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 30,183 complaints for RAM
Incident date: Jun 18, 2024
After having my vehicle inspection was completed I learned that there was a manufacturer’s recall on the vehicle. I called Unique Ford in Goffstown, NH to schedule the software update. They were very good about scheduling the appointment, however, after they began work on the vehicle I was told their system could not connect to the computer on my vehicle and therefore they could not complete th... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2024
The transmission started to fail at around 65k miles. There were no warning signs, it just began shifting hard and then began slipping. It was taken to a transmission shop and the fluids were replaced, but this did not change anything. It was at this time we were told the transmission would need to be replaced, but they had no means to obtain a replacement. It has been over two years since the pro... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Fisker Ocean. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V404000 (Electrical System) and 24V405000 (Electrical System) 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 experienced... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at 40 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly downshifted to first gear. The driver was able to pull over safely. The contact restarted the vehicle and there were several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the gear shifter displayed that the vehicle was in park while the vehicle was driving. The vehicle was ta... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
When vehicle is shifted to park, the “Shift to Park” warning illuminates and the vehicle is unable to shut off. Have to play around with the gear selector for several minutes in order to be able to be shut off. Looks like GM has known about it for a while and has done nothing. Has been occurring on ours for about a year now.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
The vehicle, without any warning, suddenly stopped. I was unable to restart and unable to put the vehicle in Neutral for pushing to a safer location. Had to be towed to the dealership.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
The vehicle, without any warning, suddenly stopped. I was unable to restart and unable to put the vehicle in Neutral for pushing to a safer location. Had to be towed to the dealership.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
The vehicle, without any warning, suddenly stopped. I was unable to restart and unable to put the vehicle in Neutral for pushing to a safer location. Had to be towed to the dealership.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the liftgate was unlocked; however. the liftgate failed to open as intended. The contact noticed a burning odor. The contact drove the vehicle for a short distance, and the liftgate opened with the door alarm and warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the vehicle was not diagno... Read more
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the liftgate was unlocked; however. the liftgate failed to open as intended. The contact noticed a burning odor. The contact drove the vehicle for a short distance, and the liftgate opened with the door alarm and warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the vehicle was not diagno... Read more
Incident date: Oct 16, 2023
My 2014 Ford Taurus SEL transmission when driving and when the shifting begins, the car shudders in 3rd and 4th gear, when it passes the 4 gears, then the vehicle runs smooth. I would like to report this because this is not normal for a transmission to do this. I do not believe it is a Torque converter. Ford Dealership said it was a Torque Converter. I took it to Aamco Transmission and had it look... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2024
>Refer to investigation PE24018. For reference recall 23V-265 was performed on this truck. >This incident was before the recall work, and it was mentioned to my dealership. There have been no additional incidents. >Driving on a rural road at about 30mph. I slammed on breaks to avoid contact with animal. My vehicle went into park, emergency break activated, and engine turned off. I was able to... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford F-250. The contact stated while accelerating, the vehicle was shaking and vibrating abnormally. Upon inspection, it was discovered that the rear axle housing was deformed. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The contact was informed that the VIN was ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated while driving 30-40 MPH, the message "Stop Safely - Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon" was displayed. The contact was able to pull to the side of the road. The contact stated that upon restarting the vehicle on several occasions, the messages "Service Engine" and “Stop/Start System Unavailable - Service Stop/Start System" were displayed, and the ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated while driving 30-40 MPH, the message "Stop Safely - Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon" was displayed. The contact was able to pull to the side of the road. The contact stated that upon restarting the vehicle on several occasions, the messages "Service Engine" and “Stop/Start System Unavailable - Service Stop/Start System" were displayed, and the ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 10, 2024
The Transmission is stuck in 2nd gear, and won’t reverse. I bought the truck used from dealership. There is a GM Technical Bulletin, that states the vehicle is/was not to have been sold, prior to having the Transmission control Module replaced.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
UNINTENDED ACCELERATION!! 2022 GENESIS GV80 2.5T Prestige model. 60 miles after I had the fuel pump replaced due to a recall on the fuel pump, car was totaled. It was complete luck that I or others WERE NOT KILLED. The vehicle was sitting still with engine running and all of a sudden just accelerated up to about 40+ mph. I had to steer into parked car to stop my vehicle. The gear shift would not... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
Anti lock brake module repetitively fails. First one replaced 7/2021 with 51,xxx miles. Second failed 7/2024 with 69,000 miles. Loses ABS system, cruise control, electronics affect electronic throttle and stabilitrack.
