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 2,690 complaints for PORSCHE
Incident date: Jun 22, 2021
I cannot use my car for fearing of legal actions if I put anybody onto the front passenger seat. This recall has been on since April this year— that’s almost 5 months. I’ve contacted the Porshe dealership so many times and they still haven’t received the parts from the manufacturer.
Incident date: Jun 22, 2021
I cannot use my car for fearing of legal actions if I put anybody onto the front passenger seat. This recall has been on since April this year— that’s almost 5 months. I’ve contacted the Porshe dealership so many times and they still haven’t received the parts from the manufacturer.
Incident date: Jun 22, 2021
I cannot use my car for fearing of legal actions if I put anybody onto the front passenger seat. This recall has been on since April this year— that’s almost 5 months. I’ve contacted the Porshe dealership so many times and they still haven’t received the parts from the manufacturer.
Incident date: Apr 21, 2021
A recall was issued for my vehicle in April of 2021. I have contacted my dealer several times to have this repaired, but have been told that the parts are not available. Last time I inquired, i was told to contact Porsche of North America directly regarding the availability of parts. I attempted to do so, but was told that I need to contact the dealer. As the recall relates to possible non-deploym... Read more
Incident date: Sep 21, 2021
Conditions were clear and dry, with an ambient temperature of approximately 86 degrees F. Time of day was approximately 11:41am, Pacific. I was entering the 73 South onramp from Newport Coast Dr. (Newport Beach, CA 92657), somewhere between 60-70mph in Sport Plus mode, under heavy acceleration (but not full throttle). With no other symptoms or indications, the vehicle suddenly lost motive power an... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2021
Fuel tank is rubbing against the body causing visible rub marks on the plastic tank itself. This is caused by foam pads either being misplaced or not installed at all from the factory. Porsche themselves have a TSB on it (SB-1403), but they will not handle the fix outside of warranty. This seems like a major safety issue where a plastic component holding flammable fuel is rubbing against the metal... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2021
On my Porsche Cayenne e-Hybrid model, the check engine light came on at less than 1000 miles. Porsche does not know why this happens but I've heard them claim that it's a software problem that has to do with how the car communicates with the charging system. Based on my research, there has been many other owners of the same vehicle with this problem. My vehicle has been in the shop for well ove... Read more
Incident date: Sep 15, 2021
When the vehicle is decelerating and the transmission is in gear 2 the vehicle will lurch forward interfering/fighting with the normal operation of the brakes. This consistently happens when braking to a stop. The vehicle has 260 miles and I have driven it perhaps 4 - 5 times for a total of 30 miles. This is demo vehicle bought from a Porsche dealership and under full warranty.
Incident date: Sep 15, 2021
When the vehicle is decelerating and the transmission is in gear 2 the vehicle will lurch forward interfering/fighting with the normal operation of the brakes. This consistently happens when braking to a stop. The vehicle has 260 miles and I have driven it perhaps 4 - 5 times for a total of 30 miles. This is demo vehicle bought from a Porsche dealership and under full warranty.
Incident date: Sep 7, 2021
Check engine light thrown intermittently and dealer is unable to reproduce issue. Multiple incidents of the same issue by other owners. https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-9y0-2019/1248120-grr-cel-code-654-miles-on-new-21-cayenne.html Pattern is the same. Take delivery of new car, get CEL <1000 miles, take to the dealer and dealer is unable to permanently fix or reproduce.
Incident date: Aug 18, 2021
The vehicle would loose braking pressure after a few minutes of driving. This occurred when the vehicle transitions from regenerative braking to standard braking. Dealer states it is a problem with the brake booster.
