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 35,035 complaints for SUBARU
Incident date: Aug 9, 2024
Issue with DCT transmission. Unknown remedy
Incident date: Jul 30, 2024
Prinx HiCITY HH2 175/65R15 84H Bought this tire in November 2022. About 15000 miles into it, on Aug 6, 2024, the passenger front tire just busted. After swapping with the spare tire, and upon inspection, there was no nail nor it hit the curb, but the side wall is busted. This is a manufacturing quality issue.
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
Driver side headlight Dlr LED running and turn signal went out.
Incident date: Aug 6, 2024
System malfunction regarding the "right side marker light being defective. There was a NHTSA recall campaign #16v642000 that covered some but not all of the Audi Q7 vehicles. The recall should include ALL Q7 vehicles.
Incident date: Aug 6, 2024
My power steering failed suddenly while driving in the middle of a turn. I nearly crashed into a group of people on a sidewalk because the wheel was nearly impossible to turn. I was given no warnings or indicators ahead of time. I now have the "Service Power Steering" light on my dash and it is still very difficult to turn my wheel. A reputable mechanic has inspected the issue and has identified t... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2024
I’m on vacation in Virginia driving on [XXX] driving at 59-60 mph. Truck was in 9th gear, as I was driving truck drops down to 1st gear while in 59 mph. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Incident date: Feb 14, 2024
This car is a 2018 Ford Expedition with the 3.5L eco-boost and 10 speed transmission with 95,000mi. So it started as just some rough shifting from time to time but got worse after driving through some mountains, after about a week the transmission went from rough shifting to actually feeling like going into neutral and then jerk into gear. Our two week trip went from nothing to acting like it can'... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2024
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Aug 7, 2024
The two rear brake rotors were 75% rusted through, this truck only had 5,642 miles on it at the time. Brake pedal was soft, went to the floor to stop. Asked local ford dealer to look at and they wanted to charge me for two rear rotors and brake shoes. I informed them that I thought this would be a factory defect, they determined it wasn’t. This was unexceptable to me. So I took it to dealership ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
The horn stopped working. Upon inspection at the Subaru dealership they confirmed that the steering wheel roll connector had an open circuit. After researching this, I found it can also affect the air bag. When I asked the dealership if the airbag could be effected, they said yes and couldn’t confirm or deny if it would or wouldn’t work. The passenger airbag also stopped working around the sam... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
While driving, my vehicle suddenly jerked and lost significant speed without warning, putting my life at serious risk on the road. When I took it to Toyota, they quoted me over $11,000 to replace the faulty transmission. This issue has been widely reported with Toyota vehicles, yet it remains unresolved. It's alarming to think that someone might have to lose their life before the company takes mea... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
On May 10, 2024 while driving my 2014 GMC Terrain driving at about 65mph my car cut off while driving to the point that the car started slowing down which had med confused as to what was going on but thankfully I was able to safely move over to the side of the of the highway in order to be in safer position to start the car back up. There was no warrant signs that the car had cut off but I had the... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. The contact stated while driving approximately 30-35 MPH and approaching a truck, the brake pedal was depressed and travelled down to the floorboard, causing the vehicle to fail to respond. The contact stated that the truck that was in front of the vehicle made a turn, which prevented the vehicle from crashing into the truck. The contact stated that he was a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact's son owns a 2020 Toyota RAV4. The contact stated that when it rained, rainwater entered the vehicle onto the passenger’s side front door panel. The contact stated that the sound of the water slushing around in the front passenger's door panel was very distracting. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed door trim. The contact was informed that the f... Read more
Incident date: Jul 31, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V510000 (Air Bags, Seat Belts); 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. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experi... Read more
Incident date: Aug 3, 2020
The electrical has been an issue for this vehicle. The head and tail lights continuously go out. Sometimes they work, and other times they do not. Since the lights have been an issue, the electrical issue is also now inside the vehicle. The radio and other controls in the vehicle do not work any longer, as well as the lights in the radio, air conditioning, and other controls inside the vehicle. Th... Read more
Incident date: Aug 3, 2020
The electrical has been an issue for this vehicle. The head and tail lights continuously go out. Sometimes they work, and other times they do not. Since the lights have been an issue, the electrical issue is also now inside the vehicle. The radio and other controls in the vehicle do not work any longer, as well as the lights in the radio, air conditioning, and other controls inside the vehicle. Th... Read more
Incident date: Aug 3, 2020
The contact owns a 2024 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V464000 (Air Bags) 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 contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated there wer... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
Parked car on street (facing slightly uphill) on Saturday morning, neutral weather conditions. Upon starting car several hours later, yellow warning lights were displayed for Collision Avoidance, ABS, and Stability Control. Yellow Auto Hold light was illuminated and could not be shut off. Message panel indicated that AEB system needed to be checked. Carefully operated car to attend scheduled even... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
When driving the car loses power steering and is harder to control. I am at risk because I cannot control the car how I am suppose to. I have called before but there are no Hyundai service dealers close to me. There was nothing prior but now that it is happening there are warning lamps on.
