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 15,126 complaints for LEXUS
Incident date: Jul 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2007 Lexus LS460. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, an abnormal tapping noise would emit from the brakes. As the failure persisted, the vehicle would drift upon depression of the brake pedal as "the pull over immediately, contact your local dealer," warning message and the ABS warning light appeared on the instrument panel. The contact took the vehicle bac... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2007 Lexus LS460. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, an abnormal tapping noise would emit from the brakes. As the failure persisted, the vehicle would drift upon depression of the brake pedal as "the pull over immediately, contact your local dealer," warning message and the ABS warning light appeared on the instrument panel. The contact took the vehicle bac... Read more
Incident date: May 5, 2021
VGRS WARNING SYSTEM STAYS ON, INFORMS ME TO TAKE CAR TO DEALER. I WAS INFORMED BY THE DEALER THAT THIS VEHICLE HAD A RECALL ON THIS SYSTEM BEFORE,BUT THE SAME PROBLEM HAS RETURNED.I'AM I RESPONSIBLE FOR HAVING THE CAR REPAIRED FOR A KNOWN DEFECT.THANK YOU
Incident date: Oct 27, 2021
Vehicle maintained per manual. Frame rusted thru in numerous places, viable holes obvious. Vehicle deemed unsafe from Pep Body service personnel. Attached a frame picture from passenger side.
Incident date: Oct 24, 2021
At 125,000 miles my engine started knocking. I had been keeping up with all routine maintenance. It was determined that I had a blown head-gasket. After checking online, this is an issue that a # of people are experiencing with the CT200h/Prius drivetrain.
Incident date: Oct 20, 2021
The sunroof exploded while driving at freeway speeds with no apparent reason. Temperature was 75 degrees outside.
Incident date: Oct 20, 2021
I was driving about 75mph on the interstate and there were no vehicles or other objects near me when my car braked on its own as if there were a vehicle/object in close proximity to the front of my vehicle.
Incident date: Oct 20, 2021
I was driving about 75mph on the interstate and there were no vehicles or other objects near me when my car braked on its own as if there were a vehicle/object in close proximity to the front of my vehicle.
Incident date: Jan 8, 2021
2005 LEXUS RX 330 Vin# [XXX] Problem: Dashboard crack and peel all over the surface happened on January 2021.I might be eligible for Lexus to cover this approximate $ 800.00 repair at no charge to me. This is WARRANTY ENHANCEMENT NOTIFICATION. Letter I never get from LEXUS. List of Models Lexus IS covering under this warranty Enhancement 2007-2008 ES 350 2003-2008 GX 470 2004-2006 RX330 2007-200... Read more
Incident date: Jan 8, 2021
2005 LEXUS RX 330 Vin# [XXX] Problem: Dashboard crack and peel all over the surface happened on January 2021.I might be eligible for Lexus to cover this approximate $ 800.00 repair at no charge to me. This is WARRANTY ENHANCEMENT NOTIFICATION. Letter I never get from LEXUS. List of Models Lexus IS covering under this warranty Enhancement 2007-2008 ES 350 2003-2008 GX 470 2004-2006 RX330 2007-200... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2009 LEXUS LS460. The contact stated that while at a complete stop, an abnormal ticking noise would emit from the vehicle as the indicator light would flash on the instrument panel. Over time, the ABS warning light and a message to pull over and drive to the nearest dealer were displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was initially taken to an independent mechanic where re... Read more
Incident date: Sep 28, 2021
The contact owns a 2007 Lexus IS350. The contact stated that he was informed that the vehicle was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V006000 (Air Bags). The contact stated that while at the dealer he was informed that there were several other recalls associated with the VIN. The contact stated that repairs were performed on the intake cam gear, camshaft, cam panel, and other unknown engine parts... Read more
Incident date: Sep 28, 2021
The contact owns a 2007 Lexus IS350. The contact stated that he was informed that the vehicle was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V006000 (Air Bags). The contact stated that while at the dealer he was informed that there were several other recalls associated with the VIN. The contact stated that repairs were performed on the intake cam gear, camshaft, cam panel, and other unknown engine parts... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2021
HVAC Evaporator Drain Hose keeps getting clogged resulting in the overflow of water into the cabin driver side floor. When using the AC or Defroster this could be a quart of water or more which can result in mold/mildew on carpet and pad. Lexus wants $6000 to repair and replace (they will not repair with out replacing all of the carpet and pad). This is a known issue and Lexus have even issued a ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
