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 78,021 complaints for HYUNDAI
Incident date: Dec 26, 2025
ICCU failure: confirmed by dealership, submitting for your records - while driving the morning of 2/11/26 in Evansville, IN a warning message appeared on the dashboard stating 'Check Electric Vehicle System' followed by a rapid deceleration. Luckily there was not a vehicle behind me as they would have rear ended me. This failure occurred without warning and presented a significant safety hazard, l... Read more
HYUNDAI
PALISADE
(2026) - FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: DYNAMIC BRAKE SUPPORT/BRAKE ASSIST
Feb 17, 2026
Incident date: Feb 16, 2026
The contact owns a 2025 Audi Q8. The contact stated that while driving at 25-30 MPH, she crashed into the rear of a pick-up truck towing a boat on a trailer. The contact did not notice that the vehicle in front was coming from a stop, which caused the accident. During the crash, the engine of the boat detached, causing damage. The contact was concerned that the Audi Pre Sense Front Braking feature... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 16, 2026
The contact owns a 2025 Audi Q8. The contact stated that while driving at 25-30 MPH, she crashed into the rear of a pick-up truck towing a boat on a trailer. The contact did not notice that the vehicle in front was coming from a stop, which caused the accident. During the crash, the engine of the boat detached, causing damage. The contact was concerned that the Audi Pre Sense Front Braking feature... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 14, 2025
My 2014 F-150 with the 5.0 is currently at the ford dealership getting the output speed sensor replaced in the transmission. This is already a recall item on the vehicle, however it is not showing up as a recall fix. This will send your truck into “limp mode” causing you to have to pull over in unsafe spots on the road in order to shut the vehicle off. And back on to get the truck to drive cor... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
I went to my van, and many alerts were going off on the dash about multiple systems failing and not working. I got the van to the dealer who said it was the fuel injectors that needed replaced. I found a service bulletin about this saying American Honda is extending the warranty on the fuel injection repairs to 10 years from the original date of purchase or 150,000 miles, whichever comes first. T... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
The contact owns a 2026 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 10 MPH into a parking spot, the contact depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to stop. The vehicle drove over a parking bump, struck a bench, and the automatic emergency braking system engaged, preventing the vehicle from hitting the wall. The air bags did not deploy. The contact stated that ... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Dec 23, 2025
Steering has a "sticky feeling". While driving, when you try to turn steering wheel a fraction to one side or the other there is resistance and then a release which results in in oversteering that has to be corrected. When trying to correct the oversteering, there is again resistance and then release with oversteering again. So it constantly goes back and forth. There is a string of posts on ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2026
I bought the vehicle at the end of September 2024 and February 12, 2025. I had been on the road for about 15 minutes nothing different and then I look in my rearview mirror and underneath the bed of the truck was on fire and The truck was completely destroyed and Toyota is not doing anything about it or helping at all and im a toyota employee of almost a decade
Fire
Incident date: Jan 15, 2026
I bought the vehicle at the end of September 2024 and February 12, 2025. I had been on the road for about 15 minutes nothing different and then I look in my rearview mirror and underneath the bed of the truck was on fire and The truck was completely destroyed and Toyota is not doing anything about it or helping at all and im a toyota employee of almost a decade
Fire
Incident date: Jan 15, 2026
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, and DTC: P0301, P0302, and P0304 were retrieved for a misfire in cylinder #1, #2, and #4. Due to the failure, the spark plugs and ignition coils were replaced. Approximately one week later, the check engine light illum... Read more
Incident date: Sep 17, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, and DTC: P0301, P0302, and P0304 were retrieved for a misfire in cylinder #1, #2, and #4. Due to the failure, the spark plugs and ignition coils were replaced. Approximately one week later, the check engine light illum... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2025
While making the short drive to work on surface streets I was given a warning in an amber circle to check the electrical system. Moments later I was presented with a warning in a red circle reading "Stop vehicle and check power supply"; accompanying this warning was a drastic loss in power. Had I been on the highway I would not have been able to maintain speed with the likelihood of being stranded... Read more
Incident date: Jan 16, 2026
The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Sonata. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V796000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that while the vehicle was idling, and while driving at various speeds, the engine revved unintendedly, and the vehicle jerked. The ABS, traction control, and several unknown warnin... Read more
Incident date: Jan 16, 2026
I own a 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid and am experiencing an intermittent knocking/clicking noise that appears to come from the drivetrain area. The noise occurs most often during low-speed driving and while turning left or right, particularly on the first drive of the day after the vehicle has been sitting overnight, but it has also occurred at other times while driving. The condition is in... Read more
Incident date: Jan 13, 2026
My Hyundai Santa Fe has a major oil leak from the oil pressure light. I took the car to a non-Hyundai shop for repair and was told that the problem should be covered under recall campaign 168. Reference Number: 17-01-071, Date of issue: December 01, 2017. A quick check of internet complaints indicates this is a common problem with this type vehicle. My oil pressure light is on at idle after the ca... Read more
Incident date: Feb 3, 2026
SOS button is not working. Console fell out of roof of car earlier this summer (a national recall) and now the SOS error J949 is not working, and because the SOS button isnt working neither is the bluetooth. This is absolutely due to the faulty console that had to be rewired and clipped back into the roof of the vehicle. Currently not being covered by dealerships, it is absolutely a volkswagen ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 3, 2026
The car displayed electrical system warning messages while driving, and it would no longer drive above about 25 mph. The issue was diagnosed as an ICCU failure by the dealership and has been awaiting a backordered ICCU for about 5 weeks.
