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 15,319 complaints for LEXUS
Incident date: Jan 6, 2025
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while attempting to close the doors of the vehicle, the doors failed to latch securely. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, and the contact was provided an estimate for the repair, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 3, 2025
Vehicle locked down and doors would not open or respond. Vehicle was completely prevented from getting into and a tow was required to try to open through 12v battery jump. Took two tow trucks and vehicle has no door handles so there is no way in. Ford told me it was a failure of software update and then they told me their engineers were aware of these failures and were working on it. Vehicle had t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 3, 2024
Liftgate failure in freezing weather causing liftgate arms to separate
Incident date: Dec 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2012 Hyundai Accent. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the rear driver's side tire suddenly became flat. There was an abnormal sound coming from the infotainment system and the vehicle was shuddering. The contact stated that the front driver's side and the rear passenger's side windows were stuck and had to be manually raised. The check engine, air bag, a... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2014
There is a metallic rattle in the driver's side b-pillar (similar to the issue in the 2018 Tiguan LWB). Every component in the pillar has been replaced and the rattle persists. The first time I complained about it to the dealership the car only had 1,500 miles on it. 3 years and several months of the car sitting in the shop they have not been able to fix it nor have they bothered working with VW o... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2015
Gas pedal intermittently goes completely NON-responsive. Vehicle will not accelerate when this issue occurs. Pulling out into traffic is very dangerous when this issue happens. No errors are reported from the vehicle but the gas pedal is completely dead during the issue.
Incident date: Jul 17, 2015
Car smoking with burning fumes. Serviced at Land Rover dealership 5 months prior. Crank shaft pulley with the tensioner And belt failure/fault
Incident date: Apr 5, 2024
On 4 separate occasions over a 5 day period, the electronic parking brake system spontaneously engaged. This caused the vehicle to lose power and slow until it came to a complete stop/stall. The EPB indicator was displayed on the dash. I tried several courses of action to resolve the issue including putting the car in park, attempting to disengage the EPB as well turning the vehicle off and on ag... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2023
Oil leak caused by insufficient ventilation and excessive oil burning caused rear main seal and timing chain belts to fail. Oil warning systems were too late in warning about problem until engine stalled out and all oil was consumed, causing engine failure. No low oil warnings came up until minutes after the initial engine shutdown. Research has shown that this has been a known chevy problem since... Read more
Incident date: Dec 30, 2024
My vehicle has a battery issue, we replaced the battery twice in two years still the issue might happened again and again. Once the battery start draining energy, everything start blinking and car stops all of a sudden in the middle of the road because of brake assistance problem. All the system errors come up. It is very scary to drive the vehicle with my kids inside. All system in car works w... Read more
Incident date: Feb 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 30-40 MPH in cold weather, the vehicle started making an abnormal clunking and rattling sound near the wheels. The contact was unable to determine the source of the noise. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V091000 (SUSPENSION, STE... Read more
Incident date: Feb 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 30-40 MPH in cold weather, the vehicle started making an abnormal clunking and rattling sound near the wheels. The contact was unable to determine the source of the noise. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V091000 (SUSPENSION, STE... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2024
FAILED COMPONENT SYSTEM: Driver & Passenger side Airbag system. SAFETY RISK: I was involved in motor vehicle collision, resulting in extensive front-end damage to my car. Upon impact, the driver and passenger side airbags did NOT deploy, which based on the extent of the damage to my vehicle they should have deployed. CONFIRMED REPORT: Yes, one component of the airbag system has already been repo... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Dec 22, 2022
The coolant intrusion into cylinder #2 . Very well known problem with Ford EcoBoost engines. This car has the 2.0L engine and there hasnt been a recall on it yet. It becomes a safety concern when the problem gets bad enough to allow oil to leak , causing a engine fire. The problem was diagnosed by a Lincoln dealer. No, it was not inspected by the manufacturer but my dealer did communicate the issu... Read more
Incident date: Jul 9, 2024
Was driving this vehicle about 45 mph and began to shake violently. Was able to get it slowed down and back under control. Happened two more times on my drive home and took it to an auto repair shop today and found the frame is broken on both sides in front of rear leaf springs.
Incident date: Dec 27, 2024
My car would randomly shut down while I am driving leaving me with no power steering. I took it to my mechanic who discovered it was a faulty ignition switch module and recommended I take it to a dealership. If I touch the key fob on my car or hit a bump while it is running, the car will shut down. No power steering. There are multiple recalls for faulty ignition switch modules but not on my ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 27, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 BMW X5. 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 unavailable. The local dealer was contacted and it was confirmed that the part was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the rec... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2024
My vehicle has had issues starting off and on with in the last year of having the vehicle. I replaced the battery and alternator. and now we think it's the neutral safety switch. I went to go check the recalls and I see that I had a recall on the front air bag module needs replaced too. I have not received anything in the mail by the dealership or calls.
