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.

2,245,377 Total Complaints

140,173 Reported Crashes

56,794 Reported Fires

8,580 Reported 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

How to Read NHTSA Consumer Complaints › How NHTSA Investigations Work › Used Car: 7 Recall Checks to Run First › The Takata Airbag Recall: Full Story › OBD-II Codes Explained › All Articles ›

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Showing 252,439 complaints for CHEVROLET

Incident date: Dec 12, 2025

The GDI v6 motor that’s in it shudders and rattles when at idle. There’s metallic shavings and gas smell on the dipstick. It’s always low on oil and smokes a little at idle aswell. It’s completely ran out of oil and been to the shop 3x so far in a years time. Add oil to it every 2-3 weeks at this point ,It’s not leaking oil it’s definitely burning it. Once the dealership even had to co... Read more

Incident date: Dec 12, 2025

I was driving on Ware Rd about 50 MPH on my way home. The vehicle turned off while I was driving and had to turn into a street before the vehicle stopped moving. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to the failure. If I had been on a highway, there would not have been a way for me to get out of dangerous traffic. The dealer checked the vehicle and determined that it had... Read more

Incident date: Jul 15, 2025

When attempting to accelerate rapidly (I.e. passing gear) the engine immediately begins to lose power. Audi dealer investigated and determined it was “TURBO LAG”. This situation happened multiple times at different speeds. When trying to accelerate to pass another vehicle or to merge onto a freeway are the scariest and most dangerous instances. Taking your foot off the accelerator does allow t... Read more

Incident date: Jan 3, 2026

No emergency release inside frunk

Incident date: Jan 3, 2026

3rd time the vehicle has experienced a electrical fault and renders the car undrivable and will shut down while driving regardless of where you are. Each time the vehicle has stopped while driving on an interstate.

Incident date: Jan 3, 2026

Vehicle: 2024 Cadillac EscaladenV VIN: [XXX] Mileage: ~31,000 miles On December 29, 2025 at approximately 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time, while driving at Approximately 30 mph under normal operating conditions, the front panoramic sunroof glass of my 2024 Cadillac Escalade V catastrophically shattered without warning. Ambient temperature was approximately 21°F. Weather conditions included freezing rai... Read more

Incident date: Jul 18, 2025

The heating steering wheel had an electrical short in the heating element where it began to melt the rubber of the steering wheel and start smoking. This became very hot where it could burn my hand. I was forced to pull over immediately to diagnose the problem before anything else could burn. The smoking stopped when I tuned off the heated steering wheel.

Incident date: Jan 3, 2026

While driving, the vehicle displayed an engine malfunction warning followed by a low oil pressure warning. I pulled over and waited. The oil level was checked and was not empty. The warning lights briefly went out, but shortly afterward the engine lost power. When attempting to restart the vehicle, the engine began knocking. The vehicle became inoperable and required towing. This was a sudden engi... Read more

Incident date: Jan 3, 2026

I brought my car in for routine service and was told I needed a rear main seal. I had the car inspected when I purchased it appx 13k miles ago because I saw online there was a lot of people having this issue with their vehicles. It’s a known manufacturer defect. At that time there was no issue. Now at 40k miles it began to leak. This is round about the mileage most people have experienced this i... Read more

Incident date: Oct 29, 2025

The daytime running lights only partially work and are very dim, blue, or completely off.

Incident date: Jan 9, 2023

my ford EcoSport had to get a new motor due to teh recall issue but since they put a new motor my ac and heater had to be replaced. my battery. my sensors pop on and off. My car won't go over 65 and when it does it jerks. Ford did replace the motor but ive asked for them to buy the car back and they have refused my car has completely shut off and ive taken to ford and they don't know. i have the ... Read more

Incident date: Jan 9, 2023

Incident date: Dec 3, 2025

I noticed random misfires months ago. I've replace my spark plug three times in 6 months. My coils are good, etc. It started getting worse about a month ago. It goes into limp mode and suddenly slows to 20 mph. Some days it won't start. The dash lights flash and the cars computer goes crazy it won't go over 20 mph. This is a widespread issue causing ppl to spend thousands and no fix in sight. Us... Read more

Incident date: Mar 10, 2025

The drive train car would not go then my accelerator will rev up and down and not go over 10 miles a hour then all these service lights come on and car go in like limp mode and not drive in middle of intersection no one inspected the car i tuned it off and let it sit for 24 hours and started it and it was normally except the acceleration goes up and down when it wants to there were a lot of w... Read more

Incident date: Mar 10, 2025

Check engine lights came on, and then a warning saying stop safely, the engine will shut down soon, now it will not start. Leaving me stranded. This happened twice, but now the car won’t start and will need to be towed. I have asked several repair shops and done research online, and nobody knows how to fix this issue.

