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 34,453 complaints for SUBARU
Incident date: Dec 10, 2024
The WUM-98 recall fix did not address the problem with the front passenger occupancy detection system. We, and many other Subaru Forester owners are continuing to experience problems post recall repair with the SRS Airbag light on, indicating error code B1760 "Occupant Detection Sensor Mat" failure. Subaru is not covering the cost of addressing this problem, and the entire seat frame and bottom ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 10, 2024
The flywheel teeth broke off and became jammed in the starter, which apparently caused a short to the fuse block. The dealership hasn’t commented on exactly what the root cause was though for why that may have happened. I don’t have the original part(s) but the dealer might. I was in the car at the time with my entire family. We were in the middle of driving everyone home from school. The po... Read more
Incident date: Dec 10, 2024
small chip / crack in windshield on driver side view
Incident date: Dec 7, 2024
Coolant leak, steering power fluid leak, break pad leak, gasoline line leak, seat heater, clicking noise after turning off car, leaking seats and rear view mirror also leaking, steering wheel expanding due to possible air bag, heater and ac vents lose and also chemical smell/gas/coolant coming from front and back of car, sunroof not secured. Every wiring wet, charger port in middle compartment wet... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Dec 29, 2024
The transmission failed. It is not able to be inspected unless retrieved by the dealer. While driving the vehicle the transmission would disengage. There were no warning lights or failures picked up by the CAN bus. This would happen during normal driving on the highway, potentially leaving the vehicle stranded in the middle of the highway. When issue occurred the transmission would make a whining... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2022
I took my car to the dealership because it was idling rough and then would stall out with the battery light on. In addition, it would not come out of park. Upon turning it off and back on, it would shake and run rough, before stalling out. After that, it started up and drove fine. The dealership was unable to duplicate this issue, there were no lights and no codes. The vehicle was driven with... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2024
The rear wheels lock and most of the time its hard shifting/ or it feels like it struggling to shift to the next gear
Incident date: Aug 23, 2024
My 2021 Kia seltos has a flashing engine light and when put on a code reader it indicates a misfire/ piston. This has been going for two weeks . My engine is a 2.0 and the recall for this vehicle has the same incident as mine. The engine keeps shutting off
Incident date: Aug 23, 2024
Coolant leak, steering power fluid leak, break pad leak, gasoline line leak, seat heater, clicking noise after turning off car, leaking seats and rear view mirror also leaking, steering wheel expanding due to possible air bag, heater and ac vents lose and also chemical smell/gas/coolant coming from front and back of car, sunroof not secured. Every wiring wet, charger port in middle compartment wet... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Dec 1, 2024
The transmission has completely gone out. On this car model, there isn't a dip stick for the owner to check transmission fluid levels. While pulling out of a parking space the car hesitated on going into first gear and then jerked really hard before continuing to move. While still in the parking lot of a retail store, the car continued to hesitate between gears and then a low coolant message appea... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2012 Mercedes-Benz C250. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the anti-lock theft prevention feature failed to function as intended. The contact stated that the steering wheel was seized, and the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The contact was informed by the tow truck driver that the failure was due to the electronic lockout system. ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Honda Accord. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V763000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); 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 dealer was contacted and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was not made... Read more
Incident date: Dec 27, 2024
The screen in most 2018-present jeep compasses are defective. My car just fell out of the warranty time frame and shortly after the screen failed resulting in no alerts via the back up camera. The camera helps alert you to things you can not see in your blind spots behind the vehicle resulting in a serious safety issue for pedestrians/ small children etc outside of the vehicle and also poses a thr... Read more
Incident date: Dec 27, 2024
Hello, I am writing to bring attention to a vital public safety issue regarding the Lexus recall policy eligibility of 21LE01, concerning brake system issues. The current policy deems vehicles eligible for recall based on a set criterion: the vehicle must be under 10 years of age or under 150,000 miles, whichever comes first. The term “whichever comes first” disregards the importance of “m... Read more
Incident date: Dec 27, 2024
[XXX], driving home, dark at [XXX] in Airway Heights WA. About 10 mins to home, lights in dashboard suddenly lit (brake, check engine, battery icon, water temp icon, 2 yellow colored pictures that had the word “off”, park, ABS, exclamation point next to a circle that had a symbol in circle like a Mercedes Benz, and another symbol colored yellow). I kept driving with very little power in the ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 23, 2024
The sun visors break off and fall down, obscuring view of the road ahead. This happened on both sides after two years of ownership, was replaced under warranty, then broke apart two years later out of warranty. The dealership demands hundreds of dollars to fix PER visor. For the exorbitant price for a part that shouldn’t even wear out like that (or that quickly), the only alternative is to buy t... Read more
Incident date: Dec 28, 2024
When my car suddenly stopped on the highway, I encountered an issue with the “body control module.” The car wouldn’t start, and the key fob was ineffective. Additionally, the airbags stopped working. I don’t recall all the details, but I was unsure of where to report the dangerous vehicle. I’ve noticed several other Hyundai owners complaining about this issue, where their cars suddenly s... Read more
Incident date: Nov 4, 2024