Incident date: Dec 22, 2024
When I would come to a complete stop at a stop sign it would stall battery light and oil light would come on. I would need to put it in park then turn it off and turn it back on. It also would suck up oil like crazy I would need to replace the oil every few days otherwise it wouldn't start. I took it to the shop and 2 of the 4 pistons blew and all the timing stuff stopped working.
Incident date: Dec 22, 2024
When I would come to a complete stop at a stop sign it would stall battery light and oil light would come on. I would need to put it in park then turn it off and turn it back on. It also would suck up oil like crazy I would need to replace the oil every few days otherwise it wouldn't start. I took it to the shop and 2 of the 4 pistons blew and all the timing stuff stopped working.
Incident date: Dec 24, 2024
VW has implemented a so-called and unwanted safety feature called "Hill Assist" which locks the brakes on manual transmisson models which has many times nearly caused an accident. This system locks the brakes when the clutch is activated and brakes are applied and can prevent the car from moving forward for two to three seconds, or cause a vehicle stall. This system activates for two to three se... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2023
Window child locks randomly locks windows in position. There's no reason for it to lock them. I've never tried to engage them on purpose since I have no children. Sometimes pushing the child lock hard several times will allow them to unlock but it may lock in that position so I really can't use 3 windows.
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
When the auto-start stop feature has stopped the engine at a red light, the engine will not start sometimes. The problem occurs at random and leaves me stalled at a red light and I cannot start the vehicle. Traffic behind me is held up; horns are honking. If I wait a couple of minutes I can start the 2020 Honda Passport that I bought new. This has been a problem since I bought it new. I broug... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2024
Wire harness failure according to the Toyota dealership representative I spoke with after inspection on 12/18/24. Rep said this is a known issue with certain years and they will cover cost of replacement. Previously, I had received a message stating, "Hybrid System Malfunction, Visit your Dealer" but could not get an appointment until 12/18. The dealer rep said they needed to order parts to fix th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
When I started the car it sounded like the engine was clicking. I turned it off thinking it may have been from the cold. After restarting the car, the sound did not start again. About 10 minutes into my drive, it started to feel like the the car was shaking each time I braked. About 5 minutes later, it felt like the car was fighting me to accelerate. After I stopped at a red light, it would not ac... Read more
Incident date: Oct 25, 2023
The Rear Hatch started to get stuck. It is automatic so you would normally press a button to open and close and it would slowly move up or down and close shut on its own. When the issue started, it would "pop open" but stay stuck to a point where I would need to manually lift it open. (hitting my head on it often) Right before I took it to the dealership service, it would not close properly. ... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2024
You have to press the brakes really hard and they are loose.
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
I HAVE THE SNOW WHITE PAINT, AND IT IS PEELING IN SEVERAL AREAS. HOOD, ROOF, AND SECTION THAT GOES FROM FENDER TO ROOF.
Incident date: Dec 19, 2024
Brake Booster Failure. $947.45 to repair out of pocket expense. Thank God I was not injured or killed, nor was anyone else, or property damaged, as I was able to avoid a collision. There is a class action lawsuit over this defective Ford part.
Incident date: Dec 2, 2024
Vehicle experiences death wobble in the front suspension system. While driving, vehicle suddenly shakes violently and is difficult to control. Vehicle was repaired at an authorized Ford dealership in 2021 but has since experienced the same dangerous affects of death wobble. Vehicle was inspected by the authorized Ford dealership prior to repair who confirmed the presence of death wobble. There wer... Read more
Incident date: Dec 2, 2024
Every time I tow my travel trailer within 150 miles or so I will get a message that the Diesel Exhaust fluid (DEF)is low and needs to be filled soon. Within 50 miles of that happening I will get the message that the DEF is low and will be speed limited in 500 miles. When I stop and fill the DEF fluid it only takes about 2.5 gallons which isn't even halfway empty. When the Speed Limited to 65 in xx... Read more
Incident date: Dec 19, 2024
Abs ,traction control, and brake lights stay on I took it to the dealer they told me it was internal failure on the abs module I can't afford 1200$ to fix it I'm in a jeep club this is a common problem it should be recalled and fixed for free it's a safety hazard. And you lose power you can't even pass another car when all the lights are illuminated.