Incident date: Dec 31, 1969

About 3 years ago i noticed a small bubble in the upper right corner of my touchscreen. Didnt pay much attention for a while but it started spreading to the left. I took a photo and sent a picture to the man that helped me buy my car and asked if there was a known Recall for this. Said he would check, he confirmed there was none. I let it go because i hadnt purchased any extended warranty. Bubblin... Read more

Incident date: Apr 1, 2025

severe oil consumption. the vehicle eats the oil at an alarming rate. having to fill the oil tank very often and the engine light has been on. it is affecting acceleration at 30mph where the engine warning light will flash. It also completely dies while driving. very unsafe and needs to be resolved.

Incident date: Jan 3, 2026

Transmission slips and shifts roughly, intermittently. No codes have shown up when scanned at the dealer.

Incident date: Jan 3, 2026

My check engine light comes on and stays on now. I have to put oil on my truck between oil changes. They haven't found any leaks. A diagnostic showed the camshaft as needing fixed at one point but the diagnostic hasn't given any other code problems. I'm having to put in oil frequently but the engine light had remained on. The check engine light will go off sometimes street i hey an oil change but ... Read more

Incident date: Jan 3, 2026

In-car pop-up advertisements, specifically from SiriusXM. The advertisement pops up while driving, attempting to use the safety features of the car, including navigation. It happens every few months, at random. There is no way to opt-out from the vehicle; the only option is using a desktop computer, creating an account, and finding the communication preferences. This is a dangerous feature, as it ... Read more

Incident date: Sep 17, 2021

My front camera sensor light came on stating it was unavailable, then turned back on after a few minutes. About a week later on several occasions, the emergency brake notification came on when I was on the freeway with no vehicles in front of me to cause this. There has been an excessive whirring sound coming from the engine also. With these issues there have been no warning signs including check ... Read more

Incident date: Sep 17, 2021

I am reporting a safety defect involving a welded rear subframe component. The welded section snapped under normal driving conditions, and this is a safety-critical structural suspension component. There was no collision, misuse, or accident prior to this failure. The vehicle is currently not safe to drive due to the compromised rear suspension structure. I have included photos showing the snapp... Read more

Incident date: Jan 1, 2026

Both front half shafts failed. I did research and this part is known to be substandard, was recalled in China, and remains a problem in the US.

Incident date: Jan 1, 2026

The issue is the bearing in my CVT transmission. I've been advised by three different shops/dealerships that this is the problem while being quoted $10k plus to replace the transmission. Through research, this is a known issue with the 2018-2022 Toyota CHRs. Thus making this vehicle heavily UNSAFE to drive and Toyota is not taking any accountability with this problem. There have been no warning li... Read more

Incident date: Jan 1, 2026

The weather became cold outside. After first frost overnight, an oil leak started underneath the hood next to the front passenger side tire. Got in be serviced 11/19. Told the plastic piece to oil housing assembly cracked and had 9 other palisades in for same exact issue. No warning lamps. Cost $519 to replace part.

Incident date: Dec 26, 2025

The headlights of this car, and many cars of this modern age, have headlights that are blinding and make it significantly more difficult and dangerous to drive at night.

Incident date: Aug 31, 2025

The fuel gauge and mileage display became inoperable. Fuel level could not be determined.

Incident date: Jan 2, 2026

After loading our two children ages 2 and 5 in to vehicle and securing in car seats, the car doors were closed and would not reopen. The children were unable to open the doors themselves. The trunk and other entries did not open. There was no obvious way to open the doors or the issue the car was experiencing. The battery cover would not open. Eventually after I searched the Internet I determined ... Read more

Incident date: Nov 28, 2025

This is a safety-related defect involving the multipurpose front camera used for Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) on the 2020 Acura MDX. The multipurpose front camera failed without warning, resulting in the simultaneous loss of multiple ADAS safety features, including (but not limited to) Lane Keeping Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Collision Mitigation Braking, and Road Departure Mitig... Read more

Incident date: Jan 2, 2026

Vehicle has been having driving issues such as noises and loss of power while driving. Recall for power control module, have been told they can’t give a loaner and they don’t have parts since the recall was issued (01/16/2025) was in the shop while that recall was going on (8 months actually because they couldn’t get parts) because it caused my differentials to lock up, they replaced them bu... Read more

Incident date: Jan 2, 2026

The vehicle is subject to an urgent safety recall (NHTSA Recall 25V636 – engine starter fire risk when parked). BMW has confirmed that there is no available remedy and no estimated timeline for repair. Due to the open recall and fire risk warning, the vehicle has been restricted from commercial use and removed from a car-sharing platform, resulting in loss of use. BMW has stated that there is n... Read more

Incident date: Jan 2, 2026

Charging failure. GHCA failure.

