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 9, 2022
The the vehicle sits out in the sunlight or its warm outside (usually over 80F) the steering wheel will get very notchy and “stick” towards the center position at highway speeds. This makes minor steering corrections at highway speeds very difficult to make without unintentionally leaving your own lane possibly into another car. This is very much a safety issue! This has happened on multiple... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2022
When the vehicle is exposed to heat, the seat belt does not buckle. The release button stays jammed and the seat belt does not fully secure. The light goes off but the seat belt will release with some tension. It only happens when the car is hot. It could seriously put people at risk if it is not addressed.
Incident date: Jun 9, 2022
Exhaust smell from engine bay area comes into car since I bought the car. I reported this problem to the dealer and no solution was found. EGR cooler was not replaced even though I get the recall since 2018 and it states that the exhaust smell could possibly comes from EGR. Problem needs to be addressed by BMW since I use this car to drive my infant. Please advise!
Incident date: Oct 9, 2021
The contact owns a 2019 BMW X3. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, an unknown warning light was illuminated with a message displayed stating that the vehicle would turn off shortly, and to keep the vehicle function active, switch to Ready Mode. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact stated that an unknown part was replaced however, the warning light remai... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
When driving for more than 10 minutes I am noticing smoke coming from the near the engine compartment and strong smell of burning plastic. It smells and appears as if something will catch on fire if I don’t shut off the vehicle. A similar issue was previously reported for older models, which had led to a recall. In that recall the problem stemmed from a manufacturing defect involving the PCV va... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
When driving for more than 10 minutes I am noticing smoke coming from the near the engine compartment and strong smell of burning plastic. It smells and appears as if something will catch on fire if I don’t shut off the vehicle. A similar issue was previously reported for older models, which had led to a recall. In that recall the problem stemmed from a manufacturing defect involving the PCV va... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2022
When driving for more than 10 minutes I am noticing smoke coming from the near the engine compartment and strong smell of burning plastic. It smells and appears as if something will catch on fire if I don’t shut off the vehicle. A similar issue was previously reported for older models, which had led to a recall. In that recall the problem stemmed from a manufacturing defect involving the PCV va... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2020
The contact owns a 2020 BMW M4. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, there was a failure with the wheelbase and the front end was raising off the ground while turning. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The contact performed a personal diagnosis with adaptive mobility deactivated. The vehicle was towed to the residence and then towed to the local dealer to... Read more
Incident date: Aug 31, 2020
The contact owns a 2020 BMW M4. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, there was a failure with the wheelbase and the front end was raising off the ground while turning. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The contact performed a personal diagnosis with adaptive mobility deactivated. The vehicle was towed to the residence and then towed to the local dealer to... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328XI. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) 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 contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle overheated while the H... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2022
The contact owns a 2009 BMW 528I. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would overheat. An unknown warning light was illuminated and a warning message that the vehicle was overheating and to slow down and stop t... Read more
Incident date: Aug 20, 2019
While driving I have received engine malfunction and steering becomes hard and unsafe. Have had the engine belt shred to pieces and case major issues. Same repair has been completed multiple times. Great vehicle becoming unsafe to have on the road. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Engine Malfunction, Battery Malfunction and Yes. Ho... Read more
Incident date: Jun 7, 2022
Central locking module failed , car will not lock unlock
Incident date: May 1, 2022
There is a light that came on that states Transmission: secure vehicle against rolling. This is a common problem with these cars and is very expensive to fix. This is a defect in these cars and I don’t want to find out what will happen in the event that my car does roll especially my children in the car. I chose BMW because it is not only a luxury vehicle but was suppose to be safe. This to me i... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2022
There is a light that came on that states Transmission: secure vehicle against rolling. This is a common problem with these cars and is very expensive to fix. This is a defect in these cars and I don’t want to find out what will happen in the event that my car does roll especially my children in the car. I chose BMW because it is not only a luxury vehicle but was suppose to be safe. This to me i... Read more
Incident date: Jun 3, 2022
Drivers side rear control arm snapped in half (sheered cut). The aluminum solid piece broke in half, this is to knowledge an oem original part that was not replaced. Resulted in suspension and alignment issue, uneven tread wear on all four tires (excessive wear on short amount of time causing me to replace all tires).
Incident date: Jun 3, 2022
Drivers side rear control arm snapped in half (sheered cut). The aluminum solid piece broke in half, this is to knowledge an oem original part that was not replaced. Resulted in suspension and alignment issue, uneven tread wear on all four tires (excessive wear on short amount of time causing me to replace all tires).
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 328i. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V683000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) and 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that the engine was overheating. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufa... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 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. 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 and confirmed remedy was no... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2022
I have two BMW cars: BMW 528Xi 2008 [XXX] BMW 328Xi. 2007 [XXX] both are under active recall notice with no remedy available; I have contacted BMW USA for solutions: 1. repair the vehicles 2. offer loaner 3. buy back the vehicles they have refused all of the above my cars are a possible fire hazard when driven; kindly explore all options available if no remedy is available from t... Read more
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 BMW 325XIT. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) 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 manu... Read more
Incident date: Jun 6, 2022
The contact owns a 2012 BMW X3. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle was shaking and hesitating during acceleration. An unknown warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V176000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The vehicle was not re... Read more
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 not yet available. 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 ... Read more
Incident date: May 13, 2022
The contact owns a 2007 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) 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 manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 5, 2022
Was driving on the freeway, not more than 60mph, no over bridges, no potholes, no people, and heard some exploded over my head. I pulled the car over and saw the sunroof was shattered. I didn’t see any heavy object flying. After reaching home, I searched online what could be the reasons and found there were 100s of cases like this already reports.