I had the recommended 100,000 mile service done on my car at approx 106,000 miles. At aprox 109,500 miles I checked my oil after noticing my passenger headlight was out and I would be putting a new one in. When I went through the procedure for checking the oil it wasn’t even showing any oil on the dipstick. After reattempting the procedure and checking to make sure I was on level ground still n... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2021
I brought my vehicle in for damage sustained due to flooding from hurricane Ida. I was told that part of the damage was to 3 tires. I was later informed that the tires need to be replaced due to wear & tear. This vehicle had 18,969 miles of local driving at the time. I’ve never heard of tires being “worn out” on a vehicle purchased brand new with such low mileage. There has to be some kind o... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2012
Electrical Issues started at approximately 30,000 miles. Random times of power windows not rolling down or back up. Random times of Radio controls not working. After recall of airbags was completed, the Navigation system started having Random issues with the touchscreen. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it didn't. Eventually the touchscreen on the Navigation quit working at all. When the doo... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2021
Our car never had any issues, and unexpectedly on Sunday October 10th while my husband was driving it - he heard a loud explosion underneath the car. Immediately there was smoke and then in matter a minutes the car was in flames. My husband had enough time to remove our daughter and the car seat but the car was completely destroyed. We want to know what happened- our car was in incredible conditio... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Aug 21, 2021
Driver side mirror shakes when traveling on highway, making it difficult to see other vehicles clearly in blindspots. Manufacture closed case saying they called the dealership and my mirror doesn't shake any more than other models. Dealership confirmed most of the nx300 mirrors side view mirrors shake on the highway. Toyota has fixed their rav 4 mirrors, Lexus doesn't have a fix, and doesn't seem... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2021
The contact owns a 2019 Lexus ES 350. The contact stated that on three occasions while reversing into a parking space, the brakes engaged along with the automatic braking system without warning. While driving 55 mph while applying the brake pedal the vehicle vibrated and made an abnormal bumping noise. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where diagnosed the rotors needed to be shaved down an... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2021
The contact owns a 2019 Lexus ES 350. The contact stated that on three occasions while reversing into a parking space, the brakes engaged along with the automatic braking system without warning. While driving 55 mph while applying the brake pedal the vehicle vibrated and made an abnormal bumping noise. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where diagnosed the rotors needed to be shaved down an... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2021
This is a second report of unexpected, unanticipated extremly high acceleration while braking. I reported this experience in November 2019, NHTSA Complaint Number 11279155. At that time, the car was moving and I was braking on an uphill curve. On October 10, 2021, at approx 12:30 p.m. The unexpected, unanticipated extremely high acceleration occurred as I was starting my car in a Pittsburgh are... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2021
This is a second report of unexpected, unanticipated extremly high acceleration while braking. I reported this experience in November 2019, NHTSA Complaint Number 11279155. At that time, the car was moving and I was braking on an uphill curve. On October 10, 2021, at approx 12:30 p.m. The unexpected, unanticipated extremely high acceleration occurred as I was starting my car in a Pittsburgh are... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2021
This is a second report of unexpected, unanticipated extremly high acceleration while braking. I reported this experience in November 2019, NHTSA Complaint Number 11279155. At that time, the car was moving and I was braking on an uphill curve. On October 10, 2021, at approx 12:30 p.m. The unexpected, unanticipated extremely high acceleration occurred as I was starting my car in a Pittsburgh are... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
The vehicle started experiencing the vaccum leak in the master brake cylinder/actuator/booster where the booster pump would run continually every 15 seconds causing the danger to brake failure. Dealer was contacted but refused to help. Eventhough toyota prius hybrids and newer and some other toyota that share the same design brake booster and master cylinder has been recalled previously. It is com... Read more
