Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,215,138 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA — including 138,663 crashes, 56,255 fires, and 8,561 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 2,215,138 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 60,583 complaints for KIA
Incident date: Apr 17, 2025
Ive had the truck for 3 months and airbag light came on. Had it diagnosed to find it has a bad sensor in the seatbelt pretensioner that is stopping the passenger airbag from deploying and the seatbelt from locking. This is a major problem and should be a recall as I had it fixed and paid almost $600 to have replaced. I've called Stelantis and they offer no help as if it becomes a recall in the fut... Read more
Incident date: Apr 17, 2025
The Adaptive cruse control would stop working off an on. also it would give false land departure warnings causing driver to swerve thinking they were going to run into another care
Incident date: Apr 18, 2025
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the passenger's side windshield exterior A-pillar trim had detached and was flapping against the window while driving. Additionally, the contact stated that the driver's side windshield ext... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2025
While driving on the mass pike with my fiancé and 4 kids our motor suddenly died. We were using cruise control going 75mph and the vehicle shifted into neutral itself and the car died. I managed to make it to a break down lane and we had to sit there for 2.5 hours before a tow showed up to help. The dealership said the motor seized and we were under the 60K for warranty and it was covered. They g... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2025
Bubbling and painting chipping on the driver door, passenger driver's side door, at the top roof at all doors, around the front mirror, and passenger and back passenger door. Pearl white paint. I believe the ENTIRE kia needs to repainted and fixing one spot is not the solution!! This includes the top of the car and racks on top if your car has them.
Incident date: Apr 17, 2025
I was sitting at a stop light and my vehicle completely failed without any warning. Was not able to start, etc. it was completely dead. There was no notice of issues or problems; no messages, no lights, etc. The vehicle had to be towed to a dealer and has been sitting for over 5 weeks waiting for a new motor. I was told that there is no timeline for when a new motor will be available and that it c... Read more
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2023) — ENGINE
Apr 17, 2025
Incident date: Sep 8, 2023
Intermittently, when trying to accelerate from a stop; or a near stop, the vehicle does nothing for a second or so. The vehicle also vibrates at various speeds while the hybrid system is engaged. It is dangerous and a safety concern because you can't merge correctly or go through an intersection, without wondering if someone is going to broadside you, as you wait for the car to make up its compu... Read more
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2023) — POWER TRAIN
Apr 17, 2025
Incident date: Sep 8, 2023
While driving and accelerating the transmission malfunctions and wont shift so as I try to accelerate the car stops accelerating and just goes very slow. This put us at risk as cars were coming fast behind us. The problem happened 3 times before taking it to the dealership where they knew exactly what the problem was because it has happened to so many others. The warning light that came on was the... Read more
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2023) — ENGINE
Apr 17, 2025
Incident date: Sep 8, 2023
The contact owns a 2014 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and idling, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power and was unable to restart. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the timing chain tensioner, resulting in damages to the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to... Read more
Incident date: Feb 3, 2025
Car has been brought to KIA for transmission issues multiple times and the associate tells me to just tighten the gas cap to get the light to go off. The car is not shifting properly and will "jump" or "lunge" forward while driving. I have noticed that the RPM's will jump and bounce around, seemingly down shifting, then shift again, and then down shift again, which causes jerking motion. The reaso... Read more
Incident date: Feb 3, 2025
Power Steering failed while driving. Hard to steer truck. Brought it to a mechanic who diagnosed it with a Failed EPS
Incident date: Feb 3, 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 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 manuf... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
The car has a recall, and i tried to make an appointment to fix it, i called Champion Chrysler Jeep Dodge RAM FIAT 9655 Firestone Blvd, Downey, CA 90241 but they said that they can not fix it because the car is too old. It sounds like discriminatory to me.
Incident date: Apr 15, 2025
Driving down the road, my auto start stop failure light appeared on dash, followed by a check engine light and a battery light. Tried to pull over on the side of the road when I lost all electrical components including power steering, ac, radio etc. the truck slammed itself into park abruptly and turned itself off. I was stranded on the side of the road and nearly got hit by passing cars several t... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2025
Lights appeared on the dash and the vehicle locked and would not drive. This happened as I was actively driving. I had the vehicle towed and was told by the Kia dealership that it was my abs/hecu. Before this happened, there was no warning lamps or messages. The car was driving normally.
