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 29,025 complaints for RAM
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
I have a start/stop error message on my dash and my car stalls when I am braking sometimes the car turns off completely. my car is available for inspection anytime. It is a safety concern for me and anyone who might be following me as my car will just completely shut off in traffic.
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
I have a start/stop error message on my dash and my car stalls when I am braking sometimes the car turns off completely. my car is available for inspection anytime. It is a safety concern for me and anyone who might be following me as my car will just completely shut off in traffic.
Incident date: Jan 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Focus. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) 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 stated that while driving at approximately 6... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
Pearl white paint suddenly peeling off in several places on fender. Car is less than 3 1/2 years old.
Incident date: Feb 2, 2024
I was slowing down for traffic at a stop light and when I was almost stopped traffic began moving again so I took my foot off the brake and pushed the gas pedal. The truck stalled, it shifted to park, the emergency brake came on and a red warning lamp for the battery came on. Traffic behind me had to stop abruptly to avoid hitting my vehicle. I immediately put my 4-way flashers on while trying t... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Dodge Journey. The contact stated while driving at approximately 5 MPH, the service AWD, ABS, and cruise control warning lights remained illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the same independent mechanic for the failure; however, the cause of the failure was unknown. The vehicle was not repaired because a permanent remedy had not been determined, and several unknown parts ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Dodge Journey. The contact stated while driving at approximately 5 MPH, the service AWD, ABS, and cruise control warning lights remained illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the same independent mechanic for the failure; however, the cause of the failure was unknown. The vehicle was not repaired because a permanent remedy had not been determined, and several unknown parts ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
Service ESC flashing on the dash intermittently. If I am in cruise control when it happens vehicle abruptly disables cruise control. Codes when ready are U0002 and U0212. Same problem happened about a year ago, dealer reflashed ABS and sent me on my way. I informed them of other similar trucks experiencing the same issue and that it wasn't a reflash issue. Had them document my concerns that it wou... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
Ok [XXX] 1:30 pm we got into car to go to lunch started driving and smoke started coming from the headliner and smelled like burning plastic on driver side near visor, smoke filled the car we were able to roll down windows and able to stop the car. The area continued to emit smoke and area on headliner felt hot. After Turing the car off the smoke/ fire continued and Had to locate the battery under... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
Ok [XXX] 1:30 pm we got into car to go to lunch started driving and smoke started coming from the headliner and smelled like burning plastic on driver side near visor, smoke filled the car we were able to roll down windows and able to stop the car. The area continued to emit smoke and area on headliner felt hot. After Turing the car off the smoke/ fire continued and Had to locate the battery under... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Aug 5, 2022
I am not sure what system failed, but I suspect it could be an electrical or engine problem. The car has lost towing features, has shut off or almost shut off while driving on highways or while making left and right turns during exits from highways. The vehicle has also lost power steering. This happen while the vehicle was towing a travel trailer on the highway. There will be occasions when the f... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V896000 (Power Train); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experie... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2022
Engine ticking noise. Concerns about safety due to engine failure.
Incident date: Jul 1, 2019
I own a 2020 Honda ridgeline pick up truck. For many months, I have been aware of an existing recall on the rear view camera tailgate wire harness and have received two notices. I have been at the dealer twice to have it repaired, the last time of which they canceled my appointment the day before the repair saying they don’t have any parts and that I will hear sometime Late fall. Honda has been ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 30, 2023
Truck stalls out when driving and stoping. Causing parking brake to engage and lose of all functions. It has been at dealer 4 times they say it’s to intermittent. They can’t get it to do it. Also they see a fault but can’t trace it. This has been going on since 2023 a few months after I leased it. I have all records of events. No warning is given before this happens. It just dies. Yes truck ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 30, 2023
Service ABS warning and traction control lights constantly going off several times a minute, disappear for a few minutes, and then the cycle repeats. Have already replaced the ABS pump motor following code C0020-01 some years ago.
