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 62,191 complaints for KIA
Incident date: Mar 6, 2025
The six speed transmission 6L80 failed with less then 60k miles and before it's first service due at 72k miles, I have already had the transmission repaired so the original transmission components are not available for inspection. My transmission failed when I was driving across the Coronado bridge in San Diego CA. This bridge has no shoulders to safely pull over. I had my truck towed to Cummings... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
After very cold winter weather, car started to smell. PCV valve blew and car was seizing causing it to blow out the rear systems. It had spilled oil onto the garage floor and had a bad emissions smell. Dealership said they added 3 quarts of Oil and that within 30 minutes two quarts leaked out. No warning lights on dashboard, no affected cautions through the equinox app (which still shows that I ha... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while reversing out of the driveway, the transmission went into neutral, and the check engine, traction control, and parking brake warning lights were illuminated. The contact proceeded to switch from all-wheel drive to auto and the vehicle shifted into reverse. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed an... Read more
Incident date: Apr 30, 2024
I was 450 miles away from home. Travelling at 80 mph in the left lane of Interstate 35 when the Yukon stopped accelerating and started coasting. I looked at the gauge clusters on the dash and it said Press Start to Shift. I looked at the shifter and it had automatically moved from Drive to Neutral. It would not move back to Drive. I then pressed the Start button like it said on the dash and the wh... Read more
Incident date: Apr 30, 2024
I purchased this vehicle brand new off of the lot February 2024. Since then, I have had two incidents where in the middle of driving my vehicle has completely shut off. The first experience, I was driving 50+ mph. First my headlights went out, my engine shut off, my dashboard shut off, and I was cruising without power or control over my vehicle for about 5 seconds before everything turned back on.... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
WITHIN 16,000 MILES OF OWNING MY I NOTICED IT WOULD RANDOMLY STALL SOMETIMES AT THE STOP LIGHT OF AN INTERSECTION. IT DOESN'T TAKE LONG TO START BACK UP EVEN ACCELERATING . SEVERAL MONTHS WENT BY WHERE THE ISSUE WAS NO LONGER PRESENT BUT OVER THE PAST FEW MONTH IT STARTED AGAIN. I GET TUNE UPS TWICE A YEAR
Incident date: Mar 3, 2025
I sent following to Tesla I had an accident at around 6:30 PM on Sunday, March 2nd with my Tesla Model 3 and asking to see if you can conduct a diagnostic check into this incident. I was coming home at that time with the Tesla and about 100 yards from my house, I experienced a sudden acceleration with the car going from about 20mph to, I think, over 40 mph and crashed into the garage area of... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Mar 3, 2025
When the windshield wipers are set to intermittent they would swipe as if they were set to lo and then they would come to a complete stop at a 45° angle sometimes starting up again but other times I would need to turn the windshield wipers off then back on for them to go again.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Dodge Durango. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the rearview camera was intermittently inoperative and there was an abnormal sound coming from the infotainment system. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the infotainment system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufactur... Read more
Incident date: Feb 28, 2025
My car has been burning oil for over a year. there is no leak. I have been putting three quarts in every 4 to 6 weeks. I have now replaced two coil packs and the spark plugs. my engine light is on because it said 3 and 4 was misfiring so i recently replaced those coil packs and now it said spark plug and i replaced it again as well. so the engine light coming on and what it says the problem i... Read more
Incident date: Feb 28, 2025
My car has been burning oil for over a year. there is no leak. I have been putting three quarts in every 4 to 6 weeks. I have now replaced two coil packs and the spark plugs. my engine light is on because it said 3 and 4 was misfiring so i recently replaced those coil packs and now it said spark plug and i replaced it again as well. so the engine light coming on and what it says the problem i... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
There are 3 things: sometimes when I go to start my jeep, it will start and cut off. Secondly: my rear back up camera keeps going in and out. I’ve had it replaced and it still goes out. Especially if it rains. Lastly, my “service shifter” light pops up randomly while I am driving and all of the lights on the gear shift will light up. It will not let me upload my videos of the screen
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
Shift to park msg appears randomly causing the car to not completely turn off even though car is in park. Have to turn car back on and shift to drive back to park couple of times before msg goes away. I see so many people with the same problem why isn't there a recall this is a safety issue. The 1st time my warranty covered the repairs , 2nd time around I have to pay of pocket.
Incident date: Apr 8, 2024
Lane keeping will kamikaze the vehicle on to exit ramps or exit only lanes when engaged at a highway speed. This seems most common when the truncated lane markers, usually used on exit-only lanes, and not the full length lane markers (the center line markings). Example: Vehicle is traveling at a static heading, freeway speed, two lane limited access freeway, driver in control, all lane keeping ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 21, 2025
Tires are load range E but max load on tire is only 65psi. Truck requires 80 psi tires. Not sure how they can be load range E and only handle 65 psi. Can not tow anything because sidewall of tire is too flimsy to handle load at highway speeds. Tires also have bad vibration at highway speed even though I have tried balancing them multiple times. tire size is 35x12.5x18
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
On [XXX], I was the operator of a 2019 Mazda CX-5 in Los Angeles, California. I parked the vehicle on an incline on or around [XXX] in Los Angeles, California, and then exited the vehicle. The vehicle remained stationary for some time, until it suddenly began rolling backwards at a speed that pushed me to the ground while I was getting my things from the passenger side door, causing me serious inj... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Oct 5, 2023
The air conditioner knob doesn't work when I put it at 4. Took it apart and the wires are burn including the pigtail that holds the wires into the knob.
