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: Sep 19, 2025
The back up camera goes out at times.it says report too ford.tranmission issues and turbo issues.
Incident date: Sep 19, 2025
Steering wheel locked up when I tried to restart car
Incident date: Dec 25, 2024
While driving power steering stopped working. Thankfully I was able to pull my vehicle over without incident. My vehicle has not been inspected as of yet by the dealership as I am on SSD called the dealership and the cost is $139.00 to run the diagnostic. Warning lights kicked on as soon as it happened. This was originally supposed to be remedied in recall 15N01 EPAS. I called the dealership and t... Read more
Incident date: Dec 25, 2024
I brought my jeep in for a concern about an antifreeze leak on 1/3/25. I had 130,112 miles on my vehicle and was my warranty expired at 125,000 miles. They thought it was a water pump gasket at the time. I took my jeep back on 10/30/2025 and they confirmed a head leak, that wasn't checked last time. This is a safety issue since it has been confimed that other jeeps within same year have the same i... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2025
Rear view camera reverts to a black screen when the vehicle is put in reverse. The screen indicates an error. This has been ongoing for a year. The 2016 Ford Fusion has been granted a recall on this issue - why wasn't the 2015 model included?
Incident date: Nov 1, 2025
Around 80,000 miles it started shuddering and jerking at lower speeds. It has progressively gotten worse, there is a service bulletin for it but no recall. This happened after my extended warranty was up. Quoted $9,300 for torque converter and refab transmission.
Incident date: Nov 1, 2025
I love my vehicle and its technology. However after installation of the latest (FSD V14) update, I observed issues I believe pose a risk to the safe operation of the vehicle. I have made dozens of reports for 30+ days to Tesla for these issues. 1. Driving Profiles and Speed The update features multiple driving profiles (e.g., "Sloth", "Chill", "Standard", and Mad Max). Only the "Sloth" profile dr... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2025
I love my vehicle and its technology. However after installation of the latest (FSD V14) update, I observed issues I believe pose a risk to the safe operation of the vehicle. I have made dozens of reports for 30+ days to Tesla for these issues. 1. Driving Profiles and Speed The update features multiple driving profiles (e.g., "Sloth", "Chill", "Standard", and Mad Max). Only the "Sloth" profile dr... Read more
Incident date: Oct 31, 2025
The 5.3 engine in the 2015 Chevy Silverado had lifter failure. The engine needed to be repaired and taken out of the truck. The engine needed a full repair of the lifters, camshaft, gaskets, etc. Which ended in a costly repair.
Incident date: Oct 30, 2025
The car started to have issues shifting when driving- automatic transmission. It would jolt or shudder to try to shift. I was at a light intersection attempting to turn left to go on the on ramp of a highway, it attempted to shift as I sped up from a stop and it got stuck and started making a sound as if you were to press the brake and gas at the same time, similar to that, a car was coming in my ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 30, 2025
The car started to have issues shifting when driving- automatic transmission. It would jolt or shudder to try to shift. I was at a light intersection attempting to turn left to go on the on ramp of a highway, it attempted to shift as I sped up from a stop and it got stuck and started making a sound as if you were to press the brake and gas at the same time, similar to that, a car was coming in my ... Read more
Incident date: May 15, 2018
I am submitting this formal complaint regarding a potential recall failure involving a 2005 Mazda Tribute driven by my fiancé, [XXX], who died following a crash on [XXX]. Mazda has opened Case #[XXX] in response to my inquiry, and I am requesting federal oversight of this investigation. Joey’s vehicle may have been affected by NHTSA Recall 12V357000, which addresses throttle body malfunction an... Read more
Crash
4 injured
1 deaths
Incident date: May 15, 2018
The transmission failed prematurely without warning. We were without power to move onto the shoulder of a 2 lane road.
Incident date: May 15, 2018
Driving on interstate, a flex pipe (part of the exhaust) fell off at the forward end, Dragging the ground and damaging the catalytic converter and rear exhaust pipe. This was repaired by the dealership, but the flex pipe was not covered under the extended Warranty program. The vehicle had just over 50,000 miles on the odometer.
Incident date: Oct 30, 2025
The following problem happened 3 times. I was making a right hand turn with plenty of clearance when the car seized. Engine shut down, lights on dash said MALFUNCTION and many other lights lit. Oncoming traffic approached and nearly smashed into my car. This also happened making a left turn at a traffic light after a stop at a red light. The other incident was in bumper to bumper traffic in a... Read more
Incident date: Oct 30, 2025
The following problem happened 3 times. I was making a right hand turn with plenty of clearance when the car seized. Engine shut down, lights on dash said MALFUNCTION and many other lights lit. Oncoming traffic approached and nearly smashed into my car. This also happened making a left turn at a traffic light after a stop at a red light. The other incident was in bumper to bumper traffic in a... Read more
Incident date: Oct 30, 2025
Severe vibration starting at approximately 50MPH and gets worse at higher speeds.
