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: Sep 14, 2021
Water getting inside the cabin near a fuse box. Mold passenger side carpets and underlayer.
Incident date: May 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 2500. The contact stated while driving uphill at an undisclosed speed with a trailer hitched to the vehicle, the vehicle downshifted inadvertently, which caused the trailer to fishtail. The contact stated that he lost control of the vehicle, and he was able to slowly regain control of the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring wh... Read more
Incident date: May 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 2500. The contact stated while driving uphill at an undisclosed speed with a trailer hitched to the vehicle, the vehicle downshifted inadvertently, which caused the trailer to fishtail. The contact stated that he lost control of the vehicle, and he was able to slowly regain control of the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring wh... Read more
Incident date: May 15, 2022
The factory 2020 Subaru Outback Wagon is built with a Thermo Control Valve that is, essentially, made out of a composite plastic. As this part is part of the engine cooling system, it is placed under both heat and pressure. While it controls the anti-freeze to the heater core in the passenger compartment, it is also attached under cover to metal fittings. While the car now has about 90,000 mile... Read more
Incident date: Oct 11, 2023
The hole underneath frame is rusted into and there is a bunch of wielding done to it and it's very unsafe to drive and the car lot guy keeps saying he wants it back on the road
Incident date: Aug 10, 2023
Hyundai has failed to remedy recall 235 within a reasonable amount of time, and is misreporting the stats of completed repairs related to this recall. They state that owner notification letters and dealer instructions were mailed May 2023 and that "dealers will install a new fuse and wire extension kit, as necessary, free of charge." Yet, the dealerships I've contacted do not have the replacement ... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2023
The car was stuck in the garage; the electronic parking brake failed to disengage. I couldn't shift to the Drive mode. The vehicle had to be dragged out from the garage and is presently at the dealer. The dealer was able to reproduce and confirm the issue. Many errors popped up on the Dashboard when turning on the start button - Electrical System Not working correctly, Drive System Error, Auto Ho... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, the "service safety restraint system", warning message appeared on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where a diagnostic was performed; the diagnostic showed that there was a defect in the overhead module which rendered her airbag ineffective. The contact was informed that the p... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 60 MPH, the moonroof had fractured entirely without impact. The moonroof had not completely shattered as of yet but was at risk of doing so due to the extensive cracks. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who stated that the moonroof glass needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repair... Read more
Incident date: Oct 5, 2023
I was driving normally and my back windshield shattered
Incident date: Jun 17, 2023
The sensor to open the sliding door on our left side, that stops it from closing when something is in between, did not work today. My 5 year old was reaching in as it was closing to grab her jacket. I was in the front seat, about to get out. I heard the door close and her scream. Her hand was stuck with the door fully closed, and I had to push the Open button twice to get it to release her hand. T... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Oct 5, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving 5 MPH, the vehicle independently shifted into park(P) and the steering wheel became stiff. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The mechanic was not able to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advi... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2023
The contact leased a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact stated that the front driver’s and passenger’s side headlight covers became hazy, causing it to be difficult to see the roadway while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the headlight covers needed to be restored. The contact was informed by the dealer that the failure was a known issue. The vehicle was not r... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Buick Enclave. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags) 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 was m... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2023
Driver side door patch failed. Can not keep door closed.
Incident date: May 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that after it had rained, water entered the vehicle through the sunroof and would accumulate inside the roof of the vehicle. While coming to a stop while driving, the water would flow to the front of the vehicle and leak inside the cabin through the ceiling light console. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer on multiple occasions w... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH with the cruise control activated, the cruise control system failed to maintain the set speed. The contact stated that the speed fluctuated up and down erratically. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was n... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2023
This was a recurrence of the incident that occurred approximately two months ago and was assigned Tracking No. 11536519. Same thing occurred--traveling on paved street in town at 35 mph with no traffic ahead or behind--AEB or Forward Collision Avoidance system engaged for no apparent reason.