Incident date: Oct 8, 2021
The car stalls while I'm driving, and it almost caused a traffic. Accident, I have been trying to contact my local lexus dealer and they keep hanging up the phone when I try to call and make appointments
Incident date: Oct 8, 2021
The car stalls while I'm driving, and it almost caused a traffic. Accident, I have been trying to contact my local lexus dealer and they keep hanging up the phone when I try to call and make appointments
Incident date: Oct 8, 2021
The car stalls while I'm driving, and it almost caused a traffic. Accident, I have been trying to contact my local lexus dealer and they keep hanging up the phone when I try to call and make appointments
Incident date: Sep 4, 2021
My Older Son (30 Something) was with permission taking his Girlfriend Home in our 2016 Lexus GX460 Luxury, a Deer ran out in front of Vehicle causing them to go to the right hitting the end of Guardrail head on @ approximately 60 mph causing the vehicle to spin to the Left. They were injured ie a few cuts & bruises not sever. Front Bumper & Various Parts scattered across the road. Insurance is Tot... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Sep 20, 2021
2007 lexus rx400h,,,couple week ago ,,,my sister drive this car on the highway,,,suddenly the check engine, ABS, traction control, VSE, ect light come on and the vehicle when brake will pull to right also brake grab immediately. Bring to the tech and get a code C1391 abnormal leak in accumulator,,,that mean replace the whole ABS unit assembly Bring to Lexus dealer on 9-30-2021 and still get the sa... Read more
Incident date: Sep 29, 2021
My car exploded- huge fire. I was not driving- it had been parked. The fire marshal indicated that it was an electrical problem located near the battery. There we no indicators of any issues. I only had liability on the car- so i am out of luck. but the NYFD inspected. It happened on Wednesday 9/29/21. Was inspected on 9/30.
Fire
Incident date: Sep 29, 2021
My car exploded- huge fire. I was not driving- it had been parked. The fire marshal indicated that it was an electrical problem located near the battery. There we no indicators of any issues. I only had liability on the car- so i am out of luck. but the NYFD inspected. It happened on Wednesday 9/29/21. Was inspected on 9/30.
Fire
Incident date: Sep 29, 2021
My car exploded- huge fire. I was not driving- it had been parked. The fire marshal indicated that it was an electrical problem located near the battery. There we no indicators of any issues. I only had liability on the car- so i am out of luck. but the NYFD inspected. It happened on Wednesday 9/29/21. Was inspected on 9/30.
Fire
Incident date: Sep 26, 2021
The contact owns a 2017 Lexus IS200T. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, grinding noises were heard and the front driver side tire would jump. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the dealer test drove the vehicle and diagnosed it with tire scrub. The vehicle was taken to another dealer Lexus of Seattle (20300 Hwy 99, Lynnwood, WA 98036), and diagnosed as tire scrub from s... Read more
Incident date: Sep 30, 2021
The contact owns a 2019 Lexus RX350. The contact stated while his wife, was reversing in the driveway she hit the retaining wall. The driving alarms failed to engage and alert. The driver depressed the brake pedal however failed to respond and was depressed to the floorboard. The emergency brake failed to engage. The vehicle rolled down the hill and crashed into some unknown objects in the drive... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Sep 26, 2021
after I get gas my car wont start. This has been happening for about 9 months. It takes about 10 mins for the car to turn on. Yesterday after I got gas and was driving, my car completely shut off in the middle of the freeway- thought I was going to die. VERY dangerous. Took my car to lexus back in may to be fixed and the issue was NOT fixed. They put new gas in my car and told me that was the issu... Read more
Incident date: Sep 22, 2021
Drive shaft broke apart from the two bolts securing it to the chassis while driving slow speeds to bolts appear to be missing car made significant noise I needed to be towed to the dealership
Incident date: Sep 21, 2021
A known problem in this year of lexus is250. The knee bag wiring harness was constructed too short (lexus has a tsb regarding this, # L-SB-0007-19). The airbag warning light will often come on and stay on. When the light is on the airbag system is inoperable. Having an inoperable airbag system is a great safety concern. A mechanic at a local shop used the scan tool and identified the airb... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2021
Water leakage problem in the trunk area causing water buildup on and around the spare tire. A rust issue and potential electric short circuit issue.