Truck has a random death wabble and differnt speeds. I've taken the truck to three differnt ford dealers multiple times and they alll can't find any worn parts, the dealers all with say ford knows there is a saftey issue with the trucks but don't have a real fix for the issue. several other ford owners have the same issues
Incident date: Nov 4, 2024
Truck has a random death wabble and differnt speeds. I've taken the truck to three differnt ford dealers multiple times and they alll can't find any worn parts, the dealers all with say ford knows there is a saftey issue with the trucks but don't have a real fix for the issue. several other ford owners have the same issues
Incident date: Nov 21, 2024
No warning lights presenting on dash board, my car started making a noise around 100k (almost like something was rubbing against the tire, think playing card in a bicycle spoke) and I thought maybe it was my loose splash guard causing it. No physical issues (gears up/down fine, no vibrations, no shimmy, no play in the steering). Took it to Dav Cava toyota dealership and was told i needed to replac... Read more
Incident date: Nov 21, 2024
No warning lights presenting on dash board, my car started making a noise around 100k (almost like something was rubbing against the tire, think playing card in a bicycle spoke) and I thought maybe it was my loose splash guard causing it. No physical issues (gears up/down fine, no vibrations, no shimmy, no play in the steering). Took it to Dav Cava toyota dealership and was told i needed to replac... Read more
Incident date: Apr 27, 2020
I am the original owner of this 2021 F250, (by my notes, dates & miles may differ slightly by Ford/Dealer records) I first noticed Death-Wobble around [XXX] @ 3,040 miles & Ron Alpen Ford checked factory alignment & ordered an updated steering stabilizer. Updated steering stabilizer was on back order until around 8/8/23 @ 26,647 miles when it was installed on the F250. As you can see, over two thi... Read more
Incident date: Dec 18, 2024
The instrument cluster stopped working while driving. The panel is now black with no vehicle information displayed. The vehicle matches the description for a recall that has already been issued, but this VIN was not included in the recall. The current recall should be expanded to include this VIN #.
Incident date: Dec 26, 2024
There was a recall on some Hyundai engines from 2011-2012. I have been told by Hyundai that my vehicle was not included in the recall as it is a 2013. It is the same engine and has malfunctioned in one of the cylinders rendering the car inoperable because of that engine malfunction. The car has had routine maintenance and is at 100k miles.
Incident date: Dec 26, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (STRUCTURER); 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 not made aware of the issue. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact had not experience... Read more
Incident date: Dec 26, 2024
On the morning of 12/26/24 - I stepped inside my 2023 Subaru Crosstrek and turned on the engine. The vehicle was parked in a commuter parking lot near my home to begin with. When I turned on the vehicle - I noticed a loud roaring sound when the engine turned on which i thought was very strange. Additionally I did NOT have my foot on the gas pedal at all during this time. I proceeded to place t... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 21, 2024
Vehicle experienced transmission shifting issue after having driven for a period of 15 - 20 minutes, with engine oil temp reaching above 103/105 degrees C, transmission won't shift into Drive. Automatically pops into Neutral. Other times engine will stall, required complete restart. This creates hazard for operator and cars following behind as driver needed to steer vehicle out of the way of tra... Read more
SUBARU
XV CROSSTREK
(2013) — ENGINE
Dec 23, 2024
Incident date: Dec 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Cadillac XT6. The contact stated while driving at 35 MPH, the vehicle lost power. The vehicle was restarted from the Cadillac App via phone. The contact stated that during the second failure " The steering assist is reduced drive with care" warning message and the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact stated she called On-Star where she was informed the tire ... Read more
SUBARU
XV CROSSTREK
(2013) — POWER TRAIN
Dec 23, 2024
Incident date: Dec 16, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Cadillac XT6. The contact stated while driving at 35 MPH, the vehicle lost power. The vehicle was restarted from the Cadillac App via phone. The contact stated that during the second failure " The steering assist is reduced drive with care" warning message and the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact stated she called On-Star where she was informed the tire ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 19, 2024
The locking mechanism inside the driver’s side door was not always working…it would sometimes lock and Not Unlock and other times just Not Lock. We could sometimes hear the mechanism trying to work, but not. Seemed to happen more on cold weather days. My husband has had to “crawl out” of the passenger side door when he could not get the lock to unlock, nor able to pull it up. He’s a big ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2018
The auxiliary transmission fuel pump system is prone to failure. This makes it so the start/stop feature will not work, as the vehicle will stall when stopped (causing an unsafe situation), and it cannot pass state inspection. The part is entirely unavailable from Chevy, and results in the vehicle being scrapped. There is no way to permanently bypass this system.
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
The srs light came on won't go off says there is a air bag problem please let me know if covered please I am handicapeted
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
While driving on major (multi-lane) city street (40 mph) the vehicle began to slow, steering became difficult and a single amber caution for the traction control was illuminated. Tachometer indicated 0 RPM. After pulling over, the vehicle was restarted and driven without further issue. Recall on the ignition switch was addressed in 2009. Unexpected engine shutdown could have significantly reduced... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
Car braked suddenly and violently while driving slowly (5-10 MPH) in traffic. Foot was on the gas pressing lightly - not on the brake. Braking occurred independently with such force that I thought I had been hit by another vehicle going 30-40 MPH. Hyman Bros. Subaru has not yet returned my calls regarding this incident.