Incident date: Jun 5, 2022
RANGE extender intermittintly doesnt start when electric is low cause dangerous loss of complete power . exacerbated by the fact that it becomes nearly impossible for two people to push in neutral on level ground .
Incident date: Jun 5, 2022
RANGE extender intermittintly doesnt start when electric is low cause dangerous loss of complete power . exacerbated by the fact that it becomes nearly impossible for two people to push in neutral on level ground .
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 BMW X3. 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 not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool conf... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 BMW X3. 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 contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine coolant warning light illuminate... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 BMW X3. 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 contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine coolant warning light illuminate... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2007 BMW X3. The contact stated that there was an abnormal odor of burning plastic inside the vehicle. The contact stated that the heater was inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was c... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2022
The car has a faulty cup holder that allows fluid to leak. Below the cup holder is Crash Module, which controls the airbags and all the safety restraint system. I had a minor amount of fluid leak. This caused corrosion on the ASCM module. BMW is fighting me in paying for this. Based on my research there have been hundreds of incidents and a class action lawsuit. This is clearly a defect in design.... Read more
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 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: Apr 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2012 BMW 128i. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. 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 ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 2, 2020
The contact's brother owns a 2006 BMW 330XI. The contact stated while his mother was driving approximately 30-40 MPH, she smelled a burning plastic odor and the vehicle started to overheat. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving. The coolant temperature warning light illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road. The... Read more
Incident date: Apr 26, 2022
Air bags deployed after collision, vehicle has been released from Falcon Towing 15600 S Main St, Gardena, CA 90248 to Automobile Club for inspection. Injuries sustained from airbag deploying include, but are not limited to, lacerations, abrasions, bruising as a broken rib and collapsed lung.
Crash
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 BMW X5. The contact stated that his foot was caught on the mat and the vehicle accelerated. The contact had to engage the parking brake to stop the vehicle. There were no warning indicator lights illuminated. While the vehicle was idling in the driveway, the vehicle lunged forward, crashed into an unknown vehicle and the vehicle drove into the garage. There was no reported... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 BMW X5. The contact stated that his foot was caught on the mat and the vehicle accelerated. The contact had to engage the parking brake to stop the vehicle. There were no warning indicator lights illuminated. While the vehicle was idling in the driveway, the vehicle lunged forward, crashed into an unknown vehicle and the vehicle drove into the garage. There was no reported... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jun 2, 2021
The wiring in my headlight assembly is crumbling and the headlight is shorting out. The coating on the wiring is trash. I own a 08 Bmw550i. BMW should be ashamed. Thanks [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Incident date: Jun 2, 2021
The wiring in my headlight assembly is crumbling and the headlight is shorting out. The coating on the wiring is trash. I own a 08 Bmw550i. BMW should be ashamed. Thanks [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Incident date: May 9, 2022
Brake vacuum pump brake pedal is too low
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
2013 BMW X3. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO VEHICLE SHUTTING DOWN ABRUPTLY WITHOUT WARNING. THE CONSUMER STATED IT WAS DIFFICULT TO TOW THE VEHICLE BECAUSE THE SHIFT LEVER WAS LOCKED INTO PLACE. THE DEALER STATED THE TIMING CHAIN MAY HAVE FAILED. THE ENGINE WOULD PROBABLY NEED TO BE REPLACED.
Incident date: Apr 5, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 BMW X5. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated while driving approximately 35-40 MPH, the vehicle started overheating and an unknown warning light illuminated. The contact veered to side of the road an... Read more
Incident date: Apr 2, 2022
Keep getting the p0015 code changed all sensors that come with code and I keep getting a high pitched noise once car gets hot.
Incident date: Apr 2, 2022
Keep getting the p0015 code changed all sensors that come with code and I keep getting a high pitched noise once car gets hot.
Incident date: Apr 2, 2022
Keep getting the p0015 code changed all sensors that come with code and I keep getting a high pitched noise once car gets hot.
Incident date: May 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 BMW X3. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, there was an abnormal growling sound coming from the engine. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the abnormal sounds intensified while depressing the accelerator pedal and would stop when the vehicle was idling. The dealer was notified of the failure and advised the contact to stop driving the ve... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2010 BMW X3. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, there was an abnormal growling sound coming from the engine. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the abnormal sounds intensified while depressing the accelerator pedal and would stop when the vehicle was idling. The dealer was notified of the failure and advised the contact to stop driving the ve... Read more
Incident date: May 11, 2022
About a year ago, coffee began leaking from below from a paper cup in the plastic cupholder of my x5. I immediately noticed it and cleaned it up. Approximately 1-2 ounces of liquid leaked into the plastic cupholder. On May 11, 2022, the Passenger Restraint System faulted and the light came on. The vehicle was inspected by BMW of Austin and stated that liquid seeped onto the Airbag Control Modu... Read more