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: Jul 1, 2025
In heads up display i was driving down at 74 mph in cruise control with nobody around or in front to cause the vehicle to suddenly come to a complete stop by its self, I had to hit the accelerator so we wouldn't get rear ended. Then when we got home I was backing in my driveway and the automatic brakes locked up stopping me from backing up.
Incident date: Jul 1, 2025
The power steering goes out randomly. While driving forward , backing up, parking, turning. Very dangerous to drive.
Incident date: Jul 25, 2025
With only 70,000 miles on the truck it started to have a hard shudder and wheels locking up. During the wheel shudder it would shift hard as well. We took it to a shop and they said it was our Transmission control module and that the transmission had metal shavings and would fail soon. They also said doing any service to these transmissions can cause failure.We were informed that the dealership is... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2025
With only 70,000 miles on the truck it started to have a hard shudder and wheels locking up. During the wheel shudder it would shift hard as well. We took it to a shop and they said it was our Transmission control module and that the transmission had metal shavings and would fail soon. They also said doing any service to these transmissions can cause failure.We were informed that the dealership is... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2025
With only 70,000 miles on the truck it started to have a hard shudder and wheels locking up. During the wheel shudder it would shift hard as well. We took it to a shop and they said it was our Transmission control module and that the transmission had metal shavings and would fail soon. They also said doing any service to these transmissions can cause failure.We were informed that the dealership is... Read more
Incident date: May 10, 2025
1. This case refers to a 2018 Chevy Malibu. In October 2021, the (gear shift) transmission control system was found faulty and was replaced with an N-CONTROL in the gear shift. Again, in September 2025, the same issue happened, this time replacing the N-CONTROL again as well as the N-HARNESS. Yes, can be available upon an inspection request. 2. This component directly affects how the car recogni... Read more
Incident date: Mar 17, 2025
The valve body in the ten speed transmission failed while driving. The transmission did a rough shift and a message popped up on the display saying that power has been reduced along with the check engine light illuminating. The transmission reduced usable gears to prevent damage. I was a hazard on the road way due to not being able to get up to the posted speed limit. The car is at Harvey Cadillac... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2025
for the past year, I have been constantly replacing the spark plugs and ignition coil in my 2017 Kia optima. Recently I have had the valve cover gasket replaced. It is a constant oil consumption issue. I have received the P1326 diagnostic code. My dealership told me that the engine cannot be replaced unless it’s knocking. This is my only mode of transportation, and I would hate for me to be stra... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2025
Description of Issue: I have experienced repeated incidents where the accelerator pedal becomes unresponsive (“dead pedal”) after coming to a stop. When pressing the pedal to accelerate, the vehicle does not respond at all for several seconds. Then, without warning, it suddenly surges forward with excessive acceleration once the power engages. This problem happens intermittently throughout a ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Toyota Corolla. The contact was unable to exit the vehicle after pulling on the driver’s side door handle. The contact made several attempts to exit the vehicle, but the door was jammed. Due to the failure, the contact was forced to exit the vehicle through front passenger’s side door. The contact was able to open the front driver’s side from outside only. The dealer ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2025
The contact owns a 2025 Kia Telluride. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH in the snow, the windshield wipers were activated to clear the snow, but failed to consistently wipe the windshield. The wipers were intermittently operating. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to identify the cause of the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer again; however, t... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure). The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the A-pillar trim detached and was flapping in the wind. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact called the local dealer and was informed that the clips to repair the vehicle were on backorder. The veh... Read more
Incident date: Aug 12, 2025
Car starting shaking violently while on the highway. Daughter pulled over and parked car on side of road. Had to have car towed as it would not restart. Engine failure.
Incident date: Aug 12, 2025
Vehicle Fire Summary – Arvada, CO On [XXX] at approximately [XXX], the Arvada Fire Department responded to a report of a vehicle fire on [XXX] . The vehicle involved was a 2013 gray Subaru Impreza WRX. The driver reported noticing smoke coming from the engine compartment before pulling over to the shoulder. Within minutes, flames became visible. Fire crews arrived promptly and extinguished the... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Sep 2, 2025
I was driving my 2023 Hyundai Sonata with 22,000 miles on I-96 near Grand Rapids Michigan at or slightly below the speed limit of 70 MPH. Suddenly, with no advance warning of any kind, the engine shut down. I was able to coast and maneuver to the right shoulder of the road while avoiding traffic, including a large tractor trailer that almost hit us. The vehicle than had just enough power to get ... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2025
The rear brake pads on my 2021 Volkswagen Jetta have worn out prematurely twice by 20,000 miles. The first replacement occurred at only 8,006 miles in April 2023. At that time, Volkswagen acknowledged the problem and provided “goodwill” coverage of 50% since my vehicle was only one month outside of the Rear Brake Pad Limited Warranty Extension. Now at approximately 20,846 miles in September 2... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2025
Brake Calipers are getting stuck often damaging the rotors and pads. This happens even for new calipers and rotors that won't last more than one year after replacement. The parts were original from manufacturer. The rear and front brakes were randomly getting stuck on one wheel after a period of using brakes. This put the vehicle in danger of getting fire from overheating rotors or increasing t... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2025
My car just shut off out of now where while I was driving, tried to turn it on and wouldn’t start, get u I was in the middle of the road bc it just shut off. I left it off for about 10 minutes and finally it turned back on but yet the battery and everything was good on the car, this is definitely a road hazard ⚠️!