Incident date: Sep 10, 2021
While at a stop sign or light, I have experienced on at least five separate occasions where I press the accelerator and the vehicle does not move. I took it in to the Lexus dealer last year and have set up another appointment again next Monday September 27. There response is that they will put it on their diagnostic machine.
Incident date: Sep 10, 2021
While at a stop sign or light, I have experienced on at least five separate occasions where I press the accelerator and the vehicle does not move. I took it in to the Lexus dealer last year and have set up another appointment again next Monday September 27. There response is that they will put it on their diagnostic machine.
Incident date: Sep 21, 2021
2011 LEXUS ES. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO BROKEN DOOR HANDLE. THE CONSUMER STATED THE OUTSIDE DOOR HANDLE WAS BROKEN, THE DRIVER'S SEAT COVER AND OUTER BOLSTER SECTIONS WERE DAMAGED, AND THE ROOF PAINT WAS PEELING. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED, BUT DID NOT OFFER ANY ASSISTANCE.
Incident date: Sep 20, 2021
My opened vehicle doors can not be seen in the path of other vehicle drivers when standing outside the opened vehicle door blocking the light on the vehicle doors. To solve this problem I added a Fluorescent Yellow/Green Retro-Reflective Tape to the lower interior door edge of each vehicle door that is automatically illuminated by another vehicle drivers headlights at night to allow another vehic... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2021
Where my steering connects to the rack pinion it is very loose at that connection and causes the vehicle to be unsafe to drive. The mechanic states that the 2007 es 350 is a common problem with the part mentioned
Incident date: Sep 18, 2021
I have a Lexus IS250, the dashboard is sticky and shiny. When I am driving the car in the sunny days, because of the shiny dashboard , if reflects the sunshine to my windshield, which makes me very hard to see the road because of this. As the result, if the sunshine is too strong some times, I have to hit my brake to slowdown on the highway, to make sure I get a clear view again. This is definitel... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2021
DEALER REFUSED TO MAKE REPAIRS IN ASHEVILLE AFTER MAKING APPOINTMENT TO REPAIR. THE CONSUMER STATED THAT THE DEALER ADVISED THE VEHICLE COULD NOT BE REPAIRED IN-STATE.
Incident date: Sep 3, 2021
Bought the vehicle new and has always been maintained by a dealer and mostly garage kept. We took it in to a local garage owner for air conditioning repair and he says we have a bigger problem and do we want to spend the money. The frame under the car is rusted through to the point of possibly snapping in half. We climbed under the car to confirm and took pictures. No warning, no recall and never... Read more
Incident date: Sep 17, 2021
Headlights are not sealed properly and moisture in the air rusts the lightbulb and they have to replace the whole headlamp!
Incident date: Sep 17, 2021
Headlights are not sealed properly and moisture in the air rusts the lightbulb and they have to replace the whole headlamp!
Incident date: Sep 8, 2021
We were 2 hours into a 9 hour drive when I noticed smoke in the rear view mirror. I continued to drive as I thought it may have been coming from another vehicle. I drove to the nearest gas station (about 3 mi) and pulled in. Upon exiting the vehicle, we found the back window and the entire back of the SUV covered in oil. There were no warning lights and no engine noises. We checked the oil a... Read more