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: Jan 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Sorento. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V652000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the check engine, the MIL, and the ABS warning lights were illuminated. The local dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the m... Read more
Incident date: Dec 24, 2023
The contact owns a 2015 Hyundai Elantra. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V651000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was not made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue an... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2024
My truck recently started to leak oil onto my driveway so I took it to a local dealership to get it looked at. The service engineers diagnosed the problem as the Engine Oil Cooler line is detaching from the crimp causing oil to leak out. They also told me that there was a recall, see PDF attached, (#N212329640-01) that is associated with this problem. However, it only applies to my vehicle if it... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2024
Front windshield cracked n has expanded along the very bottom in the dark black area n spread up into clear glass for no reason whatsoever. Never heard a rock or anything else hit. One day it just started a small looping crack.
Incident date: Jan 10, 2024
I am concerned as my car was safely parked, once I started it and it said eyesight off, flashing S symbol, the heat thermo Stat changes back and forth from hot and cold, car is not warming up and check engine light came on. I am very concerned as it is the winter, and I have my baby in the car. Please advise. This seems very unusual and never happened before. The vehicle have around 23K miles.
Incident date: Jan 10, 2024
My vehicle is a Rav 4, pearl white and the vin number is [XXX] . I called a phone number (1-877-855-8377) provided by Toyota de Puerto Rico so I could work on the paint recall on my 2013 SUV. I was not aware of this recall, but a co-worker told me about the recall when I noticed that my SUV was peeling off the paint on the hood. The gentleman who answered my call told me that they had sent me a r... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2024
My screen went black for my Ford Explorer. I have no access to climate controls, backup Camera, radio, GPS, etc. My local Ford dealership said there was a recall pending but that’s been a few months now. It’s very dangerous driving like that with my 4 and 2 year old in the car.
Incident date: Jan 8, 2024
Mazda has an open TSB Technical Service Bulletin for this and many other Mazda's with the same engine- TSB-Collant Leaks at Cylinder Heads, Bulletin # - 01-013/21 issued 10/15/21 (CRACKED CYLINDER HEADS) My 2019 Mazda is right here on the list: Mazda Dealer claims I have to replace the engine at a cost estimated at $12,000 us dollars no offer or solution to repair the cylinder head which is up... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2019
PROBLEMS & FAILURES include: 1. Repeated battery failures, towed over 12 times since car was purchased in 2017. Left [XXX] and [XXX] stranded and/or stranded in the dark on more than once occasion. Repeated (6+ attempts) to repair and/or replace the battery (local Subaru dealership) with no success- DRIVER SAFETY RISK. Two ADULTS (seniors) should not be repeatedly stranded in the middle of ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2019
Fuel pump failed while driving causing car to go into neutral with no power. Had to have it towed after risking my safety on a busy road. Had to pay for a new fuel pump and repairs at dealer. This happened in 2023 a few months back.
Incident date: Mar 25, 2019
Fuel pump failed while driving causing car to go into neutral with no power. Had to have it towed after risking my safety on a busy road. Had to pay for a new fuel pump and repairs at dealer. This happened in 2023 a few months back.
Incident date: Jan 6, 2024
My FSD Beta-equipped Tesla sometimes makes inappropriate lane choices while following the navigation route. After watching a video made by a Beta volunteer driver while testing a similar lane selection issue they had experienced across several FSD Beta firmware releases, I checked a Google Map navigation route that took the same turn onto the same street shown in the video. The path in the Google ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 7, 2024
There are two issues. 1) The adaptive cruise control brakes for no reason. If someone was behind me they could've rear ended me. 2) At night the blind spot camera is flooded by the turn signal and it's hard to see the blind spot warning. When the turn signal is on the blind spot camera shows on the screen and blind spot warning shows up as a red shaded area. It's hard to see the warning itself be... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2024
225/60R17 99T
Incident date: Jan 10, 2024
In middle of driving, the vehicle suddenly shifts out of gear and won’t accelerate, multiple warning lights appear in dash all at the same time and car at times the vehicle won’t even turn off
Incident date: Jan 10, 2024
The front windshield glue holding it on the car has failed. The windshield can be pushed out completely with only a pinky finger. This should not happen and is very dangerous. This windshield could of came off easily from sudden stopping or collisions and caused serious bodily injury to the driver. Safelite auto glass came out to inspect and replace the window due to this defect. They stated it i... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2024
This vehicle has numerous software problems. The biggest one is hat there is no roll away prevention. If the car is placed in reverse, and stars moving, if no other imputs are given by the driver the car will continue to roll. Als, if the drivers door is opened during this manuver, the roll continues. This is also true if the car is in drive and at a stop on a hill. If the brake is released th... Read more
Incident date: Jan 8, 2024
Car has an automated start stop and ruined my starter a lot of ppl have had similar issues
SUBARU
WRX
(2018) — ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL:CATALYTIC CONVERTOR
Jan 10, 2024
Incident date: Dec 24, 2023
