-432-0673. thanks
Incident date: Sep 5, 2022
Development of a major fuel leak after starting motorcycle, leak is coming from the high pressure fitting on the fuel pump. Very dangerous as the fuel is dripping on the hot exhaust and pooling on top of the fuel pump. Risk of fire and possibility of fuel getting on pant leg and burning riders leg. I talked to a couple dealers in the Phoenix area and it’s more common than not.
Incident date: Apr 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 528I. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact stated that while driving, she noticed that smoke was coming from the hood of the vehicle. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the PCV valve needed to be replaced; however, the part to do the r... Read more
Incident date: May 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2012 BMW 328I. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the "Contact BMW" and "Stop Driving" messages were displayed. The contact stated that the power brakes and power steering became inoperable whenever the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled at various speeds and became more frequent. The contact pulled off... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2022
Hello, I bought this Vehicle from Bridgewater BMW on Aug 22 in New Jersey and the very next day got a call from Roshad Petteway of BMW NA about the recall for the battery and had it towed back to the dealership. BMW Failed to notify the Dealer as they were unaware of the recall and sole me a recalled vehicle which Iam paying the loan with no vehicle now .
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. 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 not experienced a failure. VIN tool confir... Read more
Incident date: Jun 30, 2022
Front driveshaft broke at U-joint while driving Front driveshaft was showing signs of rust prior to the incident but unknown at the time that it was a more serious, known issue with the previous model. I believe this to be the exact same problem as the 2010-2013 BMW x5 E70 chassis (recall 17V-138). I saw the BMW service bulletin (unfortunately after the incident) which would have clearly shown me... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2022
The car had been running properly for months/years without any complaints. Last week while driving on a surface street, after a turn, the car that was going at about 40 MPH, suddenly started accelerating by itself to may be 70 or 80 MPH, this confused and shocked the driver and to avoid hitting the cars in front, the driver crashed the car into a tree. The car was totaled, fortunately the driver d... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Sep 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 BMW 328D. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V907000 (Fuel System, Diesel) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted and informed the contact that parts to do the recall repair were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the reca... Read more
Incident date: Mar 6, 2020
The contact owns a 2015 BMW X5. The contact received recall notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V907000 (Fuel System, Diesel). However, the parts to do the recall repair were not yet available. The contact stated that while driving speeds, the vehicle emitted abnormal knocking sounds intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who informed the contact that they could not duplicate the... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
BMW 328I check engine sensor light on code p0281 to replace coolant thermostat. Part has been replaced and code continually appears something’s as ABS CHASIS malfunction sensor or check engine. Code also reads thermostat stuck open.
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
Car just wouldn't start one day. Drivetrain malfunction warning indicating timing chain replacement. Car just sits in my driveway. Will cost 6 grand to fix. Timing Chain failure probably effected my engine.
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
Car just wouldn't start one day. Drivetrain malfunction warning indicating timing chain replacement. Car just sits in my driveway. Will cost 6 grand to fix. Timing Chain failure probably effected my engine.
Incident date: May 9, 2022
When the engine cooling system fails (which is common) the vehicle shuts down wherever it is....the occupants of the vehicle are in high traffic areas and are subject to being injured and/or killed as a result of the vehicle being undrivable at the time. It is VITAL that BMW be held responsible for the cooling system(s) optimal operation regardless of the age or mileage of the vehicle due to the ... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2022
When the engine cooling system fails (which is common) the vehicle shuts down wherever it is....the occupants of the vehicle are in high traffic areas and are subject to being injured and/or killed as a result of the vehicle being undrivable at the time. It is VITAL that BMW be held responsible for the cooling system(s) optimal operation regardless of the age or mileage of the vehicle due to the ... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2022
When the engine cooling system fails (which is common) the vehicle shuts down wherever it is....the occupants of the vehicle are in high traffic areas and are subject to being injured and/or killed as a result of the vehicle being undrivable at the time. It is VITAL that BMW be held responsible for the cooling system(s) optimal operation regardless of the age or mileage of the vehicle due to the ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
This car is not safe to drive, when you accelerate lots of black smoke come from tail pipe and loose power at the same time, Its burning through spark plugs Im having to change them at least every 2 wks plugs cost 15$ a piece, Its burning through oil oil leaks popping up random all over every 2 weeks its burning through 5 quarts of oil ,oil is 18$ a quart, Do to the lose of power i have to take th... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
This car is not safe to drive, when you accelerate lots of black smoke come from tail pipe and loose power at the same time, Its burning through spark plugs Im having to change them at least every 2 wks plugs cost 15$ a piece, Its burning through oil oil leaks popping up random all over every 2 weeks its burning through 5 quarts of oil ,oil is 18$ a quart, Do to the lose of power i have to take th... Read more
Incident date: Jun 12, 2022
I have water leaking out of myBMW on a regular basis. I have to put a gallon of water every time I want to drive it. The oil is constantly needing to be filled. I go through a qt a day in oil. There is oil leaking all over the ground. Not sure if the water is leaking as well.