Incident date: Oct 5, 2023
When using the turn sign to turn right, it will overcompensate and after completing the turn, turn the left turn signal on. The vehicle is available for inspection. The dealership, on second trip for the issue, was able to duplicate the issue. They did change the turn signal stalk. It is still doing this same thing, however less. I have mentioned it the dealership that it is still occurring a... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
My vehicle is activating “crosswind assist” and applying the brakes automatically, unilaterally, and abruptly while traveling at speeds over 40 mph on the highway, even when conditions are NOT windy. It seems that the sensor is overactive in detecting wind. I have taken it to the Mercedes dealer and they have stated they found no problems with the ESP sensors and state that the vehicle is res... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
The contact owns a 2024 Tesla Cybertruck. The contact stated that while driving at 70 MPH with the "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) active, the vehicle ahead of the contact's vehicle abruptly slowed down. The contact began to notice that the vehicle failed to detect the vehicle slowing down and the contact attempted to manually stop the vehicle. The contact crashed into the vehicle which resulted in a th... Read more
Crash
3 injured
Incident date: Feb 1, 2025
Tires are load range E but max load on tire is only 65psi. Truck requires 80 psi tires. Not sure how they can be load range E and only handle 65 psi. Can not tow anything because sidewall of tire is too flimsy to handle load at highway speeds. Tires also have bad vibration at highway speed even though I have tried balancing them multiple times. tire size is 35x12.5x18
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
The backup camera on my F150 starting glitching and would not display a clear picture of what was behind the vehicle. Below is what was on the invoice: C/S VEHICLE'S BACKUP CAMERA INOP. THE SCREEN IS BLANK WHEN IN REVERSE.CHECK AND ADVISE 24E12 POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE PCM REPROGRAMMING 2 new wiring harnesses and the control reprogramming came to about $1200. In my opinion, failure of a back... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
Was pulling out of drive way. Loud pop heard in the car. Immediately car flashed warning telling me electrical system had an issue and I needed to pull over and have the car towed to a dealer for service. Was told the part was related to the iccu and would take a couple days to arrive. Part is now on back order. 3 weeks later I am still waiting with little to no update on timeline for repair.
Incident date: Mar 5, 2024
My vehicle is activating “crosswind assist” and applying the brakes automatically, unilaterally, and abruptly while traveling at speeds over 40 mph on the highway, even when conditions are NOT windy. It seems that the sensor is overactive in detecting wind. I have taken it to the Mercedes dealer and they have stated they found no problems with the ESP sensors and state that the vehicle is res... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the engine overheated with the temperature gauge indicating that the engine was hot(H). The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the water pump was replaced. The contact stated that several months later while in reverse(R), the vehicle failed to accelerate while depressing the accelerator ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
Was pulling out of drive way. Loud pop heard in the car. Immediately car flashed warning telling me electrical system had an issue and I needed to pull over and have the car towed to a dealer for service. Was told the part was related to the iccu and would take a couple days to arrive. Part is now on back order. 3 weeks later I am still waiting with little to no update on timeline for repair.
Incident date: Feb 17, 2025
DEF system failure causing truck to enter limp mode being reduced to 65 MPH, then 55 MPH, and then restricted to 5 MPH. Error in def system led to DEF heater to go bad causing the incident to occur.