Incident date: Apr 14, 2025
Intermittently, when trying to accelerate from a stop; or a near stop, the vehicle does nothing for a second or so. The vehicle also vibrates at various speeds while the hybrid system is engaged. It is dangerous and a safety concern because you can't merge correctly or go through an intersection, without wondering if someone is going to broadside you, as you wait for the car to make up its compu... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2025
Intermittently, when trying to accelerate from a stop; or a near stop, the vehicle does nothing for a second or so. The vehicle also vibrates at various speeds while the hybrid system is engaged. It is dangerous and a safety concern because you can't merge correctly or go through an intersection, without wondering if someone is going to broadside you, as you wait for the car to make up its compu... Read more
Incident date: Feb 27, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle went into LIMP Mode and was slow to respond as needed. The contact stated that there was smoke coming from the exhaust. While driving, the rear end locked up. The contact stated that the vehicle was slipping, and the vehicle shut off while driving. The contact stated that several unknown warning ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 8, 2024
Odometer Fraud. The contact has never owned or purchased these vehicles. The vehicles never purchased in any type of sale. The contact stated that the state of New York has asked for additional paper for the vehicle's registration. The vehicle was not a private sale or dealer sale but illegitimately obtained. The contact has received a letter from state of New Jersey 182,007 sold to fidelity 182,0... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2025
Low beam projector bulb prematurely fails. Replaced under warranty and failed again. Due to dynamic bending feature dealer recommended replacing entire assembly at a cost of $1500. High beam and dynamic bending works, just low beam out of service. Seems like a less costly option to replace LED bulb. Online research lead to other owners reporting similar failures and replacement cost. Some owner... Read more
Incident date: Mar 28, 2025
1. Wire harness with coil wires is the problem. It was fixed by a local shop and the vehicle can be inspected if needed. 2. The car throws a code for a faulty thermostat/coolant temp sensor. This will not allow the car get to oporating temp and could cause engine damage or not perform properly causing risk of an accident. Also this will reduce the driver assist features such as lane assist and ad... Read more
Incident date: Apr 11, 2025
The vehicle in question has been experiencing multiple ongoing mechanical issues, including engine stalling, frequent brake replacements, frequent oil changes, a camshaft issue, and intermittent horn functionality. These issues have raised serious safety concerns. Despite multiple repairs and maintenance attempts at the dealership, the problems persist, affecting both my safety and confidence in t... Read more
Incident date: Apr 11, 2025
The tire pressure light continues to alert never going away and tire store says it's a sensor but it's causing my tires to get worn quicker and have had 2 blowouts I have tried to get this resolved and repaired by Volkswagen but the customer service employee said I was crazy because they have never had 1 recall on my vehicle and that she was going to report my VIN number for illegal reporting of r... Read more
Incident date: Apr 11, 2025
I bought this vehicle at 80k miles and I have had an on going issue with the transmission. I have done research online and found that GM had put the wrong fluid in the transmission from the factory that has caused internal issues with the transmission leading to hard shifting and transmission shuttering. On my dime I have changed the fluid twice already and also the torque converter as well. This ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 9, 2025
The recall was originally done by the selling dealer in February 21. We purchased the RV in February 21. The recall failed 6 months later. It was repaired by the frame manufacturer BAL while we were in Florida. The recall is failing AGAIN. This recall is inadequate. RV is no longer safe to tow. Keystone knows the recall repair is inadequate.
Incident date: Dec 12, 2024
I was involved in a fatal head-on collision with a pedestrian while driving my Kia EV6. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist : The FCA system appears to have completely failed. It did not detect the pedestrian, did not provide any audible or visual warnings, and did not initiate automatic emergency ... Read more
Crash
1 deaths
Incident date: Dec 12, 2024
The wipers quit working while I was driving in a thunderstorm. Safety was definitely a risk as I was on a major highway. I pulled over and waited for rain to stop and made it to an auto parts store to replace fuse. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the issue. The recall does not include 2016 equinox. I don’t understand why it’s not included.
Incident date: Dec 12, 2024
There is a glare from the dashboard that is very visible in the windshield. It obscures visibility through the windshield. This is a brand new vehicle.
Incident date: Mar 26, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that a sudden complete stop on a major roadway was necessary due to a turtle crossing, and the vehicle in front was at a complete stop and exited the vehicle in their attempt to remove the turtle from the road. A third vehicle coming from the rear failed to slow down and was driving at 55 MPH, crashed into the rear of the contact. As a resul... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 6, 2025
While making a turn in a parking garage at low speed, I heard a loud popping sound. When I got out to inspect, I discovered that the front wheel had collapsed inward. There was no collision, curb hit, or external damage—just a spontaneous failure of the suspension system. This is the second time this same failure has occurred within the past year on this vehicle. The incident caused a complete ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2025
My 2013 Honda Odyssey is experiencing a serious engine malfunction related to excessive oil consumption and spark plug fouling. On [XXX], the Check Engine Light came on and the vehicle began shaking. A diagnostic inspection at a Honda dealership revealed DTC P0301 (Cylinder 1 Misfire). Three spark plugs in Bank 1 were heavily fouled with oil. The technician recommended piston ring replacement, no... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2025
For several years now, I have been experiencing incidents where someone and/or a group is hacking into my radio and/or satellite radio systems and trying to lure me into conversation, make comments, or actually sing to whatever it is I'm listening to. Most incidents have been reported to the NHTSA, which they have been filing. Please know that sometimes the "noise is constant", as well as it app... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2025
E torque system on this truck has had several problems Factory did replace it, but still has issues Before replacing the system, my truck shut down in the middle road several times very dangerous After replacing the system, I now get strange issues remote start stop won't work Had several situations with the truck, stopping and starting again
Incident date: Jan 16, 2025
My 6.2L V8 engine blew up while I was driving across bridge and I barely had enough time to get it off the road out of traffic.