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
AC compressor failed within 1000 miles of High Voltage battery being replaced. This is the second AC compressor failure, the first failure occured at approx 70k miles, Nov 2022. The AC is used to cool the battery during high voltage charging and driving. Upon failure speed can be reduced, determined by multiple factors and charging rate is reduced as well. I was told it was an internal failure ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
AC compressor failed within 1000 miles of High Voltage battery being replaced. This is the second AC compressor failure, the first failure occured at approx 70k miles, Nov 2022. The AC is used to cool the battery during high voltage charging and driving. Upon failure speed can be reduced, determined by multiple factors and charging rate is reduced as well. I was told it was an internal failure ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Fusion. The contact stated after a week of the vehicle not being driven, the battery was drained. The contact stated that the battery was new and should have not drained so soon. No warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mil... Read more
Incident date: Jul 24, 2022
Coolant, oil compression, runs hot, to over headlights need replaced frequently
Incident date: Jul 24, 2022
Coolant, oil compression, runs hot, to over headlights need replaced frequently
Incident date: Jul 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2014 Ford F-150. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be repaired under NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V444000 (Power Train). After completion of the update, while driving and shifting gear, the vehicle jerked. While in third gear, the vehicle downshifted to first gear when the accelerator pedal was depressed and shifted back to third gear. There were n... Read more
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
I was parked then backed up to proceed forward. There was a pole with a cemented base in the corner left as I accelerated I ran in to this pole. Peripherally I don’t know how I missed the pole however I do take accountability for that. What concerns me is my front collision system and forward emergency braking system failed and did not activate or message me in any way. In the past if I’ve co... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 19, 2022
Vehicle brakes or collision warning comes on when roads are curved and traffic in oncoming lanes.
Incident date: Dec 19, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while attempting to leave her residence, it was difficult to maneuver the steering wheel. The contact continued to drive the vehicle when several unknown warning lights displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed with a power steering rack failure and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer wa... Read more
Incident date: May 11, 2024
When engaging the accelerator after auto-stop the entire vehicle stalled. Nothing was displayed on the dash or media console, the vehicle cut off, no steering, and no acceleration. When attempting to restart the vehicle it failed multiple attempts until about 45-60 seconds later. Thankfully this occurred at a redlight, but it was a single lane and other drivers behind me were not pleased. This... Read more
Incident date: May 11, 2024
When engaging the accelerator after auto-stop the entire vehicle stalled. Nothing was displayed on the dash or media console, the vehicle cut off, no steering, and no acceleration. When attempting to restart the vehicle it failed multiple attempts until about 45-60 seconds later. Thankfully this occurred at a redlight, but it was a single lane and other drivers behind me were not pleased. This... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
I was driving on a hot day and all of the instrument panel, air conditioning, all controllers, like signaling, windshield wipers, radio and all electronic gear turned off. Without the equipment and tools available, I could not change lanes or come to a stop safely. It would be difficult for me to say if other systems were affected. I was luckily not going very fast at the time and was able to n... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2024
Noticeable Hard shifting, Transmission concerns vehicle woul d not move during acceleration when pulling into driveway. V ehicle placed in park and back to drive vehicle would not mo ve. Noisy braking. Delayed acceleration on when leaving s top or red light or freeway driving. Rough idling Noisy idle Transmission concern
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
Hi the two major issues that need to reported. 1. The vehicle would just shut down while driving at highway speeds. It would have trouble restarting and you would have to cost to the shoulder. This issue was random, we took it to the dealership and they drove it for a week until it left them on the side of the road. They kept it for just over a month and a star case had to be opened. 2. 2nd iss... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2023
Jeep skips gears on highway and loses power while accelerating to get up to speed. Took jeep to multiple dealers which all has said it's the torque converter. My jeep is a 2016 with only 77k miles on it. It jerks you at stop lights to almost hitting the car in front of you or losing all power in highway when trying to merge on. I have read that there has been recalls on 2016 jeep cherokee transmis... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2024
Driving on the highway, the car loses steering and gets real stiff then over corrects causing vehicle to swerve. It's a know problen for these years and models of the RAM. It's the EPS that fails intermittenly. They said it's vin specific but I strongly disagree. I have no light stating there is an issue on the dashboard. That seems lie a big safety hazard. System doesn't know there's a problem.