Incident date: Sep 1, 2021
This recall was issued Apr 30,2021. Despite multiple follow ups the manufacturers is not responsive and the dealer cannot provide a timeline to fix it other than saying it may be sometime in 2022. In the meanwhile, I keep getting airbag warnings and tire pressure warnings despite the car tire pressure being fine (checked pressure with a manual gauge). Manufacturer Recall NumberAMA2 NHTSA Recall N... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2021
The power to the steering has failed causing the vehicle to be hard to steer, which includes an intermittent manual to power feel in the steering so that pulling hard on steering (during loss of power to steering) causes vehicle to veer in direction of steer. While pulling hard, the steering will suddenly feel "powered" but then immediately return to feeling manual. This puts anyone at risk in the... Read more
Incident date: Aug 21, 2021
On August 21 2021, I was out shopping. When I went out to return home, the car would not start. I could not jump start it or anything. I had it towed to the dealer. I found out from Porsche and dealership that my car was disabled by Porsche Connect. I do not have this service or pay for it. On Friday Sept 3, I was informed by Porsche customer service that it disabled my car because the origi... Read more
Incident date: Aug 25, 2021
The backup camera is highly distorted and it is difficult to see what is in the distance (more than 30 ft) from the rear of the car. I have had two incidents where I almost hit someone who was walking up the street past my driveway entrance. I need to look in the opposite direction for oncoming cars and I rely on the backup camera to see if anyone is walking towards the driveway entrance as I'm ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2021
Got into the car like every morning but car displayed a warning “Electrical System Error, Park vehicle in safe place” Car would not start
Incident date: Jun 9, 2021
The rear camera required by the DOT presents a distorted image making objects appear farther away than they actually are. The problem is a commonly discussed topic as an issue with the camera software on multiple Taycan Forums. See: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/backup-camera-quality-to-improve.6423/page-3#post-91894 The safety of persons standing to close to the vehicle may be imp... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 27, 2021
The vacuum pump retaining screws vibrated out, causing an oil leak and reduced functionality of the braking system. This is the second 2011 Porsche Cayman S that I have owned to have this problem. The first cause a fire and I received minor burns from the incident. Fortunately this time no fire was caused and the vehicle is repairable. Please see NHTSA tracking number 11430927. I also spoke with a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2018
The vacuum pump (Porsche part number 9A1-110-090-02) cover retaining screws vibrated out causing the cover to damage the fuel lines and causing an engine oil leak. The fuel and oil were ignited by the exhaust or stray spark cause by the vacuum covers rotation and hitting other metal objects. This vacuum pump provides vacuum to the brake booster and during the event drastically reduces the ability ... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jul 25, 2021
The contact owns a 2017 Porsche Macan. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V131000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer 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 distribution disconnect.
Incident date: Aug 21, 2021
I am getting a warning and sometimes unwanted braking. the warning is that driver must assume control but this happens when I have all the driver's assist features turned off. on a recent 1500 mile road trip this fault happened at least 10 times at highway speeds.
Incident date: Aug 20, 2021
After the emissions recall was performed the vehicle has an issue that when turning a corner the engine will not produce any power and will not shift down in order to get the car to accelerate. You get no response from the throttle pedal unless you depress it fully to the floor and then the car will jerk and accelerate uncontrollably. This creates an unsafe condition when trying to pull out into t... Read more
Incident date: Aug 3, 2021
Car intermittently reverses in drive while coming out of park (on flat surfaces). Provided videos of incidents to Porsche but they have not been able to identify the issue. This has almost caused an accident. Two people were standing behind my car when I put the car in drive but it reversed. Dealer has investigated (very cursory) on multiple occasions now based on the video evidence but has bee... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2021
The contact owns a 2021 Porsche Taycan. The contact stated that while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle began to shudder and then stalled as the "electrical system error, park vehicle in a safe place" warning message illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle failed again soon after restart. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to his home. The contact then called the local dealer and the veh... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2021
The contact owns a 2021 Porsche Taycan. The contact stated that while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle began to shudder and then stalled as the "electrical system error, park vehicle in a safe place" warning message illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle failed again soon after restart. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to his home. The contact then called the local dealer and the veh... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2021
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2016 Porsche Macan. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V131000 (Air Bags) 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 had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacture... Read more
Incident date: Jul 12, 2021
I continuously get 2 messages when I start the car: "Rear Cross Traffic Alert Not Available" and "ParkAssist not available". The biggest problem is that when this happens, the rear camera does not work while in reverse. This has caused several near accidents for me. I took it back to the dealer twice, and they could not find out what the issue is, although they did experience it. I also have pho... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2021
The day we took our Porsche home, we noticed a lot of heat generation in the car- but we thought it will be fine going further, given the attention to detail of Porsche's Automobile Engineering. The following days were not any better for my daughter- she missed a major accident because of the unexpected burnt smell and loud warnings of an overheat of the engine by Porsche in the middle of a highw... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2021
The day we took our Porsche home, we noticed a lot of heat generation in the car- but we thought it will be fine going further, given the attention to detail of Porsche's Automobile Engineering. The following days were not any better for my daughter- she missed a major accident because of the unexpected burnt smell and loud warnings of an overheat of the engine by Porsche in the middle of a highw... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2021
The day we took our Porsche home, we noticed a lot of heat generation in the car- but we thought it will be fine going further, given the attention to detail of Porsche's Automobile Engineering. The following days were not any better for my daughter- she missed a major accident because of the unexpected burnt smell and loud warnings of an overheat of the engine by Porsche in the middle of a highw... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2021
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2017 Porsche Macan. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V131000 (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 local dealer and the manufacturer were made aware of the issue. The contact had not experie... Read more
Incident date: Aug 9, 2021
The contact owns a 2015 Porsche Panamera. The contact stated while his wife was parking the vehicle and shifted gears to park when the vehicle accelerated independently and crashed into a building. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The air bags did not deploy. The driver sustained injuries on both knees and her neck. The driver did seek medical attention at an urgent care. The c... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 9, 2021
The contact owns a 2015 Porsche Panamera. The contact stated while his wife was parking the vehicle and shifted gears to park when the vehicle accelerated independently and crashed into a building. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The air bags did not deploy. The driver sustained injuries on both knees and her neck. The driver did seek medical attention at an urgent care. The c... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 3, 2021
The car has 130 miles, right at the dealer parking lot, as I was about to set out a message appeared “ electric system error” I was not able to drive further. If I had been on a freeway this would have been bad.