Incident date: Jan 16, 2025
Engine light and warning light came on said engine coolant over temp, coolant leaking out, took it to ford dealership and they said the coolant is leaking into the cylinder and burnt the engine, said its a known problem thats been happening, they cant repair the engine, they have to replace the whole thing for $10,000.
Incident date: Feb 17, 2025
The (PCS) Precollision System has been already set to LOW sensitivity, but every once in awhile when pulling in to oncoming traffic the vehicle would think there's still a car and just stalls for a few seconds (nonresponsive to acceleration pedal) leading to a dangerous occurrence where I could be hit by a vehicle because I've basically stopped in an active intersection. My vehicle is clean, so no... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2025
This part is required to make the vehicle drivable. 68661147AA intake camshaft. The vehicle has been off road in a dealership since 2/26/2025. No part is available; we are told more than 10,000 are backordered. This is a daily driver. The vehicle is 2018 with only 78,000 miles. No known answer to why the part failed however with this many backordered parts it is clear there is an ongoing and signi... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2025
While driving on the freeway, the vehicle's driver assistance system suddenly became unavailable. Although the car was still able to move, the transmission would not shift gears. The engine RPMs rose unusually high — when applying pressure to the gas pedal, the RPMs could reach 4,000 to 5,000, but the vehicle accelerated very slowly. I could only maintain a speed of around 50–60 mph. It felt l... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving at 35 MPH, the check engine light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to Customer Satisfaction Program: 21N12. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who determined that there was a coolant intrusion into the engine and the long block needed to be replaced.The local dealer was contacted, who co... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 2500. The contact stated while driving a various speeds, the ABS and the traction control warning lights illuminated intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the brake HCU had failed and needed to be replaced. The dealer advised the contact that a related recall would be issued. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact later rece... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2025
The tire (Pirelli 255/35R21) on my 2023 Mercedes Benz 580V4 developed a bubble on its sidewall. This tire was just replaced February 16, 2024, and has under 8,000 miles on it. This is the fourth tire I have replaced due to bubbles on the sidewalls.
Incident date: Apr 15, 2025
The tire (Pirelli 255/35R21) on my 2023 Mercedes Benz 580V4 developed a bubble on its sidewall. This tire was just replaced February 16, 2024, and has under 8,000 miles on it. This is the fourth tire I have replaced due to bubbles on the sidewalls.
Incident date: Mar 15, 2025
As I was driving down a suburban road at about 30mph the brakes suddenly came on by themselves for few seconds as I approached a parked car on my right side. As I started to pass this car my vehicle continued moving forewarned and I did not come to a complete stop. There were no cars in front or behind me except for the one car parked to my right. There were two electric beeps when the car brak... Read more
Incident date: Apr 12, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the flex plate was loose. The vehicle was then towed to a dealer, where it was diagnosed with a cracked flex plate. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer wa... Read more
Incident date: Feb 3, 2025
All safety features disabled, srs light turns on, vehicle shuts off when driving, guage cluster is inop doesn’t show speed.
Incident date: Feb 3, 2025
I’m filing a complaint regarding a serious safety recall on my 2025 Honda ADV160 (Recall #25V195), which involves a defective oil pump driven gear. This recall can lead to engine seizure and cause the rear wheel to lock, risking crash or injury. I’ve called multiple dealerships to get this resolved, but I’ve been told either the recall doesn’t exist or that I need to “wait for a letter ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 3, 2025
I’m filing a complaint regarding a serious safety recall on my 2025 Honda ADV160 (Recall #25V195), which involves a defective oil pump driven gear. This recall can lead to engine seizure and cause the rear wheel to lock, risking crash or injury. I’ve called multiple dealerships to get this resolved, but I’ve been told either the recall doesn’t exist or that I need to “wait for a letter ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2019
Check air bag system keeps turning on..
Incident date: Feb 14, 2019
The contact owns a 2021 Ford Bronco Sport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V019000 (ELECTRICAL SYSTEM); 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 not made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. Th... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, there was an abnormal knocking sound coming from underneath the rear of the vehicle. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local Pep Boys; however, the cause of the failure was not identified. The contact stated that after the attempted diagnostic test, while driving at undisclosed ... Read more