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 2,835 complaints for SCION
Incident date: May 28, 2005
ON MAY 28, 2005, WHILE DRIVING MY 2004 TOYOTA PRIUS, SEVERAL WARNING LIGHTS APPEARED ON THE DASHBOARD, AND MY WIFE AND I DECIDED TO TAKE IT TO A DEALER (TOYOTA OF DALLAS) IMMEDIATELY. BEFORE WE WENT MUCH DISTANCE, THE ENGINE STALLED AND WOULD NOT RE-START. WE CALLED THE DEALER, WHO WE ASKED TO SEND A WRECKER. THIS WAS DONE, AND THE CAR WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER. THE FOLLOWING APPEARS ON THE DEAL... Read more
Incident date: May 19, 2005
WHILE DRIVING MY 2005 SCION TC I HEARD A LOUD POP AND THE BACK MOON ROOF HAD CRACKED. IT WAS THE SAME TYPE OF NOISE I HEARD WHEN MY FRONT DEFLECTOR SHATTERED. THE MOON ROOF DID NOT CAVE IN WHEN IT FIRST HAPPENED IT WAS JUST SPIDER WEB CRACKED THROUGHOUT. BUT ON THE WAY TO THE DEALERSHIP PART OF THE MIDDLE ENDED UP CAVING IN. THE DEALERSHIP SAID BECAUSE THE GLASS WAS ANGLED UP IT WAS LIKE SOMET... Read more
Incident date: Apr 18, 2005
MY CAR IS A 2004 PRIUS PURCHASED AUGUST 2004. ON APRIL 18, I HAD BEEN DRIVING FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES, THEN STOPPED AT A STOP SIGN. UPON RESUMING DRIVING, A WARNING LIGHT (TRIANGLE/EXCLAMATION MARK) AND THE HYBRID SYSTEM WARNING LIGHT (EXCLAMATION MARK OVER A CAR) CAME ON. THERE WAS NO WARNING SOUND. INITIALLY, THE CAR STILL RAN, SO I CONTINUED AT LOW SPEED (<30MPH) AND HAD MY PASSENGER LOOK UP WH... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2005
DT: CONSUMER STATES: HEAD REST IS TOO BIG AND THE BACK WINDSHIELD IS TOO SMALL. WHEN CHANGING LANES OR LOOKING TO BACK OUT THE LITTLE SPOT IN THE MIDDLE ONE CAN SEE THROUGH. ITS REALLY A PROBLEM WHEN DRIVING ON THE INTERSTATE. *AK
Incident date: Feb 1, 2005
DT: CONSUMER STATES: HEAD REST IS TOO BIG AND THE BACK WINDSHIELD IS TOO SMALL. WHEN CHANGING LANES OR LOOKING TO BACK OUT THE LITTLE SPOT IN THE MIDDLE ONE CAN SEE THROUGH. ITS REALLY A PROBLEM WHEN DRIVING ON THE INTERSTATE. *AK
Incident date: May 27, 2005
DT: THE BRAKE SYSTEM (NOT ABS) FAILED. SHE WAS NOT GETTING A WARNING SIGN WHEN THE BRAKES WERE GOING BAD. DEALERSHIP AND THE MANUFACTURER SAID THAT IT WAS NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR. THE BRAKES WENT OUT AT 12,000 MILES. *AK
Incident date: May 26, 2005
ROCK CHIPS, RUSTING SPOTS, ONLY HAD THE VEHICLE FOR 5 MONTHS.
SCION
XA
(2004) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL:CATALYTIC CONVERTOR
May 26, 2005
Incident date: Feb 1, 2004
DT: CONSUMER STATES: THE CAR SMELLS LIKE SULFUR DIOXIDE COMING IN THE CAR THROUGH VENTS AND COMES CATALYTIC CONVERTER. DEALER TRIED TO FIXED IT. THOUGHT IT WAS ORIGINALLY FROM BUSES IN THE CITY. *AK
Incident date: Feb 15, 2005
DT: WHILE DRIVING AT 60 MPH THE CAR DECREASED IN SPEED TO ABOUT 20 MPH. CALLED THE DEALER, AND DEALER URGED CONSUMER TO TURN THE CAR OFF AND RESTART IT. DID THAT, BUT ALL INDICATOR LIGHTS STAYED ON. THE CAR DROVE NORMAL FROM THAT POINT. TOOK THE CAR BACK TO THE DEALER, AND THEY REPAIRED THIS PROBLEM. *AK
Incident date: Oct 17, 2004
INSIDE REARVIEW MIRROR INTRUDES ON MY LINE OF SIGHT THROUGH THE FRONT WINDSHIELD, BLOCKING VIEW OF CARS AND PEDESTRIANS APPROACHING AT THAT ANGLE OF SIGHT.