Incident date: Jun 30, 2023
Shit to Park issue. Whenever I put my 2020 Chevy Blazer into park I get a "Shift to Park" error and the car will not turn off. I have to jiggle the shifter and hope that the vehicle appropriately engages into a park mode so I am able to turn the vehicle off. From doing a lot of research I have ascertaioned this is a KNOWN PROBLEM to GM. I URGE AN IMMEDIATE RECALL for these GM vehicles so th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated that after placing the vehicle in drive and beginning to slowly accelerate out of a parking space, the vehicle started going backwards. The contact immediately turned the vehicle off and coasted back into the parking space. An on looker had the contact restart the vehicle and drive to see if the vehicle functioned properly; however, the failur... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2024
UNKNOWN air bags lights turn off and on on the passenger side. No air bag light remains on all of the time of the driver side
Incident date: Dec 7, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Beetle. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V945000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. 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 exp... Read more
Incident date: Dec 7, 2023
UNKNOWN The reverse camera does not function properly when the vehicle is hot or when the vehicle is in a hot environment. It consistently fails to show a picture of what is behind the vehicle when the vehicle is left in the sun or when the vehicle has been running and the engine is still hot. The vehicle is available for inspection. The problem has not been inspected by an independent servic... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
The truck died had to jump it. I was driving it and it stopped itself went into park automatically. it turned on the parking brake. and then died. Took several minutes to start. Now the truck on first start up and first shift into gear there is a delay and no power to the drive train then has I’m hitting the gas it accelerates very quickly
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Mercedes-Benz S 560. The contact stated while driving 10 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the warning light was cleared; however, the failure recurred the following day. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the oil pump and an unknown wiring harness had failed and needed to be replac... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Triumph Bonneville T120 Black. The contact stated while the motorcycle was idling, the handlebars felt extremely hot to the touch before the motorcycle shut off. In addition, the headlights had overheated and melted. No warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was contacted, but the motorcycle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the fail... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated intermittently. The contact stated that the dealer had previously replaced the engine. The vehicle was taken to AutoZone, where error code P0299 was retrieved. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer, but the check engine warning light was no longer illuminated... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2024
Rough idle in drive and reverse, hard shifting or not shifting In to gear
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
This is the second failure of the door latch we’ve had. 1st time was drivers door. Today was passenger door. Ford dealers refuse to fix it. Carthage ford sold me the parts and I paid my mechanical c to fix the drivers door. $200 for the door latches $200 to install. Now I have to do the passenger door. I was under the impression this should be free as it’s a recall I’ve cont... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
After completing a right turn with a right turn signal, the vehicle will sometimes signal a left turn for 3 blinks. I believe this is because the turn signal stalk 'bounces' down to the left turn signal area when returning back to normal position from a right turn. This is a safety issue because the vehicle is signaling a left turn when no turn is intended. This could cause confusion to oth... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
After completing a right turn with a right turn signal, the vehicle will sometimes signal a left turn for 3 blinks. I believe this is because the turn signal stalk 'bounces' down to the left turn signal area when returning back to normal position from a right turn. This is a safety issue because the vehicle is signaling a left turn when no turn is intended. This could cause confusion to oth... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
Unintended acceleration causing accident March 2, 2023. Low speed frontal collision avoidance assist did not engage causing accident June 11, 2024. August 2023 I agreed to video and Lexus is not providing video of accident June 11th, 2024! Recall on fuel pump and software replaced but still BAD. Radio off. Heard cybercrimes of communications systems for video game data by Meta.
Crash
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
Turn signals will not operate, dealership quoted me $1400 3 years ago, had the work performed and now the issue is happening again and I am being quoted the same amount of money. This is a safety concern if I cannot signal to others where I am turning!!!!! This could cause an accident!!!!! This is highly unsafe!!! What if my kids were in the car?! Talking to customers in waiting lounge at dealersh... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
Turn signals will not operate, dealership quoted me $1400 3 years ago, had the work performed and now the issue is happening again and I am being quoted the same amount of money. This is a safety concern if I cannot signal to others where I am turning!!!!! This could cause an accident!!!!! This is highly unsafe!!! What if my kids were in the car?! Talking to customers in waiting lounge at dealersh... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
I have been getting "RCM2_a626" error for "front passenger safety restraint system fault. It comes and goes. Apparently it is a common issues among tesla owners. When I first filled for the error they quoted $2000 for replacing front passenger seat. The error went away so I canceled the appointment. Then it came back in a random fashion and getting more frequent. This time, in addition to replacin... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
Got in my car today and have NO DASHBOARD INFORMATION, no speedometer, no battery information, no back up camera, no access to any software related information.
Incident date: Jun 12, 2024
The ABS module has failed. There aren’t any available across the entire United States in order to fix our vehicle. We have no ABS, no cruise control, no trailer brakes. We can’t get any help or answers from Ram. We have started a case with them and cannot even get a call back. The dealer cannot even order the part.