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
I came to a stop at a red light. The auto stop/start was active so the engine stopped. When the light turned green, I lifted off the brake and the truck started back up as usual. Once I got into the middle of the intersection, the truck stalled out and the parking brake set and skidded to a stop. I restarted the truck and released the parking brake. I made it 10 more feet and the truck stalled a ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
While driving, the power steering disengaged and made the vehicle difficult to steer. The power steering warning light illuminated in the dash and the vehicle went into safety mode. After letting the vehicle remain shut down, the error code rectified itself and the power steering warning disappeared. Vehicle was serviced by the dealership and a power steering module update was performed. The rack ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
To start of with the steering seems to loosen up while driving, it's hard to explain but while driving the vehicle it is very noticable that the car is jurking side to side , if your used to a certain pressure put on the steering wheel to turn or keep in a constant turn(like a long turn or steady turn on a long bend in a road , the steering loosens to the point that the pressure you are holding th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
APIM is not fuctional. Rear camera does not work, display does not work, stereo does not work. Resetting the system does not work. Fuses are all good, and electrical connections confirmed good. APIM issues have been an issue with this year of Ford.
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
Whenever the vehicle's windshield washer is used the smell of the fluid enters the vehicle. This is particularly acute when the HVAC system is used at the same time. Since the label on the washer fluid container says the fluid is poisonous and the vapors are harmful and cannot be made nonpoisonous, I feel I should report this. I have had 4 GMC representatives confirm this is indeed happening. One ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
2023 model X is NOT equiped with a center steering wheel horn, instead a small button on the right of steering wheel which is nowhere to be found when you need in an emergency, i almost got in to 3 accidents for lack of horn. Tesla must replace these for traditional horn button
Incident date: Dec 10, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Honda HR-V. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle the message "Air Bag Malfunction" was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, but the cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 55,000.
Incident date: Jul 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 Vinfast VF8. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the Lane Assist feature constantly jerked the vehicle back to the center of the lane. The contact stated that the safety feature was very sensitive and was active upon the slightest drift. The contact was able to manually turn off the feature upon start of the vehicle; however, the contact stated that the... Read more
Incident date: Dec 19, 2024
Every time I tow my travel trailer within 150 miles or so I will get a message that the Diesel Exhaust fluid (DEF)is low and needs to be filled soon. Within 50 miles of that happening I will get the message that the DEF is low and will be speed limited in 500 miles. When I stop and fill the DEF fluid it only takes about 2.5 gallons which isn't even halfway empty. When the Speed Limited to 65 in xx... Read more
Incident date: Oct 19, 2024
Brake Booster Failure. $947.45 to repair out of pocket expense. Thank God I was not injured or killed, nor was anyone else, or property damaged, as I was able to avoid a collision. There is a class action lawsuit over this defective Ford part.
Incident date: Jan 24, 2024
Last week, I noticed fuel leaking out from the bottom of my vehicle on the rear passenger side in my driveway after returning home. I had my vehicle towed into a local shop to get looked at. The shop informed me that my entire fuel line assembly needed to be replaced. They stated that the metal assembly has rusted and corroded over time. At the time of this writing, my vehicle is still in the shop... Read more
Incident date: Nov 15, 2023
I bought new 2025 Honda CR-V Hybrid from Germain Honda of Dublin, OH on [XXX]. It's supposed to get Highway *MPG:34 [3], / City MPG: 40 [3] *EPA ESTIMATED. I got up to 37 to 39 mpg in the city for the few months. Since last 2 1/2-month milage start reducing every day. Now it reaches to 28.3 MPG When I Travelled from Chicago, IL to Powell, OH on [XXX] I only got 29 to 30 MPG. Now in the city, I... Read more
Incident date: Nov 1, 2024
Airbag light on/ flashing. Shop says "passenger side seat belt retractor assembly" needs replaced. I switched it with a known working part, didn't fix the issue. Upon further research I found that it is a known issue. Source: [XXX] April 1, 2011 MANUFACTURER COMMUNICATION NUMBER: SIS-21841 Components: AIR BAGS, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM NHTSA ID Number: 10038965 Manufacturer Communication Number: SIS-218... Read more
Incident date: Dec 15, 2024
My transmission failed although it was scanned a few weeks earlier indicating no issues with the transmission. I was lucky that the car failed once I stopped and wouldn't shift back into gear however it could have failed while driving. The car was driving fine and was slightly slow to engage, but I believe that was due to the fuel pump recall, which I could not have fixed because of a shortage of ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 15, 2024
My transmission failed although it was scanned a few weeks earlier indicating no issues with the transmission. I was lucky that the car failed once I stopped and wouldn't shift back into gear however it could have failed while driving. The car was driving fine and was slightly slow to engage, but I believe that was due to the fuel pump recall, which I could not have fixed because of a shortage of ... Read more