The contact owns a 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact depressed the accelerator pedal, and the vehicle failed to respond as intended. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed catalytic converter. The contact was informed that the catalytic converter needed to be replaced. The contact was also i... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
I have a 2016 Honda CR-V. When temperatures are very cold, near and below freezing, the tailgate will not open until temperatures warm up or handwarmers are used for about 5 minutes or the use of heat from the hands eventually allows the tailgate to open. This is reported in Honda Bulletin 16-063. However, even after replacement of the tailgate opener switch by the dealer, the problem has reocc... Read more
Incident date: Dec 15, 2023
While driving on a highway around 70 MPH upon traveling on a bumpy portion of roadway or a transition from an overpass back to roadway the steering starts to Shimmy extremely bad. The only way to get this to stop is pull over and bring the vehicle to a complete stop. I was almost killed when there was no shoulder available In a construction zone on [XXX] in Florida and I had to stop in the la... Read more
Incident date: Jan 9, 2024
on 1/6/2024 my car steering went. There was a recall on certain cars that the 2012 Ford Fusion has a recall for this but the dealer is saying there is not for my car. This seems to be an extensive problem with his car and a expensive repair. Electric steering rack failed
Incident date: Jan 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Kia Soul. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V652000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. 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 not experienced a failure. VIN tool ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 18, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Audi Q7. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to Technical Service Bulletin: 10244468 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The vehicle was taken to the dealer and was diagnosed and determined that the failure was an EVAP leak detection from the circuit with trouble code: T240700. The failure was conf... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The contact's father was concerned about driving in the vehicle and instead sat in the rear seats of the vehicle. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V215000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted.... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Ram 3500. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the transmission suddenly downshifted, causing the vehicle to decelerate abruptly. Additionally, while driving the vehicle, the engine temperature gauge increased to high, with a burning plastic odor and smoke fumes entering the cabin of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and the PCM was ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Nissan Armada. The contact stated that while driving at low rates of speed, the vehicle came to an abrupt stop with the check engine and ABS warning lights illuminated. The contact was forced to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate above 30 MPH. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the contact was initially informed that the output speed sensor ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2012 Hyundai Veracruz. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V651000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. Th... Read more
Incident date: Aug 8, 2023
While driving my driver airbag warning light started blinking. When I took it to the dealership to be inspected they said the sensor for the driver airbag is in the seat cushion and was not getting enough power for it to turn on, therefore if the light is blinking the airbag is disabled and I would need to replace the entire seat cushion to fix this issue. If the airbag is disabled then I could be... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2020
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering was inoperable. The contact stated that the steering failed to function as intended. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed rack and pinon and stabilizer link. The contact was informed that the rack and pinion and the stabilizer link needed to be replac... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2023
When the master lighting switch is set to the auto position, the high beam headlights will not activate unless the master lighting switch is first changed to the ‘on’ position. This is the same as the recall for the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L which was issued in approximately October 2021. I figured this out when I was searching the internet for why my high beam lights were not working. It ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 28, 2023
2018 Honda Accord Touring 1.5T (CVT) 43,600 mi 12/27/2023 -Various warning messages over the course of previous 6 months -Started with a light vibration at cold startup, progressed to CEL flash and engine shut down -Vehicle brought to Honda dealership for a cold start misfire on cylinder 1 12/28/2023 -Vehicle diagnosed with leaking head gasket (cylinder 1) AND failing injectors on 2 and 4 -All re... Read more
Incident date: Jan 7, 2024
Driving at 50 mph+, I have experienced a violent wobble in the truck that can only be stopped by coming to a complete stop with my truck. this has happened multiple times. I have read up on this and it seems to be called the “death wobble” and can not be fixed. I have had a baby and another small child in the truck with me at one of the occurrences. This wobble causes me to almost lose control... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2023
Side window shattered on its own. Luckily it was parked and no one was inside the vehicle. This will be the second time, same story, just a different window with this car.
Incident date: Jan 6, 2024
The problem began a month or so ago.I had my car diagnosed at the Honda dealership and it has a fuel injector fuel pump issue. All of the vehicle lights are on TPMS engine light brake system light steering light collision mitigation emmission electrical steering hill start assistive cruise control LKAS and brake hold light.My car stalls while driving. It sputters when i start it.When i attempt to ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 6, 2024
First, the fuel pump was acting up was told