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 18,739 complaints for LINCOLN
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
Engine Crankcase (pcv) Problems on Mercedes Benz C300 and harness issue. I’ve noticed this is a very common issue many owners as myself have experienced and no action for a recall.
Incident date: Jun 17, 2023
The contact owns a 2013 Honda Accord. The contact stated that while the vehicle was idling, the Lane Departure, Forward Collision Avoidance, traction control, and power steering warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and the contact was informed that the ABS modulator was defective and needed to be replaced. The contact stated that the warning lights remained illuminated and... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
airbag recall still not having a solution
LINCOLN
CORSAIR PHEV
(2022) — ENGINE
Jul 17, 2023
Incident date: Jul 17, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Edge. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, his wife noticed white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The contact then stated that he noticed an abnormal odor. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was informed that anti-freeze had leaked into the exhaust and diagnosed that both head gasket failed and needed to be re... Read more
LINCOLN
CORSAIR PHEV
(2022) — ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Jul 17, 2023
Incident date: Jul 4, 2023
The car has been stalling to start for the last week. On 7/15/23 I parked my vehicle, all windows were up, I turned the vehicle off, got out and locked the doors, walked away and all of my windows went down half way and the sunroof opened, it has been stalling to speed up like it does usually. 12/19/2023 American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (Honda) is recalling certain 2017-2020 model year Honda vehicl... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
I was driving on a rainy day about 10 am. I was driving about 35 mph when the car suddenly braked for several seconds for no apparent reason. Then everything went back to normal driving. This could of caused an accident had somone been driving close behind me.
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
I was about to park in car space in a parking lot. Instead of stopping in the car space, it has accelerated suddenly into the lawn in front of the car space. Tried to stop and it accelerated again and then hit the tree. The left front part of the model Y is damaged and is still in the body shop even after more than a month. I thought the only explanation is I have pressed accelerator instead of ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
In September 2022 the yellow battery warning light appeared on my dash while my car was still under warranty. Porsche had an open Campaign WMJ9 that involved a software update that resolved the issue. Last month, June, while my car was now out of warranty the same yellow warning light appeared but this time the dealership recommended i replace the battery at a cost of $3,200 Porsche refuses to acc... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2023
The contact owns a 2013 Land Rover Range Rover Sport. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle lowered significantly and started bouncing. The contact stated that she depressed the brake pedal and veered to the side of the road. The contact stated that she pressed the air suspension button and the vehicle raised slightly. The contact was able to drive to her destination 15 MPH. The veh... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2023
My car has had an engine light that comes on goes off throwing a code for Cylinder One Misfire since January 2023. It was 'repaired' at the dealership that I bought it from and they replaced the spark plugs and the coil and that did not stop the light from coming on and going on. I took it to another service center in my town and had it checked one of the times that the engine light was on and the... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2023
The cluster display on my vehicle is dim too non visible in full sunlight , daylight operating conditions . Automatic display functions turned off and manual brightness adjusted full, yet the dim to non existent backlight does not change. I been told this is a problem and FCA engineers are looking at, but at what priority. It seems that more and more of these complaints are showing up. There needs... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2023
The cluster display on my vehicle is dim too non visible in full sunlight , daylight operating conditions . Automatic display functions turned off and manual brightness adjusted full, yet the dim to non existent backlight does not change. I been told this is a problem and FCA engineers are looking at, but at what priority. It seems that more and more of these complaints are showing up. There needs... Read more
LINCOLN
MKZ HYBRID
(2014) — FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Jul 14, 2023
Incident date: Jan 7, 2023
Vehicle has experienced dramatic increase in so-called phantom braking incidents when adaptive cruise control is turned on. The vehicle suddenly and forcefully brakes for no apparent reason even when there are no vehicles or other hazards in front or on the sides of it. I have revisited sites where the incidents have occurred to see if there is some environmental factor such as reflective signs ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
Engine is consuming oil and we are waiting for it to totally fail. We have a long list of things. These are notes from the end of the process when we gave up. I responded after the fourth consumption test on 11/28/2022 asking for them to re-open my case and have not heard from them so I called on 12/9/2022 to speak to my case manager. We started this journey with 118,000 miles and now we have clo... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2023
Car was purchased new 063023. Prior to purchase dealer told up car is due for a software update. At purchase, we got a piece of paper stating car was due for " a COMPREHENSIVE " software update and we could delay taking delivery. We decided to take delivery. But, what we were not told then was that Porsche Group, Porsche NA, under the direction of their owners, Volkswagen Group - Germany, was ... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Jul 12, 2023
Incident date: Jul 6, 2023