Incident date: Sep 18, 2019
Parasitic battery drain
Incident date: Aug 6, 2025
The throttle can loose power at stop and then suddenly engine picks up the throttle which not normal and this is not maintenance issue as service station and Honda does not confirm the behavior a defect or a problem. This is very concerning.
Incident date: Aug 9, 2025
Vacuum pump problem Hard to brake to stop My truck is LT not LD
Incident date: Jun 14, 2021
I bought this vehicle march of 2024 it had 59880 mile or so on it.it now has 65220 miles in it and it started blowing white smoke and is running rough took it to my mechanic and they said it needs a new engine.i had the water pump replaced because it was loosing antifreeze.well I had no idea that this has been a ongoing issue with these vehicles.its high time ford steps up and takes blame for the... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2021
At 20,000 miles I was doing 70 which was the speed limit the engine light came on and flashed and put itself into limp mode it acted fine once the car was turned off and back on the dealer hooked a scanner up and said nothing but the electronic port was wrong which the charging port wouldn’t work half the time. At 149000 miles the water pump went out as soon as I paid it off due to Chevy dealer ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2021
The vehicle will sometimes, after shifting from park to drive, roll backwards if on an incline, even while gassing. If not an incline when this occurs, the vehicle will not move forwards. This typically lasts for a few seconds before the transmission engages. This happens intermittently; the first time it happened to my family member, it almost caused an accident. Kia has attempted to repair this... Read more
Incident date: Aug 25, 2025
I currently own a 2018 Honda Accord 1.5L 4 cylinder with only 62,800 miles at the start of the issue. Around the end of July 2025 the car started to jerk. It started with a slight jerk and escalated daily, over about a week, until the car started going into limp mode. The car was taken to a repair shop near my house. This shop said they were receiving an engine misfire code, replaced all spark plu... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2025
On 8/14/25, a diagnostic fee was charged by White Bear Lake Subaru in Vadnais Heights, MN for an issue that was later confirmed to be part of an open Occupant Detection System (ODS) recall on a 2017 Subaru Forester. When the recall repair was completed on 8/27/25, the dealership refused to refund the diagnostic fee, saying reimbursement had to come from Subaru of America. Subaru of America then st... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2025
The front camera has failed. The automatic emergency breaking, the adaptive cruise control, and normal cruise control do not work, at all. The camera began to fail within the first year of ownership but it would start to work shortly after. After about 1.5 years of ownership, there was a permanent sign of malfunction on the screen, making the above features inoperable.
Incident date: Aug 8, 2025
The front camera has failed. The automatic emergency breaking, the adaptive cruise control, and normal cruise control do not work, at all. The camera began to fail within the first year of ownership but it would start to work shortly after. After about 1.5 years of ownership, there was a permanent sign of malfunction on the screen, making the above features inoperable.
Incident date: Aug 8, 2025
The airbag warning light started flashing. I took the car to Valley Nissan in Longmont, Colorado where I was told that they need to replace the AirBag Diagnosis Sensor and the RH side Airbag Module. Valley Nissan said that these parts were no longer being produced, so they could not complete this repair. The airbag system is not functioning which puts me and my passengers at risk if there is an a... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2025
While overtaking another vehicle on a 2-lane highway, the accelerator pedal broke and would not allow me to accelerate. Shortly after this, the vehicle I overtook had caught up, and I was forced to move back behind them in heavy traffic as there was also oncoming traffic. With no accelerator, I had to pull off to the side of the highway. Losing acceleration is a serious hazard, impacting the abili... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2025
The rearview camera display threw up a blue screen then proceeded to throw up a back screen and told me “Camera is unavailable. Please contact dealership.” From my knowledge, there is a current recall out for this particular issue. I was attempting to back into a parking spot when this happened and I was surrounded by vehicles when this happened. There were no warnings on the vehicle dash or i... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2025
Coolant is leaking into the piston cylinder 4-mainly (and 2). It’s leaking because of the imperfection in the block. In the new engines, the imperfection has been fixed
Incident date: Jun 22, 2025
First, I was not involved in an incident or accident with my vehicle. My concern is for my safety in the future while driving this vehicle. My RAM 2500 Power Wagon has a safety recall C4B/NHTSA 24V-896 for the brake system but there are no parts available to fix it. I currently have an ABS caution light with a "Service Electronic Braking System" and "Service Automatic Braking System" that constan... Read more
Incident date: Jun 22, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Ram 1500. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the ABS warning light illuminated, causing the cruise control mode and the 4WD system to become inoperable. Additionally, the traction control, the brakes, and the check engine warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that while driving and braking or accelerating on a wet road surface, the vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Jun 22, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Ram 1500. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the ABS warning light illuminated, causing the cruise control mode and the 4WD system to become inoperable. Additionally, the traction control, the brakes, and the check engine warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that while driving and braking or accelerating on a wet road surface, the vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
When backing up the rear camera display is too dark to see. I have altered the settings for display from auto, to night, to day, and also adjusted the brightness level all the way up, but nothing changes. It remains the same and you can't safely see what is on the camera display.