Incident date: Jul 14, 2024
This vehicle has a design flaw with the grill opening. I had a whole in radiator that cost $1700 from road debris hitting it. Now 3 months later I am putting out $1400 to replace air conditioning condenser for the same reason. The openings for the grill that is supposed to protect these components are to large.
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
On 7/21/23 around 10 am the screens went blank, had no speed or info displayed , after 2 days the screens came back on 7/23/24
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
On [XXX], I was driving the vehicle on a busy highway with a posted speed limit of 70mph. While operating the vehicle at ~70mph, the front display showed a message that the vehicle was going to stop and to pull off safely. Unknown at what point the vehicle will stop, in a panic, I pulled off on the highway and immediately called road assistance for a tow. After calling the dealership, they told me... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Sequoia. The contact stated that while parked and the driver door was opened, he observed a beeping noise and the vehicle began reversing inadvertently. The contact dove into the driver's seat and attempted to move the gear shift but it was already in park (P). The contact was not sure if the brake was depressed at that time. The vehicle continued to reverse and coll... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Outback. The contact stated upon inspecting the vehicle, he noticed all 4 wheels showed signs of cracks on the rims and spokes. The low-pressure tire warning light had illuminated. In addition, all tires required air frequently. The vehicle was not repaired. The local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was ap... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Outback. The contact stated upon inspecting the vehicle, he noticed all 4 wheels showed signs of cracks on the rims and spokes. The low-pressure tire warning light had illuminated. In addition, all tires required air frequently. The vehicle was not repaired. The local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was ap... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2024
Back on February 27, 2024, my car was taken into the dealership due to a malfunction the oil pump gave out and dealership said that due to those issues "shavings were going into the transmission" which could cause further damage to the vehicle in increased risk of an accident. It is not going on to 5 months and nothing has been done I get calls that since it has been park for so long the vehicle i... Read more
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
While accelerating from a complete stop, the car stalled with tires, powertrain, and steering wheel all locked. For 15 seconds, the steering wheel, tires, and car was unable to be manipulated. During acceleration, the speed was less than 15mph when it came to an abrupt stop. Another car behind me almost hit me when my car came to a stop. Car was just serviced for another warranty issue a few mont... Read more
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Chrysler Town and Country. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed, the contact became aware of a failure with the transmission. The contact stated that the vehicle could not be shifted out of neutral. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to restart however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed a... Read more
Incident date: Oct 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2010 BMW 328I. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 24V513000 (Air Bags) and 23V707000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were 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... Read more
Incident date: Oct 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2010 BMW 328I. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 24V513000 (Air Bags) and 23V707000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were 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... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
Rear 3rd brake light and rear window are leaking water into the cab causing visibility issues.
Incident date: Jan 19, 2024
Rear 3rd brake light and rear window are leaking water into the cab causing visibility issues.
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
The car was not picking up speed on the freeway; having issues shifting. Make me stop on the freeway putting me at risk of an accident. I was able to go to the shoulder. on the dashboard, I have a message saying the transmission overheated, wait for 5 minutes. I did wait and the car started again. I took it to the dealer and they told me it was a failure of the Module. AE8Z*7Z369*FMODULE - TRANSM... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
07/23/2024 13:48:24 Dealership confirmed battery is fine and did not need to replace it. I'm going to delete the Kia Access app and see if that has any affect on the battery drain. This needs to be fixed ASAP. 07/23/2024 05:25:47 The 2025 Kia Carnival appears to have some parasitic battery drain, leaving vehicles unable to start or use functions/features like remote start, AC and others. This has... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
Purchased a Nuna Rava for our first child in 2020, in 2022 the straps in the car seat began to pull out/loosen. No way of the straps “locking” and staying in place to keep my child in safely. Received a new car seat, no problems until now. Fast forward to later 2022, we clearly made the mistake of buying another Nuna Rava for our second child. Here we are, almost exactly 2 years later again an... Read more