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: Jan 3, 2026
My pickup truck has a Duramax diesel engine with a CP4 diesel injection pump. That pump has not failed yet in my truck. However it has been known to fail in numerous other GM vehicles with Duramax engines and when it does fail the engine comes to a complete stop and cannot be restarted. This is a potentially hazardous even fatal situation. Repair if the pump fails is very expensive - $12,000 to $... Read more
Incident date: Jan 3, 2026
Active Head Rest Inadvertent Deployment
Incident date: Jan 5, 2026
My 2015 Ford Fusion back over prevention camera system, is no longer working. I only get the black screen with error message "Camera is unavailable. Contact dealership". Which is creating a safety issue, while the vehicle is backing up. Reference Recall Number 25SA9 as many other ford products have the same issue. Many 2015 Ford models are covered under this recall. However, my fusion is not, beca... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2026
My 2015 Ford Fusion back over prevention camera system, is no longer working. I only get the black screen with error message "Camera is unavailable. Contact dealership". Which is creating a safety issue, while the vehicle is backing up. Reference Recall Number 25SA9 as many other ford products have the same issue. Many 2015 Ford models are covered under this recall. However, my fusion is not, beca... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2026
The rear view camera intermittently stops working, giving a message “camera unavailable” in a black screen. This has happened many times during use and caused near misses during vehicle reversing.
Incident date: Dec 1, 2025
Car continuously has errors popping up on the screen saying that the driver assist functions are unavailable while I'm in the middle of driving. Other times, when I get in and turn on the car, none of the clusters or screens show any information, so I am essentially driving blind with no information as to speed, or anything.
Incident date: Jun 3, 2024
Car continuously has errors popping up on the screen saying that the driver assist functions are unavailable while I'm in the middle of driving. Other times, when I get in and turn on the car, none of the clusters or screens show any information, so I am essentially driving blind with no information as to speed, or anything.
Incident date: Jan 7, 2026
The Defender is only 2 years old, with 59k miles. Outside of warranty. It is a mild hybrid. Received an emergency electrical fault issue. Car stalled out. Had to get it towed to dealership. Its been with the dealership for a month now, with another month anticipated for the part, a dc converter, which is on backorder with LR to be delivered. Battery is dead also. Total repair is estimated... Read more
Incident date: Jan 7, 2026
Complete loss of power steering. Service advancetrac light on Hill assist not available 2016 fusion but is not included in the recall. Car was sold to me and is registered in Pennsylvania, the salt belt. Ran scanner got codes U0240 and C102D. Clear codes, immediately get power steering back. Slowly lose power steering again, until complete failure. Super unsafe, first time this happened I was ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 9, 2025
High voltage system warning light came on dashboard, reduced acceleration occurred while driving today, 1/9/26. This is my second Vehicle Complaint form regarding High Voltage System failure. High Voltage Battery was replaced after first incident which occurred on 11/25/25, and car spent 37 days at dealership for diagnosis and high voltage battery replacement. Car is now back at dealership for dia... Read more
Incident date: Feb 9, 2025
The vehicle just suddendenly shuts down when driven on the freeway, according to Tillery Chevrolet GMC the engine cracked and needed to replaced for total of $17,291.94
Incident date: Jan 8, 2026
I am the second owner on my Ford fusion 2020 SE all-wheel-drive I got the car at 21,000 I had warranty since I had the warranty. I've been going for this power training code and having them check my car out all the time they always say there's nothing wrong with it. It's just the code is being erased so by the time my warranty went out all these problems are coming up and now they could find those... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2025
I received confirmation from my local Hyundai dealership that my 2016 Hyundai Elantra GT is consuming over 1.8 quarts of oil every 1000 miles. The mileage is currently 70k miles. This is not the result of lack of maintenance or neglect but because of Hyundais engine design. I was told by the local dealership that I would need a total engine re build. This was the only option to fix the issue 100%.... Read more
Incident date: Jan 6, 2026
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Escape. 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 while shifted into reverse(R), the rear-view camera image displayed was distorted. No warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not di... Read more
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2024) - EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:WIRELESS CHARGER/CRADLE
Jan 9, 2026
Incident date: Jan 8, 2026
The contact owns a 2025 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while using the original wireless charger and the cellular device would overheat. The contact was concerned that the wireless charger overheating could potentially cause a fire. The contact researched on Google and retrieved information about the dangers of using a wireless charger. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the... Read more
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2024) - UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Jan 9, 2026
Incident date: Jan 8, 2026
When putting the car in reverse, the Backup Camera goes blank. This causes backing up out of a parking space to be hazardous because driver is unable to see around the end of the cars on either side. No inspection has taken place yet. No other warnings or messages.
