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: Jul 22, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 BMW IX. The contact stated that three weeks after purchasing the vehicle, he was informed by the dealer that the vehicle was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V541000 (Electrical System) and that parts to do the recall repair was unavailable. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and remained in their possession. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact st... Read more
Incident date: Aug 24, 2022
BMW M 3 parked in the driveway and had been turned off for several hours I was wax the car when I noticed a puff of smoke coming out of the air condition vent so I sat in the driver seat to investigate out of habit I close the door I planed to open the windows and the convertible top to take a look the car went into antitheft mode and locked me inside the smoke became thick quickly I tried to br... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Sep 26, 2021
The contact owns a 2010 BMW 128I. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH, there were unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving; however, the failure reoccurred while driving. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle was experiencing excessive oil consumption. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the PCV valve had ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 21, 2022
STICKY STEERING AFTER CAR WARMS UP. STEERS LIKE A BOAT. DANGEROUS AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS OR WINDING ROAD.
Incident date: Sep 25, 2022
Operating vehicle at 35 mph battery light flashing and motorcycle died. The battery was replaced a week before.I tried to restart and the instrument panel wouldn't show anything. I bike didn't restart. I checked battery cables everything tight.
Incident date: Sep 15, 2022
As I was pulling into my assigned parking spot in my building complex. Both me and my 6yr old daughter were in the vehicle. As I was pulling into my parking spot and went to brake and put my vehicle in park- my brakes locked, gave out and the vehicle continued to proceed forward. As it proceeded forwarded, I immediately kept trying to brake- but because the vehicle is all wheel drive it accelerate... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 15, 2022
As I was pulling into my assigned parking spot in my building complex. Both me and my 6yr old daughter were in the vehicle. As I was pulling into my parking spot and went to brake and put my vehicle in park- my brakes locked, gave out and the vehicle continued to proceed forward. As it proceeded forwarded, I immediately kept trying to brake- but because the vehicle is all wheel drive it accelerate... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 15, 2022
As I was pulling into my assigned parking spot in my building complex. Both me and my 6yr old daughter were in the vehicle. As I was pulling into my parking spot and went to brake and put my vehicle in park- my brakes locked, gave out and the vehicle continued to proceed forward. As it proceeded forwarded, I immediately kept trying to brake- but because the vehicle is all wheel drive it accelerate... Read more
Crash
Incident date: May 27, 2021
I finance my car in 2016, the car was purchased at a third-party dealership, it only one previous owner. My car has two major recalls, BMW never notified me that there were any recalls and I never got any compensation such as fixing the car. Long story I lost my car in a car fire last year. My car was completely totaled and the car caught wire out of nowhere. I put an investigation through BMW of ... Read more
Crash
Fire
Incident date: Sep 24, 2022
Passenger seat in 2017 BMW 5 series cars have a well known and not covered fault where in a loud chiming will go off requiring the passenger seatbelt to be buckled. This chime does not stop and continues until the seat belt is buckled. There is nothing in the passengers seat. The noise is very loud and distracting. It occurs at random including driving at highway speeds. Upon bringing th... Read more
Incident date: Sep 24, 2022
Passenger seat in 2017 BMW 5 series cars have a well known and not covered fault where in a loud chiming will go off requiring the passenger seatbelt to be buckled. This chime does not stop and continues until the seat belt is buckled. There is nothing in the passengers seat. The noise is very loud and distracting. It occurs at random including driving at highway speeds. Upon bringing th... Read more
Incident date: Sep 24, 2022
Passenger seat in 2017 BMW 5 series cars have a well known and not covered fault where in a loud chiming will go off requiring the passenger seatbelt to be buckled. This chime does not stop and continues until the seat belt is buckled. There is nothing in the passengers seat. The noise is very loud and distracting. It occurs at random including driving at highway speeds. Upon bringing th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2022
The contact owns a 2009 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 vehicle started to overheat and she was only able to drive the vehicle for a few miles. The contact stated that smoke was coming from under the hood and from the exhaust. The contact ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 3, 2021
With under 90k miles on the vehicle, the car stalled on the highway. It was later diagnosed as a head gasket leak which caused coolant to leak into the combustion chamber thereby causing the vehicle to lose power. I contacted BMW North America and they did absolutely nothing to address the issue. They did have a computer related recall on the vehicle and I subsequently had it performed at one o... Read more
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
The contact owns a 2007 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine, Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted and it was confirmed that the part was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was m... Read more
Incident date: Sep 23, 2022
The contact owns a 2007 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 local dealer was contacted. 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... Read more
Incident date: Sep 14, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 128i. The contact stated that on several occasion while driving, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact also stated that when she attempted to restart the vehicle, the engine failed to turn over. No warning lights were illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that the engine would randomly start. The contact stated that the electrical system failed to ope... Read more
Incident date: Sep 21, 2022
The motorcycle is unstable at speeds above 60 mph from excessive wind buffeting. The issue is made even worse when riding on freeways with semi-trucks. The steering starts to shake and the motorcycle feels out of control.
