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 28,307 complaints for BUICK
Incident date: Apr 19, 2025
Engine blew up on the highway and stranded my wife and 4 kids on a busy highway. Catastrophic engine failure on a brand new vehicle. GM is doing nothing to help with the situation. They said the engine is backordered and it might be months before they have a solution. This was a new 2024 $125k vehicle. GM has been terrible to deal with. They Refused a buyback. Dealership had several 2024 in for b... Read more
Incident date: Apr 19, 2025
In January 2023 our vehicle began having numerous issues with sensors, alarms, door locks, the car would turn itself on and drain the battery overnight and at times would not shut off without pulling the main fuse. Through research online it was clear that the problem was the Body Control Module (BCM). There are many, many reports online of the 2018 CRV having this problem, so I took it to the dea... Read more
Incident date: Apr 19, 2025
In January 2023 our vehicle began having numerous issues with sensors, alarms, door locks, the car would turn itself on and drain the battery overnight and at times would not shut off without pulling the main fuse. Through research online it was clear that the problem was the Body Control Module (BCM). There are many, many reports online of the 2018 CRV having this problem, so I took it to the dea... Read more
Incident date: Apr 17, 2025
This seems to be an on going problem for many Honda owners according to the forums. My Adaptive Cruise Control, lane keeping assistant, collision mitigation, road departure mitigation, and auto high beams have all gone out after going to the car wash. I have cleaned the windshield but I find it crazy that this is a common problem and there is no recall.
Incident date: Apr 17, 2025
July of 2023, lifters failed on left side of engine. Lifters replaced and cam shaft replaced. January 2025, lifters failed on right side of engine. Replaced. March 2025. Engine seized on interstate. Truck lost all power while driving, no warning signs prior. Dealership has no rental vehicles and we are not old enough to rent from a third party company so family had to drive 9 hours to our locati... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2025
Transmission engages and disengages periodically as i slow down or come to a stop. Shifts erratically while driving from 6 gear to 4th gear , and when accellerating it hesitates from 2nd to 3rd gear, then shifts hard to 4th gear where i have to press on the brake to stop it. My concern is when it down shifts hard while in traffic, almost got rear ended one time. Just not safe to drive, ive have ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ram 2500. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the ABS warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V896000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic). The vehicle was taken to two independent mechanics who informed the contact about the recall. The vehicle was taken to a transmission shop, and the contact was informe... Read more
Incident date: Apr 2, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 GMC Sierra 1500. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine compartment. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and discovered that the engine oil level was low. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The failure occurred on several different occasions. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, whe... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Lincoln Nautilus. The contact stated that while driving at slow speeds in stop-and-go traffic, the vehicle jerked abnormally. There was no warning light illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed. The contact was informed that the VIN was not under recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. Th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 8, 2024
Car is burning oil. Oil change done at 3k and no oil in vehicle at all. Transmission shakes violently on start up and first movement and slips shifting gears. No response sometimes when pressing gas pedal to go
Incident date: Oct 1, 2024
Car has 50,000 miles and vehicle has a bulletin on the vehicle from Audi, where the vehicle goes into limp mode and only shift through certain gears, rendering the vehicle, unable to drive and creating a safety hazard due to the fact that it can’t drive at Highway speed and or jolt and skips gears. Code for the P173600 known issue by Audi, went into mode while merging onto freeway and a lost con... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2024
I am speaking on behalf of my [XXX] mother who owns the car. Summarily, we took the car to two Lexus Service Repair shops (i.e. one in Glendale and one in Longo, El Monte). On [XXX], we the brake and tire sensor lights came on. We first took it to Lexus of Glendale. The diagnosis and estimate was to cover these items: tire sensors, brake sensor, brake pads, air filters, oil change, and nav system... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2025
The backup camera and related system on the 2022 Ford Explorer ST has malfunctioned and failed to show any images. I'd had the vehicle to the dealer on 3 occasions, whereby I've just learned the issue was improperly diagnosed by another dealer as a faulty camera, but the real problem of a faulty processor was diagnosed and therefore not replaced. This issue puts me, other vehicles and pedestrian... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2025
I purchased this vehicle brand new is 2021 with the 6.2 liter engine. I have had all the regular maintenance performed as scheduled with 90% being done at a Chevrolet dealership. My truck has around 90,000 miles on it and now the engine is out. It started with showing low oil at 50% oil life left. When I took it to have it checked, it was 3 quarts low on oil. I did another oil change and was told ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 17, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the transmission malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to violently jerk and hesitate. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was not yet been contacted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the local dealer for assistance. The failure mileage was... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2025
I was driving over 120 MPH and my car slid and hit the front car. My car later caught fire and ruptured shortly after. The FD extinguished it and it was a total loss. I have no clue as to where it was taken after the accident. Sorry :(
Crash
Fire
Incident date: Jan 6, 2025
ABS light comes on and off during operation, "service electronic brake system" notification flashes on and off as well. ABS does not work while light is on. A scanner has been run and the code is for the ABS module. We put children in this vehicle. This exact issue happened back in 2022 and the ABS HCU was replaced. We received a recall notice but are being told the truck has been repaired becaus... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2023
This vehicle is affected by the same symptoms as the service bulletin 24-117 2023-2025 CRV with the "sticky steering" recall. After doing some homework, Honda clearly needs to expand the recall to include ALL affected vehicles, including 2019-2022 CRV. These are the EXACT sympoms my vehicle is experiencing and yet my VIN "isn't included". The problem has been happening since before the 23-25 model... Read more
Incident date: Jul 12, 2011
The contact owns a 2002 Honda Civic. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V501000(Air Bags) and would like to be removed from the recall distribution list. The local dealer and manufacturer were contacted.