KIA
SPORTAGE HYBRID
(2024) - ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Jan 9, 2026
Incident date: Jan 8, 2026
My wife was slowly pulling into a parking spot, when at about 10ft from curb the car suddenly accelerated faster than she even thought the car even was capable of (the AWD likely helped). It hopped the curb and hit a tree. She backed it up to the parking spot (it acted normally) and had it towed to dealer. In hindsight, the car had been having a progressive amount and frequency of delay in norm... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 16, 2025
My wife was slowly pulling into a parking spot, when at about 10ft from curb the car suddenly accelerated faster than she even thought the car even was capable of (the AWD likely helped). It hopped the curb and hit a tree. She backed it up to the parking spot (it acted normally) and had it towed to dealer. In hindsight, the car had been having a progressive amount and frequency of delay in norm... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 8, 2026
Passenger door unlock/lock does not work at all unless done manually by hand and the driver door is beginning to do the same as well. This has begun a year ago. The lift gate button broke off over a year ago as well and is only connected by cables and today (January 9, 2026) while trying to open the trunk the entire silver trim piece flew off towards me. The manual trunk (ours is not automatic) ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 8, 2026
Passenger door unlock/lock does not work at all unless done manually by hand and the driver door is beginning to do the same as well. This has begun a year ago. The lift gate button broke off over a year ago as well and is only connected by cables and today (January 9, 2026) while trying to open the trunk the entire silver trim piece flew off towards me. The manual trunk (ours is not automatic) ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 2, 2025
Due to waiting for a recall fix for ( NHTSA #-25V455 ) My F150 Raptor has been having all listed failing issues, Miss fire at idle or when fuel is hot, issue starting on a handful of times. I have been driving it after 4 -5k miles of this and I was alerted today after replacing ( All Injectors, Coils, Spark Plugs, ETC ) That I may need a new engine. This could have caused a crash and is now costin... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to respond. The failure was intermittent but had become a recurring failure. Occasionally, while attempting to start the vehicle, the starter was making an abnormal clicking sound, but the vehicle failed to respond as needed. There was no warning light illuminated. Th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 2500. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V896000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic). The contact stated that on several occasions while starting or driving, the messages "Service ABS”, “Service ESC”, and “Traction Control Fault" were displayed for ten seconds with an audible chime. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer w... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-250. The contact stated that while cleaning the steering wheel, the steering column became loose. No warning light was illuminated. An Independent mechanic was contacted. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 127,000.
Incident date: Dec 1, 2025
Wife was rear ended by tractor trailer while sitting still going in the back of another vehicle and no airbags deployed causing wife to hit head on steering wheel.
Crash
4 injured
Incident date: Jan 5, 2026
I bought a car in Hyundai ELANTRA2024 at drivers Mart in Orlando, Florida. About a month after I bought the car I brought it back for something to service dealership area and let them know that the paint was coming off my car. I did notice that there was a tiny little spot that someone putcover paint about a half inch to an inch. The service people the dealership told me that there was a known cl... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2026
My engine has failed at ~104K miles after regular and consistent maintenance. The failure (rod bearing) matches Recall 23V751 but my VIN was excluded.
Incident date: Dec 22, 2025
While driving the moving vehicle on 3 occasions my vehicle has stalled out with me driving it, however there is a recall online for the same year, make and model of my vehicle for the same exact problems I am experiencing and I am being told that there are no recalls for my VIN. This is a problem since (let me repeat myself) online a recall for same year, make and model experiencing the exact pro... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Escape. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 25V467000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) and 25V829000 (Structure); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The contact stated that there was an abnormal fuel odor entering the cab... Read more
Incident date: Dec 23, 2025
Twice, while driving in falling snow away from home, the front wipers did not work properly when switched to LO or HI. They behaved as if set to intermittent wiping. The intermittent wiper setting worked properly to adjust the wipe interval. But setting to LO or HI did not cause the wipers to go constantly. As far as I could tell, the arm pivot area was clear enough for them to wipe. The problem w... Read more
Incident date: Dec 23, 2025
Twice, while driving in falling snow away from home, the front wipers did not work properly when switched to LO or HI. They behaved as if set to intermittent wiping. The intermittent wiper setting worked properly to adjust the wipe interval. But setting to LO or HI did not cause the wipers to go constantly. As far as I could tell, the arm pivot area was clear enough for them to wipe. The problem w... Read more
Incident date: Jun 5, 2025
All Driveshaft Support Bearings failed and needed replaced.
