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 2,780 complaints for PORSCHE
Incident date: Dec 6, 2023
The contact owns a 2023 Grand Design Reflection RV. The contact stated that the RV was designed with an electric leveling system. The contact stated the two rear levelers failed to elevate beyond 4.5 inches from the ground. The contact stated that the levelers would strike the ground while driving over a speed bump or on a bumpy road surface. The contact stated that the issue was a safety concern ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 7, 2023
The rear middle seatbelt in my Telsa Model 3 is stuck. Somehow it got stuck behind the middle seat after the seat was put down to put long items in the trunk. Tesla mobile service sent a tech to my house but he alleged intentional misuse - as if me or my family intentionally were playing with a seatbelt and wrapping it around a seat. Furthermore, even if we were to assume intentional misuse w... Read more
Incident date: Dec 7, 2023
Problems with "sticky" steering wheel. When turning the steering wheel, I can feel soft "clicks" as if the linkage is getting stuck on something. Vehicle was fine when new- problem developed about 6 months after buying car new.
Incident date: Nov 17, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 2500. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the ABS and Traction Control warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the ACU, causing a general electrical failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The fa... Read more
Incident date: Nov 21, 2023
Service abs system immediately popped up on information screen, also abs and traction control lights all at the same time. This disengages cruise control and removes digital speed reading. Almost got tailgated.
Incident date: Nov 21, 2022
Small pebble hit winshield and in no time I have about a 3 inch crack. Car purchased a few months ago, used I have about 4000 miles on it. Read about winshield problems in newer cars with eyesight happening frequently and bam, it happens to me. This needs to be corrected!
Incident date: Nov 26, 2023
While driving east on I-40 in North Carolina, my power steering catastrophically failed and I had to use all of my arm strength to steer the vehicle. The section of I-40 where this event occurred is extremely curvy (near the Haywood Rest Area) and there is no margin for error. If I had not been alone and totally concentrating on my driving, I could envision a severe accident as there were cars a... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
While driving on the freeway at speeds of approximately 65-70 mph, the vehicle unexpectedly locked the steering wheel, depriving the driver of the ability to maneuver or control the vehicle safely. It required significant effort for the driver to manually turn the wheel enough to guide the truck to the side of the freeway. This was an extremely dangerous situation, as we no longer had full control... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2023
My issue is with the Manufacture Recall #Z46, NHTSA Recall # 22V-406. This recall has been open since Jun 9, 2022 and involves the Fuel Pump (HPFP) failure. I have taken the vehicle to my local dealer and they advised there still is no remedy available to correct this recall. The vehicle I purchased used, had several open service tickets related to emissions which have been corrected and covered b... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Ecosport. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate as needed. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to exceed 40 MPH. The contact stated that the engine oil pressure warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mil... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact removed his foot from the accelerator pedal to depress the brake pedal while approaching a stop light, the vehicle stalled. The contact cycled the key several times when the vehicle started. A message displayed on the instrument panel “Evaporative Emission System Pressure Syste... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact removed his foot from the accelerator pedal to depress the brake pedal while approaching a stop light, the vehicle stalled. The contact cycled the key several times when the vehicle started. A message displayed on the instrument panel “Evaporative Emission System Pressure Syste... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2023
The contact owns a 2009 Kia Rondo. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and turned off, the exterior brake lights remained illuminated. Additionally, the ESC warning light was illuminated while driving. The contact had to depress the brake pedal three times to turn off the exterior brake lights. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The man... Read more
Incident date: Sep 4, 2023
Glare off dash board is blinding on sunny days. Dashboard is melting, the melted dash reflection is distraciton/ binding on sunny days, and smell from dash is not pleasant. Not knowing actual product that is melting is concerning since melting plastics and vinyl can be toxic. Took car out for ride on sunny day had to pull over because of glare dashboard. Tried to contact Nissan about any products ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2011 Ford Mustang. The contact stated that while driving out of the driveway, the brake pedal was depressed, but the vehicle was slow to respond. The contact stated that she noticed that an unknown fluid was leaking from the vehicle. The traction control, oil, and brake warning lights were illuminated. The check brake fluid and check oil messages were displayed. The local dealer... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