Incident date: Feb 3, 2026
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Dec 5, 2020
While driving on Back Rd in New Hampshire at approximately 30 mph on Saturday, Feb 14, the vehicle suddenly lost power steering assist and simultaneously shifted into neutral. I received warning messages and immediately lost propulsion. Luckily, there was no traffic on the road with me, but that is not always the case on this particular road. I had to manually steer the vehicle without power assi... Read more
Incident date: Dec 19, 2025
Odometer Fraud. The contact purchased a 2016 Honda Accord. The contact discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy. The vehicle was a private sale. At the time of purchase, the vehicle mileage was 67,500. The vehicle was taken to a Honda dealer, who discovered that the mileage was 300,000. The Local Police Department was contacted but was unable to assist. The Department of Motor Vehicles was ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 20, 2026
The contact owns a 2013 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted to first gear. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact then became aware that the VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V433000 (Power Train). The vehicle was taken to a dealer, and the vehicle was repaired under the recall. The contact stated th... Read more
Incident date: Feb 13, 2026
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 unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that the ABS warning light illuminated with a constant alarm chime. When the warning... Read more
Incident date: Feb 13, 2026
Dealer maintained with oil changes per the schedule. Cylinder head issue requiring engine replacement at 104,xxx miles. 3.6L VR6. This is unacceptable.
Incident date: Feb 13, 2026
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V695000 (Back Over Prevention); 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. While reversing, the rearview camera displayed a distorted image, or the message "No Picture Avai... Read more
Incident date: Feb 13, 2026
This is a follow-up to NHTSA Complaint Number 11684726, submitted to provide additional information after the dealer diagnosis confirmed the defect. My 2018 Jeep Wrangler Sahara has experienced a complete Instrument Panel Cluster (IPC) failure, which has been diagnosed and confirmed by an authorized Jeep dealership. The instrument cluster remains blank during vehicle operation and is available fo... Read more
Incident date: Feb 17, 2026
The contact owns a 2014 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that the center of the steering wheel was protruding outwards, and while attempting to sound the horn, the horn failed to operate. While entering the vehicle, the headrest on the driver's side was bumped and the headrest deployed. Approximately 2 months later, while entering the vehicle, the passenger’s side headrest deployed without impac... Read more
Incident date: Apr 16, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that the center of the steering wheel was protruding outwards, and while attempting to sound the horn, the horn failed to operate. While entering the vehicle, the headrest on the driver's side was bumped and the headrest deployed. Approximately 2 months later, while entering the vehicle, the passenger’s side headrest deployed without impac... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2025
Received a recall letter Jan 2024 concerning C4B/NHTSA24V-896. I have contacted the FCA recall assistance center several times since then. They say there is no parts available for this recall. Yet they have not seemed to have this problem with 2019-2026 models. They say I can have the HCU replaced at my own cost and they will reimburse me for the cost. But there is no guaranty it will fix the pro... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE SPORT
(2018) - ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Feb 17, 2026
Incident date: Oct 16, 2025
I own a 2014 Buick Enclave experienced two major safety‑related failures. First, while driving on the highway, the vehicle suddenly lost throttle response and triggered a check‑engine light with code P1682 (Ignition 1 Switch Circuit 2). After replacing the ignition relay in the under‑hood fuse box, the issue seemed resolved temporarily. A few weeks later, while stopped at a traffic light, t... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE SPORT
(2018) - POWER TRAIN
Feb 17, 2026
Incident date: Oct 16, 2025
Purchased a brand new vehicle on 23Dec2025 (evening) and then drove it home and parked it in my garage. Vehicle was in my garage at 64 miles on the odometer. Vehicle started smoking and the transmission cooler line had the catastrophic failure spilling oil all over the street, driveway, and garage. It was towed from my garage to the selling dealer (Walser Polar Chevrolet in White Bear Lake, MN) ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 9, 2026
My engine has been replaced under warranty for connecting rod bearings failing before the recall 23V-751 existed. 40,000 miles later it failed again. I have paper work and other information available upon request. The vehicle is currently on it's third short block replaced by Acura. No CEL or anything prior to when the knocking started.
Incident date: Jan 20, 2026
The contact owns a 2014 Chrysler Town and Country. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the driver reached the back seat area, and the front driver's seat headrest erroneously exploded. During the incident, the driver sustained a mild concussion. No medical treatment was required. The cause of the failure was not determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure, but no assis... Read more
Incident date: Jan 20, 2026
The power train of my 2025 Tesla Model S failed. As a result, the car had several systems alert on my console that they were "unavailable" or "degraded", and in addition to the alerts I experienced their loss or degradation in real time. This included braking, steering, stability control, and traction control. Normally you don't have to hold the brake pedal down at a stop light on this electric... Read more
Incident date: Dec 17, 2025
Power seat adjuster failed making it impossible for drivers to adjust the seat for safe driving.