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2010 Ford Escape. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the steering wheel did not function as intended. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed steering torque sensor. The contact was advised that the steering torque sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact was informed of an unknown recall however, the VIN ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 20, 2021
My driver side passenger door will not open from the inside or the outside. You can hear the locking mechanism lock and unlock, however the door is stuck shut. It locked my 2 year old in. Put her in, drove about 15 minutes down the road then was no longer able to open her door. This is obviously not safe for anyone of any age. There are multiple forums of multiple people with the same issue with a... Read more
Incident date: Nov 20, 2021
The component failure appears to be a latent defect in the painting process. The color is Snow White Pearl. It is bubbling up and delaminating in two places. It was first noticed at about 6 months and about 6000 miles after purchase. The dealer was contacted, and they said they had never heard of any paint problems on my type of vehicle. This was unbelievable because of the numerous complaints i h... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
See attached document for complaint
Incident date: Aug 4, 2024
I just bought this truck. While driving it on the first day we were in stop and go traffic and I pressed the throttle and nothing happened, when I pressed it further it all of a sudden squealed tires and jumped forward causing me to almost rear end the car in front.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2020
Regarding other, there is apparently an issue regarding the sunroofs in Nissan vehicles and severe leaking inside the car that causes issues regarding the flooring and possible electrical components. The second issue regarding the wheels is Nissan uses a term called "swollen lug nuts". They wanted to charge almost 1k to change the lugs and finally rotate my tires.
Incident date: Feb 6, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 GMC Canyon. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to slow the vehicle while in traffic, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to slow as quickly as needed. The contact stated that the brake pedal required increased effort to slow the vehicle. The ABS and traction control warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while at a red light, the vehicle was shaking abnormally. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was drivable and was driven to a dealer. The dealer replaced the motor mounts and informed the contact that the torque converter and transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure reoccurred. The manufa... Read more
Incident date: Jul 26, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine misfired and the vehicle jerked. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with coolant intrusion and engine failure. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
Several times over the last month, or so, my 2021 Tahoe has hesitated to accelerate while driving. On 7/31/2024 the vehicle was in park, turned on when the vehicle began idling VERY hard, shaking the entire vehicle. The engine was turned off and restarted approximately 10min later. I began driving when the vehicle began shaking, the engine light came on, and the engine then turned OFF while in dri... Read more
Incident date: Jun 7, 2023
When changing the sparkplugs, sparkplug #2 broke off in the engine and needed to have the heads replaced. This was 100,00 mile and the warranty had just ran out so we had to pay over $4,000 out of pocket to the local dealership for this repair.. This is a known issue with Ford but they will not issue a recall. There was no warning lights or sounds that this was an issue.
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
Fuel gage no longer accurately displays fuel level after a sudden loss of power of vehicle, and transmission lags when shifting gears.
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
Fuel gage no longer accurately displays fuel level after a sudden loss of power of vehicle, and transmission lags when shifting gears.