Went to get in it this morning, and said no key was detected. Okay, whatever, we'll use a backup code. The screen never prompted for a backup code. We had the key inside the vehicle, so we use the Lincoln Way App to start the car and figured we can get it going from there. Nope, the car was running and everything was going, yet it won't allow us to select Drive, Reverse, or Neutral. Sat there for ... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Jul 12, 2023
Incident date: Jul 6, 2023
The rear camera is janky, the collision alert fires off at random times, and now, the main safety issue! Received a huge red triangle on the HUD and NAV screen stating that the "vehicle is shutting down" and then poof, the damn thing shut down immediately without warning. The message was on the HUD and NAV for about a second and a half and it died. The rear camera is janky, the collision alert fi... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — ENGINE
Jul 12, 2023
Incident date: Jul 6, 2023
The rear camera is janky, the collision alert fires off at random times, and now, the main safety issue! Received a huge red triangle on the HUD and NAV screen stating that the "vehicle is shutting down" and then poof, the damn thing shut down immediately without warning. The message was on the HUD and NAV for about a second and a half and it died. The rear camera is janky, the collision alert fi... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — POWER TRAIN
Jul 12, 2023
Incident date: Jun 22, 2023
The rear camera is janky, the collision alert fires off at random times, and now, the main safety issue! Received a huge red triangle on the HUD and NAV screen stating that the "vehicle is shutting down" and then poof, the damn thing shut down immediately without warning. The message was on the HUD and NAV for about a second and a half and it died. The rear camera is janky, the collision alert fi... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — STEERING
Jul 12, 2023
Incident date: Jun 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 21V316000 (Structure), 21V537000 (Suspension), and 19V435000 (Suspension). The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the steering wheel became stiff. The power steering warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was steered to the side of the roadway. The vehicle was restarted and returned to normal ... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — STEERING
Jul 12, 2023
Incident date: Jun 22, 2023
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at slow speeds, the steering wheel was firm while turning. No warning light was illuminated. The dealer was made aware of the failure but confirmed that Customer Satisfaction Program: 15N01 (EPAS Steering Efforts) had expired. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of t... Read more
LINCOLN
MKZ HYBRID
(2014) — SERVICE BRAKES
Jul 11, 2023
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
Connecting this trailer to a new 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD, the trailer brakes cut in and out every minute or so. The truck shows a warning that the trailer brakes are disconnected, and then they reconnected. This happens repeatedly. General Motors and Forest River have been advised of this, but neither have a solution. Forest River does not want to engage with me (as consumer). GM is ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while leaving a drive thru and accelerating, the vehicle shut off with the “Transmission Not in Park” message displayed. The contact shifted the vehicle into park and was able to restart the vehicle and the vehicle then operated normally. On another occasion while reversing, the vehicle unintendedly shut off. The contact attempted to shif... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2023
Oil pan leak. A lot of owners aren’t aware their oil pan is leaking cause the dealer offer a 3 years complimentary service. I only notice mine is leaking cause I changed my own oil now. Dealers won’t fix anything under warranty unless customer tell them. Hyundai mechanic on YouTube say it’s a common problem.
Incident date: Mar 13, 2023
My 2023 Chevrolet Trailblazer is about 3 months old and it’s been making squeaky noises when I break. The squeaky sound is getting worse over time and I have an appointment scheduled with Chevrolet to get this resolved. My concern is a 2022 recall on this same vehicle due to the break system. Therefore, I am reporting this for the year or 2023 because my car is brand new and making screech noise... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the liftgate failed to open. A message indicating a liftgate failure was displayed. The vehicle was taken to a used car dealer, where the liftgate fuse was replaced twice in one year; however, the failure persisted. The Ford dealer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failu... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2023
Brake rotors are warped around 8000 miles. I purchased a 2020 of same make and model and same problem, brake rotors warped under 10k miles. Subaru dealer employee told me the brakes were under engineered. After going 2 times to dealer, Subaru replaced rotors under warranty. I thought they figured it out since first Subaru Ascent hit market in 2019. I am going to attempt replacement with this 20... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2023
I own a 2018 Ford Escape with a 1.5L EcoBoost engine. The vehicle was purchased new. It experienced catastrophic engine failure in June 2023 with 86,286 miles on the original engine. With very little warning, the car began running rough, the "Check Engine" light came on, it lost power and it began billowing white smoke. The vehicle was transported via flatbed to a Ford dealership. In accordance wi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 11, 2023
The body of vehicle has paint chipping away in large pieces for no apparent reason. The color is a pearl white
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
Brake booster failed while driving. Warning light ABS, traction control and brake light lights up. Lost power brake. Car is hard to stop with the manual brake in the fail safe mode. with C1391 code logged. Toyota had an ZJB warranty extension but my car is not covered because the warning light did not show during the 10 year window. The brake booster fail appear common and should be cover... Read more
Incident date: Jul 6, 2023
When passenger sitting in front right seat, airbag indicator says "airbag off" and warning light flashes "check airbag system". This is an intermittent problem occurring a few times over the past three months. Brought it into the Subaru dealer who recommended replacement of the seat cushion for $1425. I checked the Internet and found Subaru recall WUM-98 describing the same problem. I checked repa... Read more