Incident date: Oct 29, 2024
The jerking, delayed take off reported originally that was supposedly corrected with a motor replacement STILL happens. Spoken with multiple other Renegade drivers and tow truck drivers, the transmission appears to be the issue. Each recorded visit to the dealership has reported transmission ok. My safety is my absolute #1 concern. Want transmission checked, rechecked, repaired, replaced or whatev... Read more
Incident date: Oct 29, 2024
The jerking, delayed take off reported originally that was supposedly corrected with a motor replacement STILL happens. Spoken with multiple other Renegade drivers and tow truck drivers, the transmission appears to be the issue. Each recorded visit to the dealership has reported transmission ok. My safety is my absolute #1 concern. Want transmission checked, rechecked, repaired, replaced or whatev... Read more
Incident date: Feb 24, 2025
I purchased a 2014 Audi A6 2.0T Quattro premium plus on November 15, 2024 with 99,141 miles. I got the 14 day dealership extended warranty, which covered powertrain systems. After 3 days of driving exactly 103 miles the oil light came on my dashboard telling me that the oil was low. I immediately brought it back to the dealership and their mechanic look at it, he said there was nothing wrong and c... Read more
Incident date: Feb 24, 2025
I purchased a 2014 Audi A6 2.0T Quattro premium plus on November 15, 2024 with 99,141 miles. I got the 14 day dealership extended warranty, which covered powertrain systems. After 3 days of driving exactly 103 miles the oil light came on my dashboard telling me that the oil was low. I immediately brought it back to the dealership and their mechanic look at it, he said there was nothing wrong and c... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Honda HR-V. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V858000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was 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 issue. The contact had n... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2020
I owned a 2017 Dodge Challenger which had electrical issues and a defective Uconnect radio system. A few months after purchasing the 2019 Dodge Challenger, I experienced electrical issues. The electric key system failed locking me outside of the vehicle while pumping gas. I had to enter the vehicle from the passenger side door. When I tried to exit the vehicle, I could not open the door. I had ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2020
I owned a 2017 Dodge Challenger which had electrical issues and a defective Uconnect radio system. A few months after purchasing the 2019 Dodge Challenger, I experienced electrical issues. The electric key system failed locking me outside of the vehicle while pumping gas. I had to enter the vehicle from the passenger side door. When I tried to exit the vehicle, I could not open the door. I had ... Read more
KIA
CARNIVAL HYBRID
(2025) - TIRES
Mar 4, 2025
Incident date: Dec 13, 2024
See attached document for complaint.
KIA
CARNIVAL HYBRID
(2025) - SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
Mar 4, 2025
Incident date: Dec 13, 2024
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 while depressing the brake pedal the vehicle failed to stop immediately. The AB... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2025
Vehicle has shut off for no apparent reason when slowing and turning. This has occurred three times in the last year. This is very unsafe and I believe there are recalls for the same make/model vehicle built in prior years.
Incident date: Mar 3, 2025
2023 Honda accord hybrid issue with steering wheel clicking sound when turn. I saw that issue on newer Honda civic recall list.
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2024) - ENGINE
Mar 4, 2025
Incident date: Dec 16, 2024
Unknown. Vehicle serviced since 2010. Oil changes based on recommend miles. Only 80,000 miles. Wife [XXX] only uses it mostly for store runs. Since recently inspection and oil change motor has a loud knocking at start up and gets quiet shortly after but while idling you can here a ticking noise. We have all paper work to maintenance. Fear if my wife is stranded or worse and thought I would report... Read more
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2024) - STRUCTURE:BODY
Mar 4, 2025
Incident date: Dec 16, 2024
The driver's side front wiper blade is not securely attached and lifts off the glass during the drying stage of automatic car washes. Once lifted, it stays in the upright position and must be manually lowered. To prevent this from happening, the wiper blade needs to be taped down. On February 25, 2025, a maintenance technician at Jim Hudson Lexus in Columbia, SC, inspected the wiper and confirmed ... Read more
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2024) - ENGINE
Mar 4, 2025
Incident date: Dec 16, 2024
I have a 2016 Acura MDX with only 120,000 miles on it. Recently I started hearing a knock coming from the engine. I have taken it to three different mechanics, including an Acura dealership mechanic. I was informed by all three to not drive the car due to the fact that it was a rod bearing defect/problem. They all commented that I was lucky that it had not thrown a rod or I could have been injured... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ram 2500. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the ABS and traction control warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the hydraulic control unit. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number:... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
Incident Details: Date & Time: [XXX] Driver: My spouse, Purpose of Trip: Personal (heading to a nearby soccer park) Location: [XXX] Weather & Road Conditions: Clear weather, dry roads, normal traffic conditions Driver Safety: The driver was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the incident Incident Description: My spouse was driving to the nearby soccer park with the vehicle in FSD mode. Upon appro... Read more
Incident date: Jan 7, 2025
Car parking selector, cable, parking prowler/bearing or module sensor inside transmission when car is placed in park indicator indicate as in park but vehicle still motions forward as not in park and if key can be taking out an car shut off will not start because not in the park position an is tough trying to get back in park to start the vehicle but indicator indicates as car in the park position... Read more
Incident date: Jan 11, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 BMW X1. The contact stated that while approaching an intersection at 10 MPH, the vehicle stalled and came to a complete stop in the middle of the intersection, with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact restarted the vehicle and was able to continue driving. However, shortly afterward, the vehicle stalled again. The contact allowed the vehicle to sit idle ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 11, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while driving at 55 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed down to the floorboard, but the vehicle failed to stop immediately. The contact was able to pull over to the side of the road. The vehicle slowed down and came to a stop with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The failure occurred on 4 separate occasions. The ve... Read more
Incident date: Jan 11, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while driving at 55 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed down to the floorboard, but the vehicle failed to stop immediately. The contact was able to pull over to the side of the road. The vehicle slowed down and came to a stop with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The failure occurred on 4 separate occasions. The ve... Read more
Incident date: Dec 16, 2024
The wire under the passenger side that controls the cruise control and abs system snapped suddenly. There was no impact or accident it just detached itself on the highway