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
Vehicle loses power and is unable to move. Pressing the accelerator to the floor, the engine develops no power. This happens randomly at higher altitudes. We have had several instances of power loss while merging into traffic. Total loss of power left us sitting in busy intersections. This is a common issue with these vehicles with no known fix available. Mercedes should be repairing thus pro... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
There is a squeak that comes from the front suspension at low speeds. I have taken it in for repairs twice, the last time it was in the dealership for one month. They replaced the bushings and stated the issue was resolved, however the squeak is still present.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
At approximately 9,000 miles the engine started knocking. I took it to the dealer today and they called to confirm the engine and radiator needed to be replaced as there are metal shavings in the oil. I'm not sure if it is the 6.2L engine lifter issue or if this is something different, nonetheless, engine issues for GMC seem to be systemic based on quick research and seeing posts in forums and s... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
At approximately 9,000 miles the engine started knocking. I took it to the dealer today and they called to confirm the engine and radiator needed to be replaced as there are metal shavings in the oil. I'm not sure if it is the 6.2L engine lifter issue or if this is something different, nonetheless, engine issues for GMC seem to be systemic based on quick research and seeing posts in forums and s... Read more
Incident date: Jul 9, 2024
Component failed: while traveling at 65 mph on [XXX] the black tank (waste tank) fell from its mounting brackets and hitting the road way. At the time approximately 10 gallons on clean water was in the tank. No warning or way to know it dislodged from its brackets. I was flagged down by a passing motorist. How was your safety at risk: Routed under the waste tank there are approximately 12 pow... Read more
Incident date: Aug 4, 2024
This recall has been out for over a year and is ridiculous
Incident date: Aug 4, 2024
Blown head gasket confirmed by dealer.
Incident date: Jul 26, 2024
In 2020, there was a recall (#20V769) on the driveshaft of the 2014 Honda Accord. The car was in the Midwest for 4 years, so I was concerned that the issue with corrosion could directly impact the vehicle due to weather conditions. I went to have the recall serviced, but still noticed the car to be sluggish upon shifting in to gear. I reported the concern to the Honda dealer to see if it was repa... Read more
Incident date: Jul 26, 2024
"Jeep Death Wobble" - I was informed by my mechanic that the Automatic Braking System module will need to be replaced. This was after numerous attempts to fix what is being referred to online as the Jeep Death Wobble online - widespread complaints online and on Jeep forums. Previous attempts to resolve this issue included alignment, new pads, brake pads, new brake rotors, 4 new tires. Despite al... Read more
Incident date: Aug 3, 2024
Passenger head rest deployed for no reason. If someone was in the seat they would have got severe whiplash. It was a broken plastic piece inside the headrest. This is a common occurrence. There were no warnings. I kept the part in case it needs to be inspected. Definitely a manufacturers defect that needs to be addressed before someone gets hurt
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
I was driving and the truck shut off causing me to stop in the middle of an intersection. I had to steer the the truck with no power steering. If I was going faster I would have crashed. This is what the Dealership found. CONFIRMED NO START CONDITION. SCANNED VEHICLE AND FOUND DTC P0340-CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR CIRCUIT - BANK 1 SENSOR 1. VERIFIED GETTING FUEL AND SPARK. PERFORMED COMPRESSION TEST.... Read more
Incident date: Apr 10, 2024
The "SELECT LEVER COMPLETE" or fear shift neutral park sensor switch stops working. Subaru has acknowledged the issue and issued a TSB (NUMBER: 16-112-18R). The issue is that the car does not sense it is in park or Neutral, even though the shifter is in that position. For keyed cars, the key cannot be removed and for push to start the car rear gate does not open and an alarm sounds when doors are ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2024
While driving at a steady speed the transmission shifts into a lower gear unnecessarily. This has transpired on multiple occasions causing a dangerous situation.
Incident date: Jul 25, 2024
"Precollition system malfunction" "visit your dealler". "Headlight system malfunction" " visit your dealer". Codes: B124C, C1AAO.
Incident date: Jul 25, 2024
"Precollition system malfunction" "visit your dealler". "Headlight system malfunction" " visit your dealer". Codes: B124C, C1AAO.
Incident date: Mar 30, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Tucson equipped with Michelin Tires, Tire Line: Primacy A/S Acoustic. Tire Size: 235/55/R19, DOT Number: (N/A). The contact stated that while driving at slow speeds, the vehicle began to wobble erratically, prompting the contact to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who determined that t... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
ABS/VSA system module failing because of circuit board. Circuit board does not have all wires soldered onto system. Issue by manufacturer. This affects braking system, abs/VSA module, power steering and tpms sensors. Car is unsafe for driver and other vehicles on the road. Inspected by Honda and given code 123-11 for failing ABS solenoid. Highly dangerous.