Incident date: Sep 2, 2025
I do all routine maintenance on my car and do my standard oil changes on time. I only have 80K miles on my car and may now have a head gasket issue. I have seen many online posts that there are many users that have experienced this issue and some looking to possibly do a class action law suit. Has this issue been looked into as a potential recall? When speaking with the dealership I advised th... Read more
Incident date: Aug 29, 2025
I was driving when I received messages saying service ESC, Forward collision System Unavailable, & Service Traction Control. The vehicle began to shake hard when I applied brakes, had loss of power when pressing the gas pedal, and sounded like metal grinding. All of this put my children & I at risk as we were on interstate 35 with cars flying past us and I’m losing power. Initially the spark plu... Read more
Incident date: Aug 29, 2025
Was in a rear end collision and the driver window and leg airbags deployed, but the steering wheel airbag did not deploy
Crash
HYUNDAI
TUCSON HYBRID
(2025) - LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
Sep 2, 2025
Incident date: Aug 30, 2025
So far I went to Herb Gordon Auto World in Silver Spring At least three times for the eyesight system that keeps malfunctioning and they said each time there's no codes and no sensor or system error light codes on. I called and talked to Subaru customer service three times and on the fourth time I was told to go to another Subaru dealer and have it looked at as a second opinion on the 16th of aug ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Kia Seltos. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle stalled but restarted. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the Inspection Station for a yearly inspection, which confirmed an upcoming recall, and was unable to be repaired. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repair... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2025
After deactivating the parking assistance system while towing a small trailer and backing up, the info/taiment screen blacked out. No back up camera available. The screen finally came back on after driving for 5 minutes. This vehicle has already been in for a previous recall on the same problem.
Incident date: Aug 13, 2025
On [XXX] at [XXX], I was driving on [XXX] , when I noticed smoke come from the left side of the interior of the car near the fuse box. Within seconds, the fuse box exploded, and a fire developed. The fire engulfed the entire left side of the interior of the car. the car shut down and I was able to pull over to the side of the road. I tried to put the fire out with my left foot, but couldn't stop t... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Aug 2, 2025
While driving in traffic, my vehicle suddenly shut down without warning. The engine stalled, and I lost power to steering and braking, creating a serious safety risk for myself and other drivers around me. The problem has occurred more than three time. At the time of the failure, there were no warning lamps a message display showing to continue to drive depress brake pedal and push switch there ... Read more
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE SPORT
(2018) - STEERING
Sep 1, 2025
Incident date: Jul 25, 2025
While driving a EPS light came in and the steering was extremely hard to drive. I was on the highway so I had to pull over to turn off the car and then turn it on. After turning it on it worked ok for a little and then messed up again and I couldn’t turning the steering wheel again. While driving in the highway my safety was at risk because I could have crashed into another car and hurt my self ... Read more
HYUNDAI
TUCSON HYBRID
(2025) - POWER TRAIN
Sep 1, 2025
Incident date: Aug 31, 2025
Phantom braking at speed: I have experienced more than one alarming instances of "phantom braking at speed" where the vehicle unexpectedly brakes, all wheels locked, and violently skids on the pavement. This is a very alarming occurrence to driver and passengers as well as to drivers of other nearby vehicles. Specifically, this first occurred without warning on [XXX] on [XXX], traveling at 30 mp... Read more
HYUNDAI
TUCSON HYBRID
(2025) - FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Sep 1, 2025
Incident date: Aug 31, 2025
while driving on 85 south warning message appeared.
HYUNDAI
TUCSON HYBRID
(2025) - BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING
Sep 1, 2025
Incident date: Aug 31, 2025
while driving on 85 south warning message appeared.
HYUNDAI
SANTA FE SPORT
(2016) - SERVICE BRAKES
Sep 1, 2025
Incident date: Aug 31, 2025
Brakes automatically stop car.