At highway speeds and for most speeds after driving at highway speeds, the steering will “stick”. The steering sticks in the center and slightly to the left when making slight left turns and take more than minimal effort to return the steering to center. Additionally, any small correction that need to be made while driving are made to be more difficult because of the sticky steering. Around to... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Jeep Wrangler. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V767000 (Fuel System, Gasoline, Engine) 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 manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2014 BMW 535D. The contacted stated that while driving approximately 60 MPH, the "200 Mile No Start" light illuminated. The contact drove the vehicle to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that there was a software error in the DDE/ECM which a required reprogramming the ECM. The contact was advised by the dealer that the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The vehic... Read more
Incident date: Oct 18, 2023
The engine light came on while I was 250 miles from home and on a Saturday. Was able to contact my dealer's service department who said to drive home and just monitor for any issues and hopefully it will be ok. I brought the vehicle in for diagnostic check following week. Faults were for the diesel particulate filter sensor and recommended $1300. replacement. They couldn't tell me if this part wo... Read more
Incident date: Oct 18, 2023
While driving, the front end of the car made a thud sound and vibrated, the lights on the panel came on, the engine light, battery light, key light, and the steering wheel locked up. This happened 3 times in a week. If we had been going faster it could have caused an accident because of car suddenly slowing down and loss of steering. After turning off and then back on it worked again but never kno... Read more
Incident date: Jul 6, 2023
Forward Collision Warning in conjunction with Emergency Braking have major safety issues that need to be addressed. 1st occurance: Driving through a construction zone through cones for lane realignment, van suddenly applied brakes in heavy traffic despite no obstacles in vans path. Vehicle quickly recovered. 2nd occurance: Driving on a dark street, van heavily applied brakes despite no obstacle... Read more
Incident date: Jul 6, 2023
Forward Collision Warning in conjunction with Emergency Braking have major safety issues that need to be addressed. 1st occurance: Driving through a construction zone through cones for lane realignment, van suddenly applied brakes in heavy traffic despite no obstacles in vans path. Vehicle quickly recovered. 2nd occurance: Driving on a dark street, van heavily applied brakes despite no obstacle... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH the check engine light illuminated and a chime went off and "service engine now" appeared on the instrument cluster. The contact stated that he pulled over and turned the engine off due to seeing the "over heat" warning illuminated. The contact had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic who advised the... Read more
Incident date: Aug 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH the check engine light illuminated and a chime went off and "service engine now" appeared on the instrument cluster. The contact stated that he pulled over and turned the engine off due to seeing the "over heat" warning illuminated. The contact had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic who advised the... Read more
Incident date: Jun 7, 2023
While driving on the freeway going roughly 68mph, a maintenance notice came on my dash stating “Engine oil pressure low”. Prior to this, the car ran fine and there were no lights on the dash. Soon after the oil light came on (despite the oil being changed less than a month prior), followed by the maintenance light. At this point the car began to stop accelerating, causing my speed to drop to b... Read more
Incident date: Sep 18, 2023
Noise in the rear suspension
Incident date: Sep 18, 2023
While driving in a construction zone on I-75, the low engine oil pressure warning light came on. Pulled off edge of i-75, checked oil level, OK. Oil and filter was changed 350 miles earlier the day before. 101,561 miles, 1.561 outside extended warranty. Still have 4 payments. Car has been at Ford dealer since August 21. Waiting for an assessment. There is a service bulletin from FORD that s... Read more
Incident date: Sep 18, 2023
About 10 minutes after turning on the rear defroster the back window spontaneously shattered.
Incident date: Sep 16, 2023
I have a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica that keeps dying. I bought my Pacifica new from the dealer and now it has 100K on it. Since we bought it, I has a tendence to dye on us from time to time. The past 5 years we have owed it, we have been through 4 batteries. This past week, my Pacifica decided not to start. The battery was only 8 months old. We had it towed to the dealer, where they said there was a p... Read more
Incident date: Sep 14, 2023
The contact owns a 2021 Ford Mustang Mach E. The contact stated that while driving slowly in reverse and reversing of a parking space, the vehicle suddenly experienced unintended acceleration and erroneously drove across the street before crashing into an apartment building wall. During the crash, the driver sustained a lower back injury and left arm laceration which required medical treatment. Th... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Sep 8, 2023
Turned into driveway to park and suddenly my vehicle sped up really fast then I hit a pole. Destroyed the right headlight, hood, bumper, passenger door won't open all the way
Crash
Incident date: May 1, 2023
Diagnosed by local goodyear service. The leadframe on transmission need replacing. Truck randomly shuts off, shifts wrong & dash lights are weird. Ford dealer says not a recall & truck is too old for extended warranty. Ford customer service says the same. And this isnt a safely issue?! Dealer says $700+ to fix. Just spent nearly $1800 to fix a broken leaf spring - in the middle layer of the sprin... Read more
Incident date: Sep 9, 2023
The safety recall has been issued for a very long time with no resolution or option to fix. This is a major safety concern since it deals with the airbags and needs to find a resolution ASAP.