Incident date: Aug 26, 2020
The back up cameras and surround view have failed multiple times since August 2020. Back up cameras were made mandatory safety equipment requirements for all new cars manufactured after 2018 due to safety concerns. The federal government mandated the cameras to prevent “back over” accidents of young children who are not otherwise visible to the driver. There have been multiple attempts to rep... Read more
Incident date: Jul 28, 2021
Engine light came on while driving "Engine Control Error" Park Vehicle in a safe place. As I was attempting to pull into a safe place the car died on the road resulting in a near accident
Incident date: Jul 26, 2021
1st error “parking brake bit available, vehicle coils roll away” - cleared after restart. It then occurred again after cad was parked together with “motor control error - driving possible, service required” but car could not be driven and had to be towed
Incident date: Jan 19, 2020
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? ACC Radar gats uncalibrated How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? no at all Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? yes 4 times in one dealer and 2 times on new dealer Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer... Read more
Incident date: Sep 28, 2020
The surround video camera system frequently fails. One, several and sometimes all cameras randomly fail when triggered by placing transmission in reverse to park. Image is replaced by icon of camera with diagonal line through it. The dealer has attempted to fix this problem 4 times without success. They replaced all cameras and the video control unit. Many other owners of Porsche Cayenne, Macan an... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2021
Sudden power loss while driving. Pulled over to the side and the car shut down with the message "Engine Control Error"
Incident date: Jul 9, 2021
My car suddenly popped up this error message "Engine Control Error". I could still steer and use the brakes, but the accelerator would not work. I had to coast to a stop, put in park, and restart. I called the dealer and they said this will be part of a recall but they had no fix yet. I'm not sure if this part of the battery power-loss recall or not.
Incident date: Jun 11, 2021
sudden electrical failure. Two times the car has had sudden unexpected power loss. In particular the forward motion of the stopped suddenly, fortunately i was at low speed <20 mph. Both times electrical error message was noted on the driver's center screen. I was able to turn the car off and then attempted several times to turn it back on, eventually the car started. In my opinion there are n... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 2021
On two separate occasions, this vehicle completely lost all electrical power unexpectedly while driving. I pulled over and attempted to restart car with no response. After approximately1-2 minutes, the car spontaneously regained electrical power. One other occasion, the car was fully charged, but was unable to even be accessed (open doors ) The car had to be towed by Porsche dealer for some so... Read more
Incident date: Jul 4, 2021
Sudden and unexpected complete loss of power while vehicle was at highway speed. Could not accelerate. Red warning light appeared stating Engine Control Error. Car glided to a complete stop and I attempted to pull over to the shoulder of the highway. Brought the vehicle to the dealer and they stated there was a recent service bulletin to update software.
Incident date: Jul 7, 2021
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2016 Porsche Macan S. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 21V131000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and it was confirmed that the part was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The... Read more
Incident date: Jun 30, 2021
2021 Porsche Taycan, was driving on road, 78% battery, and car decelerated fast and turtle symbol popped up on dashboard. From there, no other warning indicators were lit. Car would accelerate very slowly. When the deceleration happened, I was driving, and had to swerve to the side to avoid accident with other drivers behind me. Car was towed to dealership where it is still sitting. Prior to ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 19, 2021
I was driving on high 495 in MA at approximately 05:00 in the far left lane at ~75MPH. The car had a sudden loss of power. There was zero propulsion. I had to quickly cross 3 lanes on the highway to the far right side; I was not able to pull off to the left because there was no breakdown lane. Once I came to a complete stop, I power-cycled the car and it resumed normal operations. I was able to ke... Read more
Incident date: Jun 4, 2021
The Car shut off on highway with no warning. Was sent to dealer for update. update was preformed car has not shut off while driving since but has not started. brought to dea;ler they were unable to replicate situation and returned the car.
Incident date: Jun 26, 2021
This has happened more than once now. I got in the car and as soon as it attempted to start up, I received the following error: “ELECTRICAL SYSTEM ERROR” I was not able to put the car in R or D. There was no other option to start the car. My car is 2 weeks old with less than 750 miles. Porsche has experienced a lot of these problems over the last 12+ months, yet this issue has not been re... Read more
Incident date: Jun 26, 2021
This has happened more than once now. I got in the car and as soon as it attempted to start up, I received the following error: “ELECTRICAL SYSTEM ERROR” I was not able to put the car in R or D. There was no other option to start the car. My car is 2 weeks old with less than 750 miles. Porsche has experienced a lot of these problems over the last 12+ months, yet this issue has not been re... Read more