Incident date: May 29, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags); 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 not ex... Read more
Incident date: Sep 28, 2023
Low engine oil pressure light came on at around 66,423.04 miles while driving to work. There was very low power in the engine. I had to turn around and head back home before my engine shut down on me. So slowly I drove back home at the risk being stuck in the middle of traffic. My mechanic says that shavings from the timing belt behind the engine clogged up my oil pump. My car’s been off the roa... Read more
Incident date: Sep 28, 2023
In July 2023 my airbag light appeared on my instrument panel. I checked seat belts but all was good. I had the ford dealer diagnose and they said that the rear seat belt airbag was out of compliance. I am the original owner of the vehicle and asked if this was under any recall or TSB. They checked and said that it was no longer under any repair order and that it would cost me approx. $1100 to fix.... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2023
Right swing arm/ball joint broke off doing a u turn. Vehicle has been maintained and garage kept.
Incident date: Sep 26, 2023
Small pebble was kicked up onto the Front Windshield on normal 35 mph street driving. I have read up on many instances that the Kia Telluride has had many issues with thin or defective glass that is not able to withstand simple small rocks.. This is a MAJOR safety issue and concern that KIA must acknowledge for 2021 and 2022 Telluride owners.. Apparently they noted issues on the 2020 when they w... Read more
Incident date: Sep 24, 2023
Supplemental air bag warning light started blinking on 9/24/2023. It blinks regardless of whether the front passenger seat is occupied. The OCS sensor for the passenger seat failed. This should have been covered by a recall. The dealer wants over $3,000.00 to replace the seat cushion. I declined the repair. Dealer assured me that driver air bag isn't affected, so I'll operate the car without ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 25, 2023
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion Energi. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle and shifting into gear, the vehicle failed to respond. While driving, the brake warning light illuminated. The brake pedal was depressed but failed to respond. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the circuit was open. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2023
Headlights start dropping as car is driven. Every 10 to 15 miles must pull car over and restart as you can not see further than a car’s length in front of you. Cycle car off and then back on the headlights return to normal for another 10 miles. Also seems that some of the individual lamps start pointing upward blinding oncoming drives even with most of the lamps are pointing down in front of the... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2023
Water pump failure at 70,xxx miles, caused coolant to spray throughout the engine bay which will cause premature rusting and/failure of other components.
Incident date: Sep 24, 2023
Picked up my Toyota Highlander in April 2023 I have had to return it to the dealer on two occasions for check engine light and secondary Break failure I'm at the fourth check engine light and secondary brake failure report now it has been inspected by the dealer and tried to remedy it too times already currently getting ready to return to the dealer with the third check engine light secondary bra... Read more
Incident date: Sep 24, 2023
Good morning, I am the proud owner of a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 Hybrid, which is one of 4 I have owned over the majority of decade. While I obviously have put my trust in Ram for a really long time, that trust has been being betrayed since I have owned this one. In the last 6-months alone, my Ram has been down awaiting one spare part or another. Parts that Ram recognized as a problem shortly afte... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2023
The steering wheel is sticking when making turns at multiple speeds. We have had this issue for as long as we have owned the vehicle.