Incident date: Aug 29, 2022
car went into transmission malfunction and speed was reduced when I was going at high speed. could have caused an accident but luckily I am a good driver so accident was avoided.
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
Engine light comes on and the code says: error code 24BF00 - Injector #2 "zero-quantity adaptation injector cylinder 1: permitted filtered actuation duration correction too high I found a 10yr/120k extended warranty on N47T diesel injectors https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...67976-9999.pdf but the document only lists Sedan and Wagon N47T models, the X3 with same engine is excluded. Would ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
Engine light comes on and the code says: error code 24BF00 - Injector #2 "zero-quantity adaptation injector cylinder 1: permitted filtered actuation duration correction too high I found a 10yr/120k extended warranty on N47T diesel injectors https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...67976-9999.pdf but the document only lists Sedan and Wagon N47T models, the X3 with same engine is excluded. Would ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 3, 2022
The design of the front drivers and passenger seat includes a hard insert right in the center of the headrest. My wife's head directly hits this hard insert when she is sitting normally in the seat. We are very concerned that in the event of an accident, she would suffer a serious head injury.
Incident date: Aug 23, 2022
Driving to work and the engine oil pressure warning came up and the car began to decelerate and once completely stopped the power train malfunction warning popped up and I couldn’t restart the engine. Towed to BMW of Toledo and was Told the timing chain broke and destroyed the engine.
Incident date: Aug 23, 2022
Driving to work and the engine oil pressure warning came up and the car began to decelerate and once completely stopped the power train malfunction warning popped up and I couldn’t restart the engine. Towed to BMW of Toledo and was Told the timing chain broke and destroyed the engine.
Incident date: Aug 16, 2022
Took new bike to dealer. A “extra” valve keeper was found in oil. Dealer tore engine apart and found all valve keeps in place. If the extra part in engine woulda cause engine to fail at Highway speeds dead coulda happened. I’ve called bam corporate and the case manager has not called me back. I can’t get beyond “customer service”
Incident date: Sep 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 325i. The contact stated that the dealer had previously replaced the passenger's side front seat air bag sensor and steering wheel air bag sensor; however, the failure recurred while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, with the air bag warning light being illuminated. The dealer was made aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 BMW 328D. The contact stated that occasionally, the front driver's side door failed to unlock as needed. The contact was concerned that if there was an emergency he might be unable to exit the vehicle. No warning light was illuminated. The dealer was notified of the failure however, the contact stated that no further assistance was provided. The vehicle was not diagnosed. T... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2022
The brake vacuum pump has leaked a small amount of lubricating oil into the hose. This contamination resulted in a loss of power assist braking. The loss of power assist in braking has increased stopping distance and lead to a near vehicle crash. No indicator lights were present. Repair: Replacement of the brake vacuum line with one that contains a check valve, eliminating the possibility that ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
Front drive shaft broke while driving and almost lost control.
Incident date: Aug 17, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 BMW 550i. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the warning message illuminated on the instrument panel stating, “Driving moderately and drive pit not available”. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the high-speed fuel pump on the passenger’s side was replaced but the failure continued. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and the high-speed pressure sensor... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2022
Back panel of sunroof shade comes off track and may get stuck inside the headliner, generally due to adhesive failure or broken clips. Seems to be a common issue for this year/model. Can cause car to reach unsafe temperatures in warm climates with shade stuck open. Can also cause shade to fall down and obstruct driver’s view. Warranties generally won’t cover repair since it is not a motor fail... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2022
The UTQG ratings on these tires are fraudulent. The ratings give an A grade for temperature over 115 but these tires wear out rapidly in Arizona. They also rate the tire wear at 400 which is also fraudulent. On my own vehicle I get less than 11,000 miles on each set and I’ve seen online complaints as low as 6,000 miles to failure. This is consumer fraud and tires that wear down this rapidly a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2022
The UTQG ratings on these tires are fraudulent. The ratings give an A grade for temperature over 115 but these tires wear out rapidly in Arizona. They also rate the tire wear at 400 which is also fraudulent. On my own vehicle I get less than 11,000 miles on each set and I’ve seen online complaints as low as 6,000 miles to failure. This is consumer fraud and tires that wear down this rapidly a... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
There is a safety recall on my car. This recall involves an engine component known as the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve heater. The PCV valve heater may not have been produced to specifications which could lead to a short circuit. BMW DOES NOT HAVE AN AVAILABLE REMEDY FOR THIS RECALL AND DOES NOT HAVE ANY TIMELINE FOR FIXING IT.
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
There is a safety recall on my car. This recall involves an engine component known as the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve heater. The PCV valve heater may not have been produced to specifications which could lead to a short circuit. BMW DOES NOT HAVE AN AVAILABLE REMEDY FOR THIS RECALL AND DOES NOT HAVE ANY TIMELINE FOR FIXING IT.
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
There is a safety recall on my car. This recall involves an engine component known as the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve heater. The PCV valve heater may not have been produced to specifications which could lead to a short circuit. BMW DOES NOT HAVE AN AVAILABLE REMEDY FOR THIS RECALL AND DOES NOT HAVE ANY TIMELINE FOR FIXING IT.