Incident date: Jan 2, 2026

We have a 2018 Yukon with a 6.2. It has 70,000 miles on it. We have taken very good care of it and changed the mobil oil less than 5,000 mile intervals. The engine is making a terrible knocking noise. We stopped driving it the minute it started. We put it on a trailer and pulled it home and it has not been started since then. We had no warning lamps or messages to alert us of an issue. We have not... Read more

Incident date: Dec 29, 2025

When I start at a low speed it's like it does not know which gear to go in. You push on the gas and it does not move much and then launches forward. It has done this since I purchased it in April 2025 used.When in auto stop and the engine starts up with my foot still on the brake, sometimes it will lurch and buck. Buick dealer did do a transmission fluid flush and it still does the same thing dail... Read more

Incident date: Dec 29, 2025

My daughter was driving this car home from college on I80 east from Iowa to joliet and almost was involved in a accident. The stearing started to lean to the left and when she had to slow down and brake the stearing went hard to her left until she released the brake. she pulled over and called me i came out and drove it home slowly. i took it to my mechanic which i thought it was an alignment issu... Read more

Incident date: Dec 29, 2025

Incident date: Feb 1, 2021

I bought a truck from Paul Gerber Auto sales, Inc(used car dealer) in Omaha Nebraska. The transmission is bad because of the torque converter and a known issue where the transmission fluid gets too hot causing the torque converter to become damaged. There are also multiple known safety recalls with this vehicle and the issue with the transmission has been confirmed by a independent mechanic. The d... Read more

Incident date: Feb 1, 2021

I began experiencing intermittent rear liftgate sensor issues on my 2019 Toyota RAV4 in late 2020. The power hatch would stop halfway while opening. On 3/24/2021, while the vehicle was under factory warranty, I brought it to a Toyota dealer for inspection. The dealer stated the issue could not be replicated and advised me to manually push the hatch upward. No repair was made. Over time, the cond... Read more

Incident date: Feb 1, 2021

I'm not sure if these are related incidents or not, but at the end of Nov. 2025 I was driving in heavy traffic when all of a sudden I noticed a warning light on the dash came on. Then as I kept going another light, and another, each one about a minute apart until all of the warning lights were on. Then the car started cutting out and then it just died. I had been making my way over out of traffic ... Read more

Incident date: Jan 2, 2026

While the vehicle was parked and powered off, a fire originated inside the driver seat area. There was no collision, no aftermarket electrical equipment installed, and no heated seat or accessory usage at the time of the incident. The vehicle was stationary when the fire began. The fire damage was concentrated within the driver seat assembly, consistent with a suspected electrical failure involv... Read more

Fire

Incident date: Dec 19, 2025

We were driving down the interstate at about 75 mph when a message came up that said to shift to neutral and push the start button. My husband did and it continued to drive perfectly fine, but about 6 miles down the road it did the same thing again except when he pushed the start button it did not start. I cannot begin to tell you the cause as to why it would’ve been doing that as I have never h... Read more

Incident date: Dec 19, 2025

The contact owns a 2020 BMW X6. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with battery failure. The contact was informed that the battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure reoccurred. The contact stated that while ... Read more

Incident date: Dec 1, 2025

The contact owns a 2021 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving 60 MPH during ice and snow, the engine revved, and there was an abnormal sound coming from the Hybrid battery. While turning, the contact stated that the vehicle had unintendedly accelerated. Additionally, the tire pressure warning light was illuminated. The contact believed that the failure was related to the Hy... Read more

Incident date: Jul 1, 2025

I am reporting unresolved safety issues involving multiple open recalls on my Jeep vehicle, including a high-voltage battery recall and an engine recall with no available remedy. Jeep has advised owners not to recharge the vehicle and to park away from structures or other vehicles due to fire risk, yet also states that owners may continue driving the vehicle. However, the vehicle automatically reg... Read more

Incident date: Dec 30, 2025

Erratic behavior before pulling out of parking lot: STOP vehicle check power, check 12V battery Stop safely engage parking brake. All dash lights started flashing, going black, power couldn’t be maintained, thankfully not on highway yet. Complete car failure, had to have 2025 EV6 jumped 4 times, battery still showed 41% charged, couldn’t keep charge to even get car in neutral for tow or doors ... Read more

Incident date: Dec 30, 2025

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while his son was driving 75 MPH, there was a knocking sound coming from the vehicle. The driver pulled over and turned the vehicle off, but the vehicle failed to restart. The check engine warning light was illuminated. Upon researching the failure, the contact associated the failure with NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V274000 (En... Read more

Incident date: May 29, 2025

Cylinders in the engine are misfiring causing car to shake. Pistons in the engine are having trouble keeping the air compressed so psi to continue to decrease causing the misfire.

Incident date: Mar 22, 2025

Car suddenly slowed from 55 mph to 25 mph because of issues with the 12v battery and the ICCU system. The car is only 1 year old. From looking online, this seems to be a fairly common issue/problem. The dealer is working on it now, but it seems likely that this issue will happen again. If it happens on a freeway, certainly a safety concern.

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Consumer Safety Complaints

What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?

How to interpret what you read

If you've experienced a defect

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