Incident date: Jul 12, 2011
The abs keeps randomly disabling and then coming back on. When this happens, the cruise control is canceled which causes a sudden change in speed unexpectedly. Also, the 4x4 gets disabled. I believe the issue is this: hydraulic control unit can malfunction, impacting ABS, electronic stability control, and traction control performance software issue in the Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) control... Read more
Incident date: Apr 3, 2025
All for the safety features light remains on after starting and driving my car. I drive my car for 2 to 3 days per week. The most recent maintenance on my car was the Honda recall and alignment at the dealer. Reading various chats this seems to be a comma issue for the Honda CRV. I am concerned if saftey features work and if my sensors are defected. I purchased my car December 2018 with lit... Read more
Incident date: Apr 3, 2025
I just bought this vehicle in February. Since then, about 4 times while driving when i came to a stop the car will not accelerate and the screen tells me to put car in “P” then shift into gear. One time I had to restart the car to put into gear. Then the car drives again.
Incident date: Apr 3, 2025
I just bought this vehicle in February. Since then, about 4 times while driving when i came to a stop the car will not accelerate and the screen tells me to put car in “P” then shift into gear. One time I had to restart the car to put into gear. Then the car drives again.
Incident date: Mar 31, 2025
Death wobble, while traveling down any road that has a bump or is not smooth as glass I get the front end wobble, the only way to stop it is to slow down, have had a couple near miss accidents because of this. This jeep is all original, second time in shop was told all original parts are fine no wear no loose parts. They are putting a steering damper on it. Was told by the dealership where it w... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2025
I’m experiencing a persistent issue with my truck. Once the vehicle exceeds 75 mph, it begins to shake significantly. I have taken it to three different Jeep dealerships, but none have been able to identify or resolve the problem. I was advised that the tires might be the cause, so I replaced all four tires with new ones. However, the issue still persists. After researching online, I’ve found... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2025
The headlights are horrible for night time driving. The low beam lights are nearly invisible, which leaves you no choice but to drive with high beam lights and still poses a serious safety risk. Vehicle was taken to dealership and asked if there had been any recalls on the headlights because they’re very dangerous, can’t see anything at night.
Incident date: Mar 7, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 2500. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V896000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not 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... Read more
Incident date: Apr 2, 2025
My car is an EV. I was charging the vehicle and it quit. I had just enough charge to limp to the dealership where it was diagnosed with ICCU failure. According to you records my car is not under a recall but the part failed. Glad I wasn't on the road. So my car has sat at the dealership since February 24th. Hyundai doesn't seem concerned about getting the parts to the dealership. This is wh... Read more
Incident date: Apr 2, 2025
The truck suddenly and completely shut down while I was driving on the highway, with no warning signs before the total power loss. This unexpected failure put me in a dangerous situation. The vehicle had to be towed to the dealership where it was purchased, and after inspection, the dealer informed me that the engine had completely failed and now requires a full replacement.
Incident date: Apr 2, 2025
While driving the car stalled. It happened multiple times. While driving and at a stop.
Incident date: Mar 31, 2025
After coming to a complete start at a stop light the engine failed to restart when I took my foot off the brake. Car turned off completely and I needed to push power button to restart car. This was very dangerous with the delay in getting car restarted in traffic. This has happened a number of times. I told the dealer and they told me it was user error.