Incident date: Sep 18, 2022
The brakes failed at high speed. Yes the vehicle is available for inspection. The car hit a barrier and flipped on its roof. Yes, I and my passenger were both at risk of serious injury. No independent confirmation has taken place at this time. No warning lights indicated malfunction.
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 BMW R1200 RT Motorcycle. The contact stated that while starting the motorcycle, fuel was spraying from the fuel line. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact called the local dealer but the motorcycle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V471000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) however, the VIN was not included. The... Read more
Incident date: Oct 14, 2021
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 328I. The contact stated that oil was leak from the vehicle. The contact then received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V119000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where she was informed that the oil leak was related to the PCV valve. The vehicle was taken to the ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 21, 2022
The car was riding alittle rough and upon inspection I had seen that the inside aidewall of both tires on the inside wall of tire was gone..!
Incident date: Sep 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 BMW 430I. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH, the warning message "Pull Over Vehicle Will Shut Off" was suddenly displayed and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the coolant hose was faulty and caused damage to the water pump. The coolant hose and water pump were replaced and the failure was remedied. Th... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
YEARS OF MY 335D OVERHEATING AND STALLING AND DEALER CANT FIGURE OUT THE ISSUE. I’VE REPLACED INJECTORS, DONE CARBON BLASTING, REPLACED NOX SENSOR, REPLACED WHOLE BATTERY/ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS. JUST RECENTLY REPLACED THE ALL BELTS, HOSES, AND EGR MODULE TO AVOID CATASTROPHIC RESULTS. AFTER REMOVING THE COMPONENTS YOU CAN SEE FLUIDS GOT MIXED AND EVEN GOT INTO MY TURBO ALL BECAUSE OF THE EGR WAS ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
YEARS OF MY 335D OVERHEATING AND STALLING AND DEALER CANT FIGURE OUT THE ISSUE. I’VE REPLACED INJECTORS, DONE CARBON BLASTING, REPLACED NOX SENSOR, REPLACED WHOLE BATTERY/ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS. JUST RECENTLY REPLACED THE ALL BELTS, HOSES, AND EGR MODULE TO AVOID CATASTROPHIC RESULTS. AFTER REMOVING THE COMPONENTS YOU CAN SEE FLUIDS GOT MIXED AND EVEN GOT INTO MY TURBO ALL BECAUSE OF THE EGR WAS ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
YEARS OF MY 335D OVERHEATING AND STALLING AND DEALER CANT FIGURE OUT THE ISSUE. I’VE REPLACED INJECTORS, DONE CARBON BLASTING, REPLACED NOX SENSOR, REPLACED WHOLE BATTERY/ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS. JUST RECENTLY REPLACED THE ALL BELTS, HOSES, AND EGR MODULE TO AVOID CATASTROPHIC RESULTS. AFTER REMOVING THE COMPONENTS YOU CAN SEE FLUIDS GOT MIXED AND EVEN GOT INTO MY TURBO ALL BECAUSE OF THE EGR WAS ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
Fuel tank ventilation system malfunctioning
Incident date: Sep 20, 2022
I am having the same exact issues at the models 2015 and up have experienced with the fuel injectors. 2014 wasn’t involved in the extension of the warranty when It experiences the same failures because It’s the same parts. I have 3 fault codes for injectors
Incident date: Sep 17, 2022
When I drive and come to a stop, the car shifts into nuetral. This has happened several times. I have to put the car in Park and restart it. We have checked the codes and have replaced the battery. The car only has 51k miles on it and is not driven more than 2-4 days a week.
Incident date: Sep 17, 2022
When I drive and come to a stop, the car shifts into nuetral. This has happened several times. I have to put the car in Park and restart it. We have checked the codes and have replaced the battery. The car only has 51k miles on it and is not driven more than 2-4 days a week.
Incident date: Sep 17, 2022
When I drive and come to a stop, the car shifts into nuetral. This has happened several times. I have to put the car in Park and restart it. We have checked the codes and have replaced the battery. The car only has 51k miles on it and is not driven more than 2-4 days a week.