Incident date: Dec 19, 2024
I was renting this vehicle. On my way home on the highway, going about 70 mph, the vehicle suddenly illuminated the check engine light. Soon after, an message appeared on the dash warning me that I needed to stop and that the vehicle would shut off soon. I immediately pulled over and turned at the next county road. However, I did not realize until this point that my engine power was now being limi... Read more
Incident date: Dec 19, 2024
I was renting this vehicle. On my way home on the highway, going about 70 mph, the vehicle suddenly illuminated the check engine light. Soon after, an message appeared on the dash warning me that I needed to stop and that the vehicle would shut off soon. I immediately pulled over and turned at the next county road. However, I did not realize until this point that my engine power was now being limi... Read more
Incident date: Dec 16, 2024
ALL WHEEL DRIVE STOPPED FUNCTIONING IN ICY/SNOWY CONDITION. CAUSING UNSAFE DRIVING CONDITIONS. WARNING MESSAGE: Driver display indicates, "ALL wheel drive module faulty, driver assist not available. Service required!" and an orange wrench displayed >>There is already a bulletin on this issue for 2020 Ford Escapes CSB21B19, April 2021, however our VIN was not included in bulletin. >> We took the... Read more
Incident date: Dec 4, 2024
This vehicle has been making a noise in the front left side since new (day one). The vehicle has been taken to the dealership about 10 times in attempt to fix this issue. During the last service, the dealership performed multiple tests and concluded that the noise source is the engine motor mounts. If they disconnect the electrical plug of the motor mounts all the noises are gone. Consequently... Read more
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
There is a crack in the block that is causing coolant to leak into the cylinder. This is a very common issue with these motors and should have been recalled a long time ago
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
All my doors stick and sometimes I have to fight with my car to even get a door open. Also, when trying to accelerate sometimes my throttle response is slow and i will not move for a few seconds.
Incident date: Dec 8, 2024
Some how my steering wheel is crooked, so while going straight, my wheel is around 2 or 3 inches to the left. If I turn it all the way, in either direction the wheel will click, click, click back, moving back the opposite direction with every click. I've changed both front CV axles, sway bar links, brakes, all 4 tires, bought 2 rims so far. Still having issues. Also makes a cluck sound while braki... Read more
Incident date: Jun 24, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Honda Civic Hatchback. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V744000 (Steering); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. Several local dealers, Metro Honda (9399 Autoplex St, Montclair, CA 91763) and Norm Reeves Honda Superstore West Covina (1840 E Garvey Ave S, West Covina, CA 91791) were contacted; however, parts were not y... Read more
Incident date: Dec 12, 2024
I just started up the car one morning and had multiple sensor warnings. Brought it to the Honda dealership and told it was an internal sensor camera malfunction and wanted $2000+ to fix it. This honestly should be a recall as I’ve had several other Honda owners complaining about the same thing which is a huge safety concern
Incident date: Dec 11, 2024
As I was driving on the highway the upper top moulding from the grill came off causing scratches to the hood. This is dangerous if it flies off into the windshield. This has been an issue for GMC.
Incident date: Dec 2, 2024
Water comes in the car and fills the back seat floors with water. I think its comming in from the frame.
Incident date: Nov 14, 2024
PLEASE SEE ATTACH FOR DETAILS 1. Component or System Involved The Fuel Cell System and Accelerator Pedal Control System are suspected to have malfunctioned. The issue is characterized by the vehicle's failure to respond to input from the accelerator pedal, particularly at speeds between 45-65 mph, which may be linked to increased power demand from the fuel cell system. The system is available for... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2024
At various times of day or night, the brake lights turn on, while there is no one in the vehicle. The vehicle sits parked and is locked with the security on, and the lights just randomly turn on by themselves. The only way to turn the lights off is to go into the vehicle and step on the brake and then the lights are off after releasing the brake pedal. If the lights stay on, because it’s not not... Read more
Incident date: Nov 14, 2024
PLEASE SEE ATTACH FOR DETAILS 1. Component or System Involved The Fuel Cell System and Accelerator Pedal Control System are suspected to have malfunctioned. The issue is characterized by the vehicle's failure to respond to input from the accelerator pedal, particularly at speeds between 45-65 mph, which may be linked to increased power demand from the fuel cell system. The system is available for... Read more
Incident date: Nov 14, 2024
PLEASE SEE ATTACH FOR DETAILS 1. Component or System Involved The Fuel Cell System and Accelerator Pedal Control System are suspected to have malfunctioned. The issue is characterized by the vehicle's failure to respond to input from the accelerator pedal, particularly at speeds between 45-65 mph, which may be linked to increased power demand from the fuel cell system. The system is available for... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
My van is not accelerating properly, it seems to idle out and does not go over 20 mph it idles on acceleration decline. i could not get out of way fast enough if traffic was busy.
Incident date: Oct 30, 2023
When engaging in reverse, the back up camera screen will blank out consistently for about 1 second or longer, It will do this when the car is already engaged to go in reverse. This happens constantly, and for it to be a safety feature should be corrected.
Incident date: Dec 3, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated while inside the vehicle, there was brake fluid leaking from above the brake pedal. Additionally, while driving, the brake pedal had to be firmly depressed to stop the vehicle. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was a brake booster leak inside the cab, and it was determin... Read more