Incident date: Oct 21, 2025
Only a few weeks after purchasing my brand new vehicle, the airbag warning light appeared. When I brought it in February, I was told a part was on backorder for about 4-6 weeks and, quite concerningly, advised to “not hit anything” in the meantime. At that point, I was not made aware that this meant the airbag system was disabled and that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. For months — and th... Read more
Incident date: Oct 21, 2025
The brake booster fail and I'm at like 140k. It was very scary when it happen to me today. I press on the brake think it would brake like normal but no. It kept sliding. I felt like I was going to crash. I don't have any paper report on it yet but they are certain it's the brake booster.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while reversing, the back-over prevention camera malfunctioned, and there was no image of the rear of the vehicle displayed. The contact stated that the display screen only displayed lines. The contact stated that the failure caused a visibility hazard for the driver. The vehicle was examined by an independent mechanic who determined ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
See attached document for complaint. On [XXX], I purchased a certified pre-owned 2021 GMC Yukon Denali for $85,481.76. Since then, I've had multiple service appointments prompted by dashboard alerts, OnStar reports, and noticeable engine hesitation and knocking noises while driving. The attached invoices reflect services I paid for based on dealership recommendations to address these issues. Unfo... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 GMC Yukon XL. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V274000 (Engine and Engine Cooling), and the vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the recall inspection test was performed, and the contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The contact stated that the dealer had initially ordered the wrong engine. The dealer then ordered the cor... Read more
Incident date: Sep 6, 2025
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that due to sunlight exposure, the outer layer of the dashboard peeled off and continued to expand near the location of the air bags. The contact was concerned that the defect might cause an air bag deployment malfunction in the event of a crash. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, and the contact was informed that the entire dashboa... Read more
Incident date: Aug 4, 2025
Known issue with flex plate: rattle noise that gets progressively worse over time and especially when in colder weather, the cold start & when idling causes the rattle noise to be worse, over the past two years the rattle noise is still there but now with some vibration as well. In 2023, took in to ford dealership & told rattle noise was normal & not significant enough to replace (mentioned the Fo... Read more
Incident date: Aug 4, 2025
Traction control.Abs and brake warning lights all came on.
Incident date: Jul 17, 2025
I have experienced brake failure twice while driving my 2023 Chevrolet Colorado. When the failure occurs, the dashboard displays multiple warnings, including “Service Traction Control,” “Service Power Steering Drive With Care,” and “No Assist Soon.” When these messages appear, the steering becomes extremely stiff, the brakes lose stopping power, and the vehicle becomes very difficult t... Read more
Incident date: Oct 30, 2025
The vehicle camera is not working it’s blacking out I can’t see when I’m attempting to park
Incident date: Oct 30, 2025
The vehicle camera is not working it’s blacking out I can’t see when I’m attempting to park
Incident date: Jan 1, 2025
CRITICAL ELECTRICAL FAILURE - HIGHWAY SAFETY HAZARD 10/23/2025: While driving 2025 Outback (11K miles) at highway speed on I-485 Charlotte, complete electrical system failure occurred without warning. ALL dashboard lights illuminated, COMPLETE LOSS of power steering (steering extremely heavy/difficult to control), all safety systems failed (ABS, brake sensors, traction control). SAFETY DANGER: S... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2024
ABS, BRAKE, TRACTION CONTROL & YIELD LIGHTS ARE ON AND BEEPING SOUND. ALSO BRAKE PEDAL IS HARD!!!!!
Incident date: May 30, 2024
ABS, BRAKE, TRACTION CONTROL & YIELD LIGHTS ARE ON AND BEEPING SOUND. ALSO BRAKE PEDAL IS HARD!!!!!
Incident date: Oct 28, 2025
The engine had catastrophic failure McCluskey Chevrolet Kings Auto Mall said it needs an engine replacement that has a blown engine. There is currently a recall on this particular 6.2 l87 engine from 2019 to 2024 but my vehicle for some reason isn't included but it's got the same problems as all the other ones
Incident date: Dec 31, 1969
I was slowly entering a handicapped parking place right in front of a business. The distance from the front of the parking space to the building wall was about 15 feet, one car length. I approached the place to stop in the parking spot when in a split second the car violently surged forward and would have crashed into the cinderblock wall had there not been a supporting post on the building and a... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Dec 31, 1969
My car said to me this not that there is something wrong with the Service Safety Restraint system! It was fine last night when I got home! I just bought this car a month ago and everything was fine and now my air bag light is on and will not go off!
Incident date: Oct 18, 2025
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V695000 (Back Over Prevention) and would like to be removed from the recall distribution list. The local dealer and manufacturer were contacted.