Incident date: Aug 23, 2022
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Coolant lines How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? The car would state that it is overheating a month after oil change and fluids replaced Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Dealer confirmed that there is a coolant issue Has ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2022
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Coolant lines How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? The car would state that it is overheating a month after oil change and fluids replaced Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Dealer confirmed that there is a coolant issue Has ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 16, 2022
Under "B" drive mode which is the "one pedal driving" with automatic regenerative braking, occasionally when I release the pedal completely expecting the vehicle to slow down/stop, the vehicle instead will lunge forward. This has happened twice, thankfully at low speeds in a parking lot where I was able to slam on the brakes. On BMW forums, there are also others with the same issue so I figure i... Read more
Incident date: May 16, 2020
Rear drive shaft universal joint failed causing the motorcycle to lose power to the rear wheel. If I had been in a turn when the motorcycle lost power, I could have lost control of the vehicle, and my passenger and myself may have crashed and been harmed or died. Per BMW: There have been a mounting number of instances where condensation within the hollow swingarm unit has caused corrosion to acc... Read more
Incident date: Sep 12, 2022
Vehicle breaking down/stalling out due to overheating with no visible defects that would cause a vehicle to overheat. Vehicle is maintained regularly and very well taken care of but persists having overheating issues and smells of burning plastic or burning electrical smell with no visible cause. The most recent incident that occurred on 9/12/22 happened while I was making a very routine drive on ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 19, 2022
The drivers side (soft close door) motor or components is malfunctioning and not closing. It’s making a grinding noise.
Incident date: Sep 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, the battery had failed. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had the vehicle towed to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the battery, battery cable, and fuse box needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had been informed o... Read more
Incident date: Sep 6, 2022
The service indicator warning window obscures access to the TFT-display and the rider cannot use or see the display controls which include fuel tank levels, range etc. This is a potential hazard for an operator. The problem is exacerbated by limited availability of service appointments and in my case, the local dealer has been unable to upgrade/fix the BMW software needed to reset the service warn... Read more
Incident date: Sep 9, 2022
Error message "Secure Vehicle against rolling engage parking brake" on starting car and when parking. Come to find out there have been several complaints about 2017 BMW X1 having this same problem, error message caused by a faulty spring in the Shifter panel. Seems to me that this should be put on a Recall list as soon as possible as this could cause a safety issue if in fact the system malfunct... Read more
Incident date: Jul 3, 2022
-Windshield cracks spontaneously with no impact, while kept in desirable conditions, and while stationary -Steering wheel clicks at least 3 times when signaling and turning, verified defective at Advantage BMW; dealership GM tried to cover it up-Reported to Advantage BMW General Manager on or about June/July 2022; -GPS faulty, provides inaccurate directions that led to a brick wall, and nearly o... Read more
Incident date: Jul 3, 2022
-Windshield cracks spontaneously with no impact, while kept in desirable conditions, and while stationary -Steering wheel clicks at least 3 times when signaling and turning, verified defective at Advantage BMW; dealership GM tried to cover it up-Reported to Advantage BMW General Manager on or about June/July 2022; -GPS faulty, provides inaccurate directions that led to a brick wall, and nearly o... Read more
Incident date: Jul 3, 2022
-Windshield cracks spontaneously with no impact, while kept in desirable conditions, and while stationary -Steering wheel clicks at least 3 times when signaling and turning, verified defective at Advantage BMW; dealership GM tried to cover it up-Reported to Advantage BMW General Manager on or about June/July 2022; -GPS faulty, provides inaccurate directions that led to a brick wall, and nearly o... Read more
Incident date: Sep 16, 2022
The contact owns a 2006 BMW Z4. 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 check engine warning light illumi... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2022
On September 1st 2022, under heavy rain, the rear bumper fell partially, and the part that was still attached to the car dragged it along with the cables, camera, sensors, etc. The car only notified a sensor cleaning malfunction. I kept driving when saw the sensor warning. There was no noise or indication of anything going on in the car. It was when another driver made gestures for me to stop, and... Read more
Incident date: Mar 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2007 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 made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle made rattling noises with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the Vanos housing bolts had fractured and detached into the oil pan, causing damage to the engine. The dealer informed the contact that both of the variable camsh... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 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 while driving 35 mph, the Coolant Temperature warning light was illuminated, and he saw smoke existing from under the hood. The contact stated he continued driving to his residence. T... Read more
Incident date: Aug 24, 2022
The contact's son owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to an unknown dealer for battery replacement; however, 2-3 weeks later while her son was driving at an undisclosed speed, several unknown warning lights illuminated. Additionally, the turn signals failed to operate as needed. The vehicle was taken to a second dealer and the vehicle failed to restart. The dealer d... Read more
Incident date: Aug 18, 2019
I have had continuous issues with the electrical system in the front drivers side headlight with burnt plastic housing to the main headlight and the plug for the blinker system. Sometimes it will work and most of the time it won't. I cant tell you the amount of times it has stopped working in the middle of using the blinker. Every time I attempt to change it out, the bulb ends up still in good sh... Read more