Incident date: Mar 31, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who observed a misfire in cylinder #2, due to coolant intrusion, causing engine damage. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the fa... Read more
Incident date: Mar 31, 2025
The instrument panel cluster (IPC) display has started flickering on and off, progressively getting worse until it goes dark. The problem is intermittent and seems to be happening more frequently over time. This issue is distracting when driving; the display shows critical vehicle information.
Incident date: Mar 28, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled the contact could not confirm which warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was able to restart. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V011000 (Power Train); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle w... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2025
The car apparently leaked coolant into the engine was given an estimate of $9425.09 to replace the long block assembly. Apparently this is a no issue from Ford Motor Company. I did write a letter to Ford as well as spoke to someone on the phone. He acknowledged that this was unknown issue and that they were in no position to do anything financially to help.
Incident date: Mar 27, 2025
6.2L L87 Engine Failure with 36,000 miles on it. While driving on the highway and attempting to pass another vehicle that was traveling on a 2-lane highway the car suddenly died, and the transmission shifted into neutral. When I noticed the vehicle would not accelerate, I looked down and saw the push to start warning and tried to restart the vehicle with no response. I had to allow the vehicle I w... Read more
Incident date: Mar 27, 2025
6.2L L87 Engine Failure with 36,000 miles on it. While driving on the highway and attempting to pass another vehicle that was traveling on a 2-lane highway the car suddenly died, and the transmission shifted into neutral. When I noticed the vehicle would not accelerate, I looked down and saw the push to start warning and tried to restart the vehicle with no response. I had to allow the vehicle I w... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
Vehicle arriving and parked in parking spot. Occupants tried to leave vehicle and doors would not unlock. Had to use keyfob whicle still inside of vehicle. Door unlock buttons were not working to unlock doors. Only front doors unlocked but rear doors remained locked trapping 1 occupant in the rear. Driver exited the vehicle and the alarm went off. Driver had to try multiple times to shut off alar... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
The multifunction forward looking camera in the top of the windshield developed an "internal fault" and either needs replacement or these safety features will fail to work. These safety features allow me to avoid accidents. The problem has been confirmed by the dealer. There are warning lamps that state that these features are no longer working.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
The multifunction forward looking camera in the top of the windshield developed an "internal fault" and either needs replacement or these safety features will fail to work. These safety features allow me to avoid accidents. The problem has been confirmed by the dealer. There are warning lamps that state that these features are no longer working.
Incident date: Mar 20, 2025
Passenger side head light and maker light are allowing water to enter the housing and fogging up the lens/headlight reducing effectiveness. Driver side is OK This has been happening for several weeks getting worse
Incident date: Mar 20, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Prius. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed heat exchanger, catalytic converter, and exhaust system. The contact was informed that the heat exchanger, the catalytic converter, and the exhaust system needed to be replaced. The vehic... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Prius. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed heat exchanger, catalytic converter, and exhaust system. The contact was informed that the heat exchanger, the catalytic converter, and the exhaust system needed to be replaced. The vehic... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2025
Transmission overheated and started sporadically shifting out of nowhere. Going 70mph on the highway in 10th gear and suddenly downshifted to 3rd gear then back to 8th then to 5th then 1st and back to 8th. Truck jerked all around and took all i had to keep it on the road and pull over in a safe manner. Had an independent mechanic come look at it where i pulled over at. He couldn't find any issues.... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2025
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start at the initial attempt. The contact stated that the vehicle eventually started after several attempts. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle hesitated and failed to accelerate properly while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2025
P0401 ERROR EGR VALVE NOT RECEIVING ENOUGH FUEL
Incident date: Mar 19, 2025
This vehicle is impacted by the “sticky steering” issues that led to the recall of 2022-25 Model Year Honda Civics. This gearbox issue is NOT restricted to just those model years.
Incident date: Mar 19, 2025
I was driving 50 mph, "BRAKE" lit up, immediately my car slammed on the brakes while I had my foot on the gas pedal! Cruise control was not on. Nothing was in front of me - no cars, snow, rain, plastic bag, etc. This has happened many times before. I thought it had to do with Automatic Cruise Control, but it's much worse. I told the dealership and taken it in many times & I have written to Honda... Read more
Incident date: Mar 16, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle shuddered with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with engine failure. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the fail... Read more
Incident date: Mar 18, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, there was an oil leak coming from the upper oil pan. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where the dealer attempted to repair the leak with a seal. The failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the same local dealer where an oil pan bolt was repl... Read more