Incident date: Oct 18, 2025
The contact owns a 2024 Chevrolet Equinox equipped with Continental Tires, Tire Line: Crosscontact RX, Tire Size: 275/40/R21, DOT Number: IVY03HFMJ0224. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact briefly felt violent vibrations coming from the vehicle before the vehicle suddenly veered sharply to the right, slightly leaving the roadway, resulting in damage to the pa... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2025
VIN: [XXX] 2022 Tesla Model S Delivery: 10/27/2025 Passenger seatbelt was cut/frayed — FMVSS 209 + 208 violation. Tesla replaced belt but **ignored 8 other defects** (paint, body, sand, maintenance). Closed ticket early, **refused FSD goodwill**. Car still unsafe — **airbag system not recalibrated**. Loaner required. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FO... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 GMC Sierra 1500. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. No warning lights were illuminated. Additionally, the RPM increased quickly. The contact stated that the failure occurred while driving on a busy highway. The contact drove the vehicle across a four-lane ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2025
1- I purchased a 2017 Hyundai from CarMax in Edison, NJ 2- Within one month the car broke down, choking and not being able to go highway speeds 3- Brought it to Goodyear, (CarMax’s repair provider for their warranty). They replaced the ignition coils, engine modules-coils, performed a GDI/PFI 2-step fuel system cleaning, (known as Top Engine Cleaning. They replaced the spark plugs and the en... Read more
Incident date: Jul 1, 2025
This is a recurring and random issues: 1. The "Stereo" shuts off and will take anywhere from a minute to 10 minutes to come back on. The issue is: a. This cuts out the use of hands free operation. b. It stops all use of GPS c.I can no longer use my cell phone to call in an emergency 2. The backup camera (which is the "Stereo") goes blank or dark on occasion. Cannot see to the camera for backing up... Read more
Incident date: Oct 21, 2025
Was driving at 10 MPH on highway car began to cut out run rough and produce an extremely pungent smell of gasoline.. then stalled.. vehicle serviced and low pressure fuel injector had a leak causing fuel to spill onto the vehicles starter causing it to fail as well.. both were replaced under warranty by dealer. Highly concerned about fuel leaking from injector system onto a hot engine and electri... Read more
Incident date: Oct 27, 2024
Battery drain happens and vehicle Will be hard to start or not start at all. New battery was installed and 4 months later, same issue. It has been taken into dealership multiple times and they can never recreate the issue and have found nothing wrong with the vehicle to repair. This has caused wife and kids to be stranded because vehicle won’t start. No warning lights, nothing that the dea... Read more
Incident date: Oct 26, 2025
Subject: Electrical System Failure and Safety Hazard – 2025 Mercedes-Benz E350 Dear Sirs, I am writing to formally report a serious safety concern and design flaw involving my 2025 Mercedes-Benz E350, which recently suffered a complete dashboard and display failure. According to the service technician, liquid that entered from the cup-holder area reached wiring and computer modules located di... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2025
There is a common and very dangerous electrical wire routing problem on my vehicle, along with 3 dozen others and my dads (separate but same truck) i confirmed with (FB group for owners of 17-19 L5P GMC diesel trucks) where the alternator positive wire from the alternator to the battery is run right along and across a rather sharp part of molding from the air intake tube. This routing location and... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2025
The vehicle is a 2019 Jeep Cherokee with approximately 70,000 miles on it. Check 4WD light came on. Took it to a Jeep dealer who said that it is a problem with the rear differential and would cost $6,000 to repair. Vehicle's VIN is not included in the PTU recall which has affected other 2017-2019 Jeep Cherokees.
Incident date: Sep 4, 2025
See attached document for complaint.
Incident date: Sep 4, 2025
The contact owns a 2016 BMW X6. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the steering wheel failed to function as intended. The vehicle was parked inside the garage, and the contact was unable to turn to the right or the left. The message "Power Steering Lock" was displayed on the instrument panel. The contact stated that a mobile mechanic inspected the vehicle and used a personal OBD sc... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2025
RE: Continental Pro Contact GX SSR MOE 245/40 R19 98 H M+S Original factory installed Mercedes E450 tires. I had 3 blowouts from hitting small potholes on 3 different tires in 1.5 years. These are complete immediate blowout going completely flat on impact. It could have very dangerous if I were driving a little faster and fortunately there was no other damage to the car or other persons.... Read more
Incident date: Oct 28, 2025
RE: Continental Pro Contact GX SSR MOE 245/40 R19 98 H M+S Original factory installed Mercedes E450 tires. I had 3 blowouts from hitting small potholes on 3 different tires in 1.5 years. These are complete immediate blowout going completely flat on impact. It could have very dangerous if I were driving a little faster and fortunately there was no other damage to the car or other persons. ... Read more