Incident date: Sep 20, 2023
My vehicle in the last 2 days has randomly shutoff completely while driving on the highway. I was able to place in neutral, then restart the vehicle thank goodness without being rear-ended or a collision. The vehicle has been repaired before (NHTSA Campaign ID: 19V813000) and (Chrysler's recall number V62). The vehicle at this point I fear is too dangerous to drive. I am going to have the car towe... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Dodge Journey. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was jerking and failed to properly accelerate before the vehicle stalled. While operating the vehicle the traction control, ABS, and several unknown warning lights became illuminated. Additionally, the "Service Park Assist" message was displayed. In addition, the battery was often drained and nee... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Dodge Journey. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was jerking and failed to properly accelerate before the vehicle stalled. While operating the vehicle the traction control, ABS, and several unknown warning lights became illuminated. Additionally, the "Service Park Assist" message was displayed. In addition, the battery was often drained and nee... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Dodge Journey. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was jerking and failed to properly accelerate before the vehicle stalled. While operating the vehicle the traction control, ABS, and several unknown warning lights became illuminated. Additionally, the "Service Park Assist" message was displayed. In addition, the battery was often drained and nee... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2012 BMW X5. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the message "Passenger Restraint System Malfunction" was displayed. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who informed the contact that the passenger restraint system had failed, and an unknown repair needed to be completed. The contact was ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2012 BMW X5. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the message "Passenger Restraint System Malfunction" was displayed. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who informed the contact that the passenger restraint system had failed, and an unknown repair needed to be completed. The contact was ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 27, 2023
Massive steering wobble at interstate speed. Very dangerous. Only 29000 miles on vehicle
Incident date: Sep 2, 2021
The thermo control valve malfunctioned causing the check engine light to come on which shut down all the safety features in the vehicle including the front eye sight camera, blind spot warning, the rear automatic braking, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and lane keeping assistance. The check engine computer readout diagnostic trouble code was P26A5 "Engine Coolant Bypass Valve "A"... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2021
The thermo control valve malfunctioned causing the check engine light to come on which shut down all the safety features in the vehicle including the front eye sight camera, blind spot warning, the rear automatic braking, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and lane keeping assistance. The check engine computer readout diagnostic trouble code was P26A5 "Engine Coolant Bypass Valve "A"... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2023
My car was purchased Aug 2022. In Nov. 2022 we took a short trip. I believe 5 or 6 times the car braked for no reason. I believe it is called phantom braking. One or two times it was a hard brake that I believe could cause an accident if someone was behind me, or the wrong person driving. It was sudden and hard in those two situations. I took the car in and after they drove it two miles they told ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 18, 2023
The contact owns a 2013 Cadillac ATS. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle and attempting to shift into drive, the vehicle failed to shift out of park. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related it to NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V338000 (Power T... Read more
Incident date: Sep 12, 2023
Service at Jeep Cherokee dealership is telling me my PTU needs to be replaced in my 2015 Jeep Cherokee. There is a recall for the PTU on similar jeeps from 2014 to 2018, but mine is not in the recall. It seems mine should be, as a similar issue.
Incident date: Sep 12, 2023
At 46K miles it pop up out of no where and for no aparent reason engine maintanance required. Took the dealer it was the engine coolant bypass malfunctioning. Car has all maintanance up to date by toyota dealer.
Incident date: Sep 12, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 1500. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V406000 (Fuel System, Diesel) 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 par... Read more
Incident date: May 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Toyota Corolla. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, several unknown warning lights illuminated, and the vehicle became difficult to operate. The contact was informed that the fuel pump was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V682000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) howe... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Escape. The contact stated while exiting the front driver’s side door, the contact heard an abnormal sound coming from the door. Additionally, the window failed to roll down as needed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who stated that the door check arm was fractured. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the door needed... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2023
The alternator suddenly failed with no warning lights or lamps indicating a problem. I was driving when the car suddenly stalled and I managed to get home . Heavy smoke was coming from under the hood and when I raised the hood heavy smoke was coming up out of the alternator and I could smell burning wires. I had it towed to Elder Dodge and they confirmed that the alternator was burnt out and it fr... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Aug 15, 2023
There have been several incidents that have to do with the electrical components site, such as the adaptive cruise control not working the lanes assist going off, stating that my hands are on the wheel. When my hands are on the wheel, there have been problems when I go to put it in drive. It'll switch back to park and throw on my parking brake. It has also the auto breaking lights have. Come on, ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2021
The contact owns a 2022 BMW X7. The contact stated that the second and third row seats are not latching. The seat folded down on the occupants. The "Seat not latching properly" message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the sensors were not working. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approxima... Read more