LINCOLN
CONTINENTAL
(2020) — POWER TRAIN
Jul 6, 2023
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
The engine has a hesitation at take off. It happens every morning and throughout the day. At a stop light it will hesitate on take off also when leaving a stop sign. Safety is out at risk as the vehicle will hesitate when trying to turn when on coming traffic is approaching. The issue was reproduced bye VW of Ft Myers Florida here is the conversation Me Did they notice a hesitation in the mor... Read more
Incident date: Jun 30, 2023
I have owned the 2018 VW GTI since new. With 105,000 miles, following a 30 minute highway drive, the EPC light came on and the vehicle entered limp mode. After turning car off, letting it sit 5 minutes, and restarting, EPC light went off and no limp mode. Drove car daily for another week with no observed issues until appointment. Brought car to dealer. They identified the fuel injector wiring ... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — VISIBILITY/WIPER
Jul 6, 2023
Incident date: Apr 30, 2023
On the 10th day of ownership (April 30, 2023), all cameras became inoperative. This is a known/continuing defect since 2020 yet Lincoln/Ford continue to sell these vehicles. My new car has been in and out of the shop on numerous occasions and it had no recalls according to the NHSTA and Ford websites. They have replaced 2 modules and wiring harness and, finally they agreed it was the same 360 degr... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Jul 6, 2023
Incident date: Apr 30, 2023
2021 LINCOLN CORSAIR- Consumer states: " At the suggestion of James 0., I reported an important issue with Ford Motor Company in which a serious injury was inadvertently caused on December 2022, due to the use of two key fobs at the same time involving a 2021 Lincoln Corsair. Two key fobs were present when my husband was siting in the drivers seat with the engine running, and I firmly grabbed the ... Read more
LINCOLN
AVIATOR PHEV
(2023) — WHEELS
Jul 6, 2023
Incident date: Apr 30, 2023
I bought a Discovery Sports SUV from West Columbia Land Rover Dealership located at 12500 New Car Drive, Clarksville, Maryland 21029- USA. In May of 2019 when I bought it the odometer reading was 023984 miles, as of now over 4+years since I bought it the odometer reading is just about 40K. I was told by the salesperson [XXX] that the car has gone through 400-point inspection, and it is as good a... Read more
Incident date: Dec 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2004 Saturn Ion. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled. Additionally, the contact stated that the key was stuck in the ignition. The failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who replaced the ignition switch and the ignition lock cylinder; however, the failure recurred. The contact stated that while driving at an ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 6, 2023
The contact owns a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, there was an abnormal chirping sound coming from the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where shards of metal were found coming out of the rocker arm inside the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be i... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2023
Upon starting and before driving (still parked) steering column started making vibrating, creaking, cracking, screeching noises when adjusting to proper driving position and seems to be beginning to fail. This is worse when the vehicle has been heated by hot summer temps. I have video with audio too. I've attached Ford's TSB 22-2144 and the NHTSA ID# 10210476
Incident date: Jul 5, 2023
Paint peeling appears to be a defect in paint it is the Pearl White Paint
Incident date: Jul 5, 2023
My Hyundai keeps jumping out of gear it's like the tray is sliding but it don't have one
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
This vehicle was maintained exceptionally well! But yet cylinder # 1 went out. No compression.
Incident date: Jul 2, 2023
Engine failure just like all the other optima’s.
Incident date: Jul 2, 2023
2014 AUDI S6- Consumer states " I am writing to file a claim for a vehicle recall on my 2014 Audi S6. The date of the recall is March-20-2022. The NHTSA Campaign# is 22V-178. The Audi Recall# is 21H7. The specific defect that is being recalled is Turbo failure. In early 2021, I experienced multiple problems with my vehicle that were consistent with the recall, such as Rough Idling, Difficult to S... Read more
LINCOLN
CONTINENTAL
(2019) — STEERING:ELECTRIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM
Jul 3, 2023
Incident date: Sep 5, 2022
The contact's mother owns a 2012 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced a loss of power steering assist. The check engine and power steering warning lights were illuminated. The contact used an ODB reader and determined that the power steering module was defective and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, and it was d... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Lincoln MKX. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving at undisclosed speeds, the contact heard an abnormal sound coming from the hood of the vehicle. The contact stated that at start-up there was an abnormal sound coming the hood of the vehicle. The check engine warning light and the tire pressure warning light illuminated. The contact then stated that whi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2023
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2017 Buick Enclave. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags) 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. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The conta... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Hyundai Tucson. The contact stated that after reaching 100,000 miles, the vehicle started consuming an excessive amount of engine oil. Upon observing oil consumption, the contact stated that he had to add 1-quart of engine oil every 700 miles. The contact stated that previously the vehicle was receiving an oil change every 5,000 miles. The low oil warning light would illumi... Read more
Incident date: May 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Sentra. The contact stated that the front passenger’s side seat belt warning light was displayed on the instrument panel while the seat was vacant. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and the contact was provided an appointment. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 73,000.