Incident date: Dec 11, 2003
OUR 2004 PRIUS ON FOUR SEPARATE OCCASIONS HAD A COMPLETE ENGINE SHUTDOWN WITH LOTS OF INDICATOR LIGHTS LIT ON THE DASHBOARD. THIS HAPPENED TWICE WHILE WE WERE TRAVELING ON INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS IN TRAFFIC AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, ONCE IN A TOYOTA DEALERSHIP WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS BEING SERVICED, AND ONCE AS WE PULLED INTO A TOYOTO DEALERSHIP FOR SERVICE. WE WERE NOT AWARE WE COULD SEND A COMPLAINT TO NH... Read more
Incident date: Apr 27, 2005
WHILE DRIVING 65 MPH A SMALL PEBBLE HIT THE WINDSHIELD AND CAUSED IT TO SHATTER. *NM
Incident date: May 1, 2005
IN STOP & GO BUMPER-TO-BUMPER TRAFFIC, MY CLIENT TOOK HER FOOT OFF OF THE BRAKE OF 2005 TOYOTA SCION XA, AND CAR ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN. AFTER CRASH, CLIENT COULD NOT SHIFT CAR FROM DRIVE INTO PARK POSITION.
Crash
Incident date: May 1, 2005
IN STOP & GO BUMPER-TO-BUMPER TRAFFIC, MY CLIENT TOOK HER FOOT OFF OF THE BRAKE OF 2005 TOYOTA SCION XA, AND CAR ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN. AFTER CRASH, CLIENT COULD NOT SHIFT CAR FROM DRIVE INTO PARK POSITION.
Crash
Incident date: Apr 30, 2005
WHEN THE CONSUMER ATTEMPTED TO APPLY THE BRAKES, THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO ACCELERATE WHICH RESULTED IN AN ACCIDENT.*JB THE CONSUMER STATES THAT PREVIOUS TIMES WHEN APPLYING THE BRAKES THEY SEEM A LITTLE SLOW AND OCCASIONALLY HEARD AN UNUSUALLY THUMP NOISE. THE CONSUMER NEVER THOUGHT ANYTHING ABOUT SOMETHING BEING WRONG WITH THE BRAKES BECAUSE IT IS A BRAND NEW CAR.*SB
Crash
Incident date: Apr 10, 2005
DRIVING AT MODERATE SPEED WITH THE WINDOWS DOWN MAKES VERY LOUD, LOW-PITCH NOISES INSIDE THE CAB THAT ARE SOMEWHAT PAINFUL TO THE EARS AND HEAD. SOMETIMES IT'S WHEN THEY ARE ALL FULLY OPEN OR AT DIFFERENT LEVELS WITH DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OPEN OFF THE FOUR. IT'S VERY HARD TO HAVE THE WINDOWS DOWN COMFORTABLY AND NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS ISSUE. *AK
Incident date: Apr 15, 2005
WHILE DRIVING WITH THE SUN ROOF OPEN, THE FRONT DEFLECTOR OF THE ASSEMBLY SHATTERED, SPRAYING PIECES OF BROKEN GLASS INTO THE PASSENGER COMPARTMENT, CAUSING ME TO LOSE CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE AS I WAS HIT IN THE FACE AND HEAD BY GLASS. I WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE CAR AS A PIECE OF GLASS HIT MY SUNGLASS LENS, SAVING ME FROM A POSSIBLE EYE INJURY. THE INTERIOR OF THE CAR WAS LITTERED WITH... Read more
Incident date: Apr 13, 2005
THE VEHICLE STARTED SHAKING UNCONTROLLABLY AND A LOUD KNOCKING NOISE HAD COME FROM THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE. THE DRIVER WAS ABLE TO CONTROL THE VEHICLE, AND TOOK IT TO THE DEALER. HOWEVER, THE MECHANIC MAINTAINED THAT THE PROBLEM COULD NOT BE DUPLICATED. *AK THE VEHICLE WOULD KNOCK AND SHAKE AFTER BEING STARTED. WHEN DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY, THE VEHICLE WOULD RATTLE AND FELT AS IF THE VEHICL... Read more
Incident date: Apr 13, 2005
THE VEHICLE STARTED SHAKING UNCONTROLLABLY AND A LOUD KNOCKING NOISE HAD COME FROM THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE. THE DRIVER WAS ABLE TO CONTROL THE VEHICLE, AND TOOK IT TO THE DEALER. HOWEVER, THE MECHANIC MAINTAINED THAT THE PROBLEM COULD NOT BE DUPLICATED. *AK THE VEHICLE WOULD KNOCK AND SHAKE AFTER BEING STARTED. WHEN DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY, THE VEHICLE WOULD RATTLE AND FELT AS IF THE VEHICL... Read more
