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: Feb 27, 2025
Fuel injectors no warning…went to get breaks checked, while they were checking them the engine light turned on after that they couldn’t get my car to start again.
Incident date: Dec 31, 2024
For the seat belt it does not retract back and there was no issue before. It suddenly stopped working and all of the seatbelt is out. This is a safety issue for anyone sitting in the front passenger seat. For the unknown part the button in the trunk to pull the back passenger seats down suddenly stopped working and no issues before then. I’m more concerned with the seat belt because this is ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2025
On August 17, 2024, my 2017 Kia Sportage suddenly lost power on the highway. The check engine light came on seconds before the engine seized completely. I was able to pull into the breakdown lane because I was already in the exit lane. It was a very frightening moment and could have been dangerous if I had been in a different lane or in heavier traffic. Component that Failed: The engine seized. T... Read more
Incident date: Jan 22, 2025
Multiple problems. Suspension/axles grinding and popping when go around corners, multiple messages to service high voltage system, complete loss of power while driving, loss of awd system, extremely loud thunking under hard acceleration (merging onto freeway etc), that shakes the whole car and can cause it to go off track a bit. deathtrap on wheels, dealer's no help, corporate is no help.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
I have had transmission gear changes abruptly/rough on my 6 speed 2017 XLT F150. It seems to happen more often downshifting from 4th to 3rd gear. I reported this to dealer early after purchase when I still had factory waranty. Dealer inspected and answered that “this is normal.”
Incident date: Dec 16, 2022
UNKNOWN. Vehicle is burning through oil every 1,000 miles or so. Excessive oil consumption which i am aware there is a recall. However Kia states my VIN # is not included. While at the dealer service department for failed A/C system, we questioned the excessive oil consumption and engine replacement. We were told they found nothing wrong. Having to top off oil every 1,000 miles or so. It does not ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Nissan Altima. The contact stated her son was driving on the highway at 70 MPH, when an abnormal smell of garbage was followed by smoke being emitted from a hole in the rear side of the front passenger seat. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact was an occupant seated in the front passenger seat when there was a burning sensation was felt. The contact's son immedi... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jan 23, 2025
The contact owns a 2012 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 40-50 MPH, the vehicle hesitated and jerked. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle hesitated and lost motive power. The transmission slipped and downshifted to first gear. The contact was able to move over to the side of the road. The wrench warning light and the check engine warning light was illuminated. ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 23, 2025
The contact owns a 2012 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 40-50 MPH, the vehicle hesitated and jerked. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle hesitated and lost motive power. The transmission slipped and downshifted to first gear. The contact was able to move over to the side of the road. The wrench warning light and the check engine warning light was illuminated. ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 27, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 2500. The contact stated while driving at approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle struck an object on the roadway and the vehicle shuddered and made an abnormal sound. The vehicle failed to return to normal operation. The ABS warning light was illuminated. The failure occurred on several different occasions. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V89600... Read more
Incident date: Feb 27, 2025
Transmission failed/malfunctioned. While driving the car it started to slow down and I couldn't accelerate any longer causing the car to come to a complete stop in the middle of the road. I had my two young children with me. If a car would have been too close behind me they could have rear ended me and caused harm to myself or my children. I have not taken the vehicle to the dealership since it is... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated that occasionally, while attempting to accelerate, the transmission jerked until shifting into gear with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer,r where the vehicle was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the clutch was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manu... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2025
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Steering Wheel. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Single vehicle accident. Driver suffered injury. No other person or vehicle was involved. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Don't Know. Has the vehicle... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Mar 25, 2025
The vehicle is shutting down while driving. Full power down. I have replaced the battery and taken it to Jeep. They have reset and ran multiple diagnostics. The car shows nothing wrong. Each time I call MOPAR about the PTU recall which is causing from 2017-2019 Jeeps to shutdown they say my VIN isn’t listed so they are unable to cover it under the recall. My car is doing exactly what the recall ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2025
My current 2021 Kia K5 FUEL TANK EXPLODED while driving. I’ve had this car for about 5 years and since driving it off the lot have experience issues with the vehicle and just a few hours ago, the fuel gas tank explode raising the back seat with passengers in the vehicle. It was extremely scary and something out of the blew. My friends and I were driving and I noticed the car engine light turn on... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2025
there was a recall regarding air bags. was notified during COVID with part backordered. never heard back. I now have a warning on my dashboard that will prevent getting a new state inspection sticker. please advise
Incident date: Mar 23, 2025
driving at around 35mph I heard a pop and a warning showed up on the dash stating "stop vehicle and check power supply". This warning put the car into limp mode as I was about to turn on to a busier road to get to my place of employment. The car was then towed, at the request of Kia, to the nearest dealership. It was diagnosed a few days later as having a faulty ICCU, or integrated charging contro... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2025
Catastrophic transmission failure at 44,690 miles.