Incident date: Aug 5, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 2500. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the ABS warning light illuminated with an audible chime. The dealer was contacted about the ABS warning light and was made aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V896000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic), however, the contact had received the recall letter. The dealer informed the contact that the remedy was not yet av... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2025
I am writing to formally report a serious and ongoing concern regarding the condition and safety of my Nissan vehicle. On 08 January 2026, during a routine oil change, the technician discovered a turbocharger leak after removing the plastic plate covering the oil pan. I immediately notified my local Nissan dealership and scheduled an inspection for 12 January 2026. This issue is especially alarmi... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2026
Transmission is going out. Costly repair $13,000 Seems to be a known issue but no recall? Let’s do better for your customers
Incident date: Jan 3, 2026
Backup camera distorted, wavy lines, and sometimes blank screen. I have seen other trucks of same year and model that have recalls and dont understand why mine don't. It happens all the time.
Incident date: Jan 3, 2026
The oil filter housing is made of plastic and can crack when removing and installing and if not alert after an oil change, the engine can blow if oil drains out under pressure.
Incident date: Jan 6, 2026
I have been in multiple situation where my car is unable to charge from my home charger, and the issue is always same which is the need of GHCA replacement. Right now, GHCA for EX90 is in national back order with unknown ETA
Incident date: Jan 6, 2026
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. Upon investigation, the contact found notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 18V735000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE) and 20V331000 (LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES) associated with the VIN. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal, and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle wa... Read more
Incident date: Jan 6, 2026
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Edge. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 25V544000 (Service brakes, Hydraulic) and 25V572000 (Back Over Prevention); however, parts for the recall repairs were not yet available. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for... Read more
Incident date: Nov 6, 2025
Vehicle experienced engine failure previously and received a Hyundai-installed replacement engine in February 2025. Replacement engine is now setting DTC P000A00 – Intake Camshaft Position Slow Response (Bank 1). Hyundai dealership master technician confirmed excessive variance between commanded and actual cam timing, indicating a VVT / cam timing failure controlled by oil and actuators. Hyundai... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2020
There is a known issue with the Cylinder Heads on specific models of Mercedes vehicles. Symptoms of M264 Cylinder Head Failure If your GLE 350 is experiencing these symptoms, it may be covered under the extension: Check Engine Light (MIL): Often triggered by misfire codes. Rough Idle: Noticeable shaking or uneven idling when stopped. Loss of Power: Potential stalling or significant power reductio... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2020
The engine on my 2013 Kia Optima (VIN [XXX] ) failed catastrophically less than one mile after purchase. This vehicle is subject to Kia Safety Recall SC147, which addresses a manufacturing defect involving engine bearing wear caused by factory machining debris and identifies engine replacement as the remedy when failure occurs. A Kia dealership inspected the vehicle and confirmed the failure was... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2020
Passenger rear tire blew out the side wall all around the tire. The dealer that installed the tire has it for warranty. It was an large noise and I was able to pull to the side of the road immediately without loosing control. Yes the problem was reported to the dealer that put the new Falken tires on my car in September of 2025. The tires only had about 2,000 miles. My tire has tire press... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2026
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly started to decelerate even though the RPM was extremely elevated. There was a high-pitched whine coming from the vehicle, and the tires screeched before the vehicle came to an abrupt stop, ceasing all functions. The contact turned off the vehicle in the middle of the interstate... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2026
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly started to decelerate even though the RPM was extremely elevated. There was a high-pitched whine coming from the vehicle, and the tires screeched before the vehicle came to an abrupt stop, ceasing all functions. The contact turned off the vehicle in the middle of the interstate... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2026
The Equinox is detecting objects in the rear camera that are not there and automatically applying the automatic emergency breaking. This is causing the car to completely stop and has now caused me to injury my back due to the force of the stop. There is no warning given that the breaks are being applied. I was backing up at 7 miles an hour and the Equinox just stopped dead and there was absolutely... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2025
After having stopped at red light, we made a left turn. I immediately felt a jerking sensation as I turned the wheel both left and right. I moved to a parking lot as I feared loosing steering function altogether, and felt the same jerking while parked and turning my wheel right and left. As my home was only a couple of blocks away, I managed to get my vehilcle home. Again, I can only describe ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2025
2016 Ford Mustang 2.3L Ecoboost Engine. Coolant intrusion into the cylinder. It's a known issue, an engine block design flaw. Ford was replacing the whole engine when those cars were under warranty. There is extensive content online about it and dozens of class actions.