Incident date: Feb 5, 2005
2005 TOYOTA SCION WAS INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT AND THE AIR BAGS FAILED TO DEPLOY.*MR THE DRIVER AND PASSENGER WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED. *JB
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Feb 14, 2005
WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED VEHICLE PULLED TO THE RIGHT. DEALER HAD NO SOLUTION FOR THE PROBLEM AT THIS TIME. *AK
Incident date: Mar 4, 2005
WHILE DRIVING WITH THE SUN ROOF OPEN THE GLASS DEFLECTOR BROKE COVERING THE CONSUMER IN GLASS. THE CONSUMER WAS TRAVELING AT 55 MPH. *JB THE GLASS DIDN'T APPEAR TO BE SAFETY GLASS BECAUSE IT BROKE INTO LARGE SHARP PIECES. THE CONSUMER'S EYE WAS SCRATCHED BY A PIECE OF GLASS. CONSUMER WANT THE MANUFACTURER TO INVESTIGATE THIS PROBLEM AND CHANGE THE WAY THIS REFLECTOR IS CONSTRUCTED FOR THE SA... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Jan 14, 2005
AFTER JUST FOUR MONTHS THE PAINT IS CHIPPING, FLAKING, SCRATCHING REALLY BAD. *NM
Incident date: Jan 6, 2005
I PURCHASED MY CAR AT THE END OF NOV IN 04, ABOUT A WEEK AFTER I NOTICED A TON OF SCRATCHES ON MY VEHICLE. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER AND HAD THE GM LOOK AT IT, NO HELP. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT AND THEY SAID THEY WOULD LOOK AT IT. STILL HAS NOT BEEN LOOKED AT AND IT IS NOW JAN OF 05. MY CAR HAS OVER 500 SMALL SCRATCHES AND THE CLEAR COAT IS BUBBLING OFF THE PAINT. I HAVE DONE A LOT OF RESEARCH AND FOUN... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2004
I BOUGHT A 2005 SCION XA ON NOVEMBER 15, 2004. ON DECEMBER 20, 2004 THE DRIVER SIDE FRONT TIRE BLEW OUT, AFTER HITTING A BUMP IN THE ROAD. THE TIRE HAD 3,966 MILES ON IT. THE SIDE WALL BLEW . AS WE MY CHILDREN AND I PROCESSED TO CHANGE THE TIRE. THE JACK SLIDE SIDEWAYS, CAUSING THE CAR TO FALL. IT HURT MY 15 YEAR OLD SONS HAND, IF I HADNT SHOVED MY TIRE UNDER THE BODY OF THE CAR AND SCREAMED AT HI... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Sep 18, 2004
THE REAR WINDOW DOES NOT HAVE A WIPER. WHEN IT RAINS IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE OUT THE REAR WINDOW. I HAVE HAD TO PULL OVER DURING HARD DOWNPOURS BECAUSE VISION BEHIND ME WAS AT 0.*AK
Incident date: Aug 30, 2004
I PURCHASED A SILVER SCION TC IN LATE JULY OF THIS YEAR, 2004. I NOTICED AFTER LESS THAN TWO MONTHS OF DRIVING ON REGULAR SUBURBAN ROADS THAT THERE WERE SEVERAL LARGE CHIPS ON THE FRONT OF MY HOOD. SINCE JULY, MORE AND MORE CHIPS HAVE FORMED AND BEGUN TO PEEL AND GET LARGER. EVEN THE BUMPER HAS CHIPPED BADLY AND THERE ARE SEVERAL CHIPS THAT ACTUALLY STICK OUT OF THE PAINT- AS IF THEY'RE BUBBLIN... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2004
SCION ADMITS THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE COMBINATION OF ACCESSORIES:1) AUTO-DIMMING MIRROR AND 2) SIDE CURTAIN AIR BAGS. WHEN THE MIRROR IS INSTALLED THERE IS A CHANCE THAT THE WIRING OBSTRUCTS THE AIR BAGS. THEY CLAIM A TSB WILL BE ISSUED BUT CAN GIVE ME NO TIME LINE FOR THE ISSUE OF A NEW WIRING HARNESS. DEALERS WILL NOT EVEN PULL THE DRIVER'S "A" PILLAR TRIM TO SEE IF THE WIRING HAPPENS TO BE C... Read more
Incident date: Aug 14, 2004