Incident date: Mar 18, 2025
Sunroof exploded outwards while driving, took no damage from debris or flying objects.
Incident date: Mar 15, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 BMW X3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V608000 (Engine and Engine Cooling, Electrical System); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not 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 i... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2025
UNKNOWN. Vehicle is burning through oil every 1,000 miles or so. Excessive oil consumption which i am aware there is a recall. However Kia states my VIN # is not included. While at the dealer service department for failed A/C system, we questioned the excessive oil consumption and engine replacement. We were told they found nothing wrong. Having to top off oil every 1,000 miles or so. It does not ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2025
The fuel injectors are bad. When the first fuel injector failed, the Hyundai mechanic stated that the remainder of fuel injectors would also fail but they could not proactively replace them. Two fuel injectors have failed in the matter of 6 months and it’s expected the last two will follow suit.
Incident date: Mar 26, 2025
Vehicle shifting to lower gears while driving at any speed. Vehicle not engaging into higher gear when accelerating and then slipping out of gear completely. Vehicle remaining in high gears like 7 or 4 when completely stopped.
Incident date: Mar 25, 2025
This is a BEV. The vehicle has routine charging problems, especially with level 2 home AC charging. Parts have been replaced, but the issues persist.
Incident date: Aug 17, 2024
Decrease of power when pushing on gas peddle, a smell of burnt oil coming through vent. And since risk is very high on this engine component of possibly setting fire to car, and or ceasing thay may cause a crash. I would not like my wife to drive this vehicle knowing it could be a neglegent hazard that could cause injury or bodily harm to owner or other drivers near the vehicle. Very unsafe dont w... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2025
The contact owned a 2018 Kia Sportage. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted into first gear. While attempting to accelerate, the vehicle jerked and briefly lost motive power before slamming into gear. No warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that an abnormal burning odor was coming from under the hood and entered the vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2025
Front driver door welds not holding and causing door to not shut properly.
Incident date: Jan 31, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Kia Forte. The contact stated while her daughter was driving approximately 45 MPH and approaching a red traffic light, the vehicle stalled. There was no warning light illuminated. The driver was able to pull into a nearby gas station. The vehicle failed to restart and was towed to Priddy Automotive, where the engine was taken apart, and the mechanic diagnosed that the engin... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2025
My vehicle is currently being held at a Kia Dealership in Woodstock, GA to attempt to find the problem with my car. The lateral G sensor code as well as a few others were found in diagnostic testing. They attempted to fix it with replacing the air bag module but it did not remove the problem. My problem is this: Four of my ADAS lights have come on several times over the last few months at random, ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2025
Engine lost power and I had no acceleration. It happened out of nowhere at 70+ miles per hour.