Incident date: Mar 22, 2023
- The component that has failed is the right rear axle and retaining bolt (the axle retaining bolt sheared off). The vehicle is currently at the dealership (The Ford Store San Leandro, in San Leandro, CA) waiting for replacement parts. Unknown if the vehicle is available for inspection. -To my knowledge my safety was not at risk, but the vehicle is being retained by the dealership because it is de... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that when the vehicle was started, the air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the jumper wiring had shorted out by rubbing against the frame and the passenger’s seat air bag and jumper wiring needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notifi... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while the vehicle was idling, the engine overheated. The temperature gauge increased to HOT. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The high-temperature indicator light was flashing, and the fan was engaged. The vehicle was running rough. There was white smoke coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
ABS light and traction control light came on. Upon scan tool the code was general electrical failure of ABS system. I call my local ram dealer and they inform me of multiple failures of the HCU on 2017 and 2018 ram trucks. This is a safety hazard for my self, my family, and others. Theis desperately needs to be a recall on the ram trucks. This is very dangerous. Also the ram dealer talks of at le... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The transmission is known to be defective on this type of car, causing the clutch and TCM to need to be replaced every couple of years. Just this past week my clutch went out while I was merging onto a crazy highway, 485, in NC and I was unable to accelerate for a long time. I was able to get home but the clutch slipped another two times within a 10 minute period.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
After owning the car a year and about 15,000 miles I started having transmission rough shifting and lurching motions when shifting - violent lurching. I took it in to the dealership and they reset the adaptive learning component for the transmission. Nothing changed. Brought it in again and drove with technician and was able to reproduce issue. They replaced the transmission and the problems c... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2023
EPS light is on electric power steering know as electric rack & pinion steering Code C2217-00 hard steering left & right in a parking lot
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
Purchased vehicle 7/29/23 While driving 8/19, vehicle auto-shifted from drive into neutral and the check engine light appeared. I was in the process of accelerating from the on ramp & moving to the left lane. Attempts to return the vehicle to drive were unsuccessful & I coasted to the right shoulder of the highway. The brakes were functional. Once stopped, the vehicle functioned as if it were ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2023
Purchased vehicle 7/29/23 While driving 8/19, vehicle auto-shifted from drive into neutral and the check engine light appeared. I was in the process of accelerating from the on ramp & moving to the left lane. Attempts to return the vehicle to drive were unsuccessful & I coasted to the right shoulder of the highway. The brakes were functional. Once stopped, the vehicle functioned as if it were ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 16, 2023
The gauge center behind the steering wheel will freeze every couple of weeks and will stay frozen until the car is shut off. After a few hours I can turn the car back on and it will work correctly. The speedometer analogue gauge will work but the digital screen will freeze. For instance, yesterday it was frozen on 23 MPH and I was in park! The issue this causes is that I cannot use the cruise c... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2023
Windows fail to roll up and stay closed
Incident date: Jul 7, 2023
[XXX] My brand new Indian Pursuit has a death wobble. Many who have purchased this motorcycle experience the same "death wobble". Polaris (owner of Indian Motorcycles) states it's not a real problem and to just keep hands on the handle bars. They've said this after multiple attempts to repair the issue. They don't seem to know what the root cause is. They have defaulted to blame the customer. T... Read more
Incident date: May 4, 2020
Per Mr. [XXX]: My daughter and members of our church’s high school youth group were on their way to a summer missions project in western Virginia/eastern Tennessee in an Enterprise rental van when the [DRIVERS' SIDE] rear tire started to separate from the vehicle as they were driving south on [XXX] near Staunton! Fortunately, the dad who was driving was able to safely steer the van to the side ... Read more
Incident date: May 4, 2020
Per Mr. [XXX]: My daughter and members of our church’s high school youth group were on their way to a summer missions project in western Virginia/eastern Tennessee in an Enterprise rental van when the [DRIVERS' SIDE] rear tire started to separate from the vehicle as they were driving south on [XXX] near Staunton! Fortunately, the dad who was driving was able to safely steer the van to the side ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 4, 2023
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, upon start-up, the steering wheel became firm and difficult to maneuver. The contact stated that the “Power Steering Service Now” message was displayed on the instrument panel. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the fail... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2023
The steering wheel begins to vibrate uncontrollably at highway speeds to the point where other drivers notice the shaking in the front end. to correct this problem i have to slow down well below highway speeds to get the steering under control. No the problem has not been reproduced by a dealer and now the vehicle is out of warranty. No indicators lights or warning signs appear when this issue ar... Read more
PORSCHE
718 CAYMAN
(2021) - ENGINE
Aug 7, 2023
Incident date: Jul 30, 2023
Excessive oil consumption, 1.5 quarts or more per ever 1,000 miles.