SCION ADMITS THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE COMBINATION OF ACCESSORIES:1) AUTO-DIMMING MIRROR AND 2) SIDE CURTAIN AIR BAGS. WHEN THE MIRROR IS INSTALLED THERE IS A CHANCE THAT THE WIRING OBSTRUCTS THE AIR BAGS. THEY CLAIM A TSB WILL BE ISSUED BUT CAN GIVE ME NO TIME LINE FOR THE ISSUE OF A NEW WIRING HARNESS. DEALERS WILL NOT EVEN PULL THE DRIVER'S "A" PILLAR TRIM TO SEE IF THE WIRING HAPPENS TO BE C... Read more
Incident date: Oct 24, 2004
TOOK FOOT OFF GAS TO SLOW DOWN WHEN APPROACHING CURVE. RAKED TO SLOW DOWN WHEN ENTERING CURVE AND VEHICLE FAILED TO SLOW...FULLY ENGAGED BRAKE AND VEHICLE FAILED TO STOP AND KEPT ACCELERATING. THIS RESULTED IN THE VEHICLE CRASHING INTO AN EMBANKMENT WHICH CAUSED MAJOR DAMAGE TO THE VEHICLE. THIS IS IS BRAND NEW SCION TC PURCHASED 09/01/04. *AK
Crash
3 injured
Incident date: Oct 16, 2004
I WAS DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY AT APPROX 70 MPH. I HAD THE SUN ROOF OPENED. WHILE DRIVING I HEARD A LOUD CRACK AND GLASS CAME POURING IN FROM THE SUNROOF OPENING. I WENT STRAIGHT TO THE DEALERSHIP BY MY HOUSE. THE FRONT PANEL THAT ANGLES UP WAS BROKEN ALL AROUND THE ENTIRE PIECE OF GLASS. THEY SAID THEY COULD NOT SEE A POINT OF IMPACT WHERE SOMETHING MAY HAVE HIT. HE SAID HE COULD STILL HEAR... Read more
SCION
TC
(2005) - SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:ANTILOCK/TRACTION CONTROL/ELECTRONIC LIMITED SLIP
Aug 24, 2004
Incident date: Aug 17, 2004
ON AUGUST 17 @ ABOUT 4:30 P.M. IN THER AFTERNOON THE WHEELS ON MY SCION TC LOCKED UP GOING ABOUT 35 MPH ON THE HYPERION BRIDGE. I APPLIED THE BRAKES IN ORDER TO SLOW DOWN ON A SLIGHT TURN AT THE END OF THE BRIDGE AND THE REAR OF THE CAR FISHTAILED AND MY REAR RIGHT WHEEL HIT AND SCRAPED THE CURB. NOTHING YET HAS BEEN DONE TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM. I HAVE REPORTED THE INCIDENT TO TOYOTA/SCION. IT ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2004
FRONT END COLLISION WITH NO AIR BAG DEPLOYMENT. 2004 SCION WAS TRAVELING AT APPROXIMATELY 40 MPH AND REAR ENDED A PICK UP TRUCK; DAMAGING THE SCION AND PICK UP TRUCK.THE SCION HAD TWO FEET OF DRIVERS SIDE INTRUSION AND THE PASSENGER SIDE HAD 1-1/2 FEET OF INTRUSION. THE SCION HAD A STAR TO THE WINDSHIELD AND AN INJURED DRIVER, WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF AIRBAG DEPLOYMENT HAPPENED. THE DAMAGE... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 15, 2004
FRONT END COLLISION WITH NO AIR BAG DEPLOYMENT. 2004 SCION WAS TRAVELING AT APPROXIMATELY 40 MPH AND REAR ENDED A PICK UP TRUCK; DAMAGING THE SCION AND PICK UP TRUCK.THE SCION HAD TWO FEET OF DRIVERS SIDE INTRUSION AND THE PASSENGER SIDE HAD 1-1/2 FEET OF INTRUSION. THE SCION HAD A STAR TO THE WINDSHIELD AND AN INJURED DRIVER, WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF AIRBAG DEPLOYMENT HAPPENED. THE DAMAGE... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: May 1, 2004
A YOUNGSTER WEIGHING 140 LBS. LEANED ON THE WINDSHIELD AND IT SHATTERED. IT HAS BEEN 5 DAYS, AND WHEN CONTACTING MANUFACTURER'S HEADQUARTERS, THEY REFUSED TO REPLACE A WINDSHIELD FOR FREE ON THE BASIS THAT THEY COULD NOT CONFIRM IT WAS DEFECTIVE AFTER THE FACT! IT BOTHERS ME TO THINK THAT A 'PERFECTLY GOOD, SAFE' WINDSHIELD CAN BE SHATTERED BY MERELY 'LEANING' ON IT! WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I CRASH? O... Read more