Incident date: Mar 4, 2025
The fuel injectors on my vehicle at 99000 seemed to turn all warning lights on my dashboard. There was no issues with my vehicle, I got an emissions test done, then 5 minutes later driving away all warning lights came on my dashboard. I brought to orielys autoparts and had the computer scanned, and it turned out the fuel was too rich in bank one. This is the second vehicle I had that had fo have f... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2025
2024 BZ4x, 590 miles on ODO. Purchased the car on Sunday, 03/23/2025. Monday Morning - Turning on the Car (In my garage). I had it in "ready" while I tried to connect my Toyota app to the car, While talking to Toyota engagement for help.. (Never was able to change the primary driver on it.) The accessory lights flickered and a bell went on and off. Then the car went totally black. Toyota called a ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 25, 2024
Unexpected gear downshift accompanied by a temporary rear wheel lock-up. This occurs at highway speeds and has shifted from 6th gear to 2nd gear multiple times at 50+ mph. This causes substantial safety concerns to both those in the vehicle as well as other vehicles on the road in the immediate proximity. When this occurs speed is restricted suddenly/immediately by a reduction of 5-12 mph. This ca... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2024
happened a couple times within a week or so as the first time i was not sure what happened and there were no check engine lights but the second time i realized something was wrong and the check engine light was on. but while driving doing about 55-60 on my way home from work it happened and it seemed like the truck went from 6th gear to 1st throwing me forward and the dash went blank and then cam... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at 70 MPH, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted while the accelerator pedal was being depressed. Several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed, and the transmission was replaced. In addition, the contact stated that several other unknown repairs were perf... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at 55 MPH, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted from the 6th to 2nd gear, and the rear wheels locked up, causing the vehicle to slide to a stop. The vehicle then stalled but was restarted after several attempts. The contact stated that once the vehicle was restarted, there was a knocking sound coming from the engine com... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2025
The contact owns a 2024 BMW X1. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V104000 (Electronic Stability Control (ESC), 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... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2025
The contact owns a 2023 Kia Sportage. The contact state while driving 70 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to exceed 30 MPH. Additionally, the vehicle stalled and lost motive power. The vehicle was started and driven to the shoulder of the road. The vehicle was started, and the vehicle was dri... Read more
Incident date: Feb 25, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-150. The contact stated when the vehicle was started, the contact noticed a fuel leaking sound. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was confirmed to be a fuel leak. The contact was informed that the failure was due to rodents. The vehicle was not repaired. In addition, the contact stated that the failure had occurred twice, and this was the third time the ro... Read more
Incident date: Feb 25, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V635000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. T... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2025
Melted High Volt Junction Box after DC Fast Charging. Car became compromised while 3 hours from home. Limiting speed and ability to recharge. This vehicle had the High Voltage Junction Box melt back in the summer of 2022. The original was replaced under Warranty. The replacement part they installed is also faulty. I do not DC Fast charge very often. Maybe 12 times in the lifespan of t... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2025
The vehicle was purchased on 1/8/2025. On 1/13/2025, the vehicle had to be towed to the dealer because the transmission wouldn't shift to park. Dealer performed a software update to correct the issue. On 1/21/2025, the vehicle had to be towed to a dealer because the transmission wouldn't shift to park. Dealer replaced the gear selector. On 1/27/2025, the vehicle had to be towed to the dealer... Read more
Incident date: Feb 15, 2022
We were driving down the freeway at 70 mph and the vehicle displayed "Vehicle will shut off soon, pull over safely" and IMMEDIATELY lost power and the gas pedal would do nothing.
Incident date: Mar 19, 2025
Engine oil light came on and car was down about 2 quarts of oil AGAIN. Car was last serviced as noted below VW service 11/22/2024 Mileage in 62086 Mileage out 62087 (what kind of test drive was this, less than a mile) ?? 2021 VW Tiguan Service Advisor 413 Montpelier VW 802-223 -3434 ____________________________________________________________ A C/S: Check Engine light is no CEL Default 1000 CP... Read more
Incident date: Mar 19, 2025
On October 16, 2022, I purchased a 2016 Ford Escape from the Stowasser Buick GMC car lot. I have had numerous problems with this vehicle since the beginning. On November 1, 2022, I took my car to their service department because it was running poorly. The mechanics worked on my vehicle and returned it to me. However, on January 8, 2023, I had to take my vehicle back to Stowasser shop because it wa... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2025
Transmission stalls out when going from 1st to 2nd and when driving down the road in cruse control it shutters.
Incident date: Mar 25, 2025
The Cummins 6.7L Turbocharger Actuator has failed at 17,809 Miles on this vehicle. Mopar has extended the warranty on this item for 10 years/180,000 miles under Warranty extension 09-001-22 Rev A. They have also extended the warranty on the Ram 2500 & 3500 series vehicles with the same engine and same turbocharger actuator to 15 years/150,000 miles under Warranty extension 09-005-22 Rev. A. The... Read more
Incident date: Mar 14, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle started shaking abnormally. The check engine warning light became illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled while leaving her property. The vehicle was restarted, and there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine. The contact stated that there was an abnormal chemical odor coming f... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 GMC Yukon XL. The contact stated while operating the vehicle on a cold day, the windshield wiper fluid failed to spray from the windshield wiper nozzle and the windshield and window could not be cleaned while driving. The contact stated that the failure was present with the front windshield and rear glass and had created a visibility hazard for the driver. The cause of the ... Read more