Incident date: Jun 12, 2024
While driving on a highway, several lights illuminated on my dashboard instrument cluster, including the ABS light, a red BRAKE light, a yellow PARK light, and the dynamic stability control light. The message center reported to "drive carefully" however none of this appeared urgent. I decided I should maybe test my breaks as I was curious what the problem was. I then proceeded to gently tap my ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 12, 2024
While driving on a highway, several lights illuminated on my dashboard instrument cluster, including the ABS light, a red BRAKE light, a yellow PARK light, and the dynamic stability control light. The message center reported to "drive carefully" however none of this appeared urgent. I decided I should maybe test my breaks as I was curious what the problem was. I then proceeded to gently tap my ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2024
While driving in the rain, I lost power steering and had several unrelated waring lights come on. Dash lights flickered. Engine continued to run normally but warning lights came on and off. I was able to drive to a safe location and turn the car off. When I restarted the car everything was normal including the power steering. This happened 2 more times on the 12 mile trip home. In the last 60 ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 2, 2024
I started noticing a funny noise when turning to the right and when accelerating. Took it to Community Auto Repair on 7/19/24. Below are their notes from inspection (I have attached the 1st pg of the Inspection report stating this) Test Drive - Noise Inspection NOTES Drive shaft carrier bearing is totally destroyed. Greg (owner) said that he had never seen one as bad as that before! He told me ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
Cable shift bushings keeps coming off
Incident date: May 1, 2024
I am getting a warning in the car that the front camera is failing. The warning includes an error that the front camera failed, and that the forward collision is unavailable. Each time this happens, this causes the cruise control, lane centering and lane departure systems to disengage, which means the vehicles hard brakes at highway speeds when this happens. It disabled forward collision detection... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
I was driving at 60mph when the truck started shaking so bad I had to come to a complete stop. I could barley steer the truck when this was happening.
Incident date: Jan 17, 2024
The vehicle cuts off while driving we’ve done numerous expensive replacements to water pump, control arm bushings, new battery, variable valve timing, celinoid, camshaft adjustment magnet, spark plugs and coils, ignition switch, fuel pump, gas cap. Oil filters And there is still a problem.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, he became aware that the electronic power steering was not functioning properly, requiring increased effort to maneuver the vehicle. The traction control and power steering assist warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the el... Read more
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
On 1/18/23, I was driving my 2022 E-tron on a roadway that had no center lane markings. I had my seatbelt and cruise control on. I was traveling at 34mph straight on the right side of the roadway. Suddenly, and without warning, my car took control, drove off the road to the right, and crashed into a tree. I suffered severe injuries, including but not limited to, loss of consciousness, concuss... Read more
Crash
Fire
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
I have a 2017 Cadillac Escalade that is all black. This vehicle is now sitting a 140,000 miles now. but before the 140,000 miles I was experiencing horrible peeling, and discoloration of the black paint on the hood, and roof of my vehicle. This particular issue should not be happening in such a highly luxury vehicle. I have driven Lexus, Nissan, and other vehicles, that are way older, im still po... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
my transmission started slipping like it was in neutral and coming to a stop when it downshifted to low gear it would lunge forward the ford garage said it was tcm but didnt have the part i dont know what to do i need a car
Incident date: Dec 1, 2023
I was trying to raise my headrest to install a seatcover and the headrest deployed in my face. The vehicle was parked and not running, I was not injured, only startled. However, had I been driving this message would read differently. After searching Google I found there are known issues for this and it was suggested to report it to NHTSA. I have an appointment Monday at 9am at Toliver in Mineola, ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
In June of 2023 I was driving my vehicle and suddenly the Traction Control, power steering and check engine light came on. I was able to get the vehicle safely home without the use of the power steering. Once I shut the vehicle off, it would not start again. I got the vehicle to my local dealership and they diagnosed it as one of the main wire harnesses was rubbing against a bolt near the battery,... Read more
Incident date: Oct 19, 2020
On 7/4/2024 at approximately 6pm, I disconnected my 2023 VW ID4 from an electrical charging station. I moved my vehicle 2 blocks away to an apartment building parking lot, which I had parked in previously. While pulling into the parking spot, I was coming to a complete stop, perhaps going 1-2 miles per hour and as I came to a stop, the car accelerated out of nowhere and crashed into a few small ... Read more
Crash
2 injured