Incident date: Dec 4, 2025
Car software automatic update and sensor stuff not workin at all when some thing happen & Dealer Can’t fix that problem need to priority service from NHTSA
Incident date: Dec 4, 2025
While driving, the vehicle intermittently emits an extremely loud, high-pitched static or screeching noise through the speakers. The sound is sudden, piercing, and startling. Most concerning, this occurs even when the audio system volume is turned completely off. Because the noise is so loud and unexpected, it causes a significant distraction while operating the vehicle. The sound is comparable t... Read more
Incident date: Feb 13, 2026
The pillars flew off and I can not get them repaired and they have no remedy for it the dealership glued them back
Incident date: Nov 3, 2025
On 01/30/26, I delivered my vehicle to an authorized Jeep dealership for the third time in connection with Safety Recall 68C involving the hybrid battery system. The recall addresses a battery defect that carries risk of fire. This is the third occasion on which I have had to leave my vehicle with the dealership because the recall repair has not been successfully completed. During the most recent ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 3, 2025
On 01/30/26, I delivered my vehicle to an authorized Jeep dealership for the third time in connection with Safety Recall 68C involving the hybrid battery system. The recall addresses a battery defect that carries risk of fire. This is the third occasion on which I have had to leave my vehicle with the dealership because the recall repair has not been successfully completed. During the most recent ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 3, 2025
On 01/30/26, I delivered my vehicle to an authorized Jeep dealership for the third time in connection with Safety Recall 68C involving the hybrid battery system. The recall addresses a battery defect that carries risk of fire. This is the third occasion on which I have had to leave my vehicle with the dealership because the recall repair has not been successfully completed. During the most recent ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 23, 2026
Vehicle was started, while still in park, an alert appeared on the dashboard “stop safely electrical fault detected”. Vehicle was turned off and restarted, with the same warning light on. Called LR dealer, Vehicle was backed out of garage at service advisors advice, parked and flatbed tow truck called.
Incident date: Jan 23, 2026
Blindspot detection did not pick up car on my right side two times. Front collision warning is effected by the angle of the sun at certain times of the day. Dashboard dims randomly. Could be for a minute or much longer. Could dim on and off, or stay dimmed for over twenty minutes. Brought the car in twice for this problem. Claimed nothing found and tech reset the codes. Bought it in two weeks... Read more
Incident date: Feb 16, 2026
Blindspot detection did not pick up car on my right side two times. Front collision warning is effected by the angle of the sun at certain times of the day. Dashboard dims randomly. Could be for a minute or much longer. Could dim on and off, or stay dimmed for over twenty minutes. Brought the car in twice for this problem. Claimed nothing found and tech reset the codes. Bought it in two weeks... Read more
Incident date: Mar 24, 2025
2019 Elantra has been experiencing oil loss. The last oil change on 14 Feb 2026 at 57400 miles. Checked the oil today 16 Feb 2026 after 266 miles and it was a quart low. It appears that oil consumption is a know issue with Hyundai year and model.
Incident date: Mar 24, 2025
Driving and abrupt transmission shifting issues.
Incident date: Jan 6, 2026
Truck went into limp mode. Would not shift. Stayed in one gear and would not back up. The truck basically downshifted from 8th to 2nd gear, causing me to lock up the brakes and almost lose control. Several warning lights on the dash. It's been at a transmission shop for over 3 weeks. They are having issues being able to get parts from GM. They are having problems fixing it. The blind spot lights... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2026
I was driving down a city street going approximately 20 mph when the emergency automatic brake engaged and brought my vehicle to a complete stop. There was nothing in front of my vehicle, and no other cars in front of me for blocks. The car behind me had to brake abruptly to avoid hitting me and honked at me. It was very frightening. It could easily have caused a collision. My daughters were in th... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2026
JUST PAID $4,154.67 TO HAVE MY 2019 MERCEDES CLA 250, WITH JUST 46,222 MILES, ENGINE REPAIRED. * REPACE FUEL INJECTOR SEALS/ORINGS $1,462.80 *REPLACE ALL 4 FUEL INJECTORS $2,512.62 SO, PLEASE TELL WHY THERE IS NO RECALL ON MY CAR????? MARK BOULTINGHOUSE (240)277.9752
Incident date: Feb 8, 2026
When putting my car into gear a loud pop noise was heard. The car could not be driven at the point and the instrument cluster mentioned an electrical system failure. The car was towed to the dealer where they confirmed the ICCU unit needed to be replaced. It has been at the dealership since January 8th with little to no communication.
Incident date: Dec 17, 2025
While the cruise is set, traveling on I44 with no other car in front of my Kona, the adaptive cruise control will start to flash and apply brakes immediately. The speed will drop instantly. Thankfully no other vehicle has been behind me, otherwise it would have caused a massive wreck. I have taken the Kona to the shop 5 to 6 times for this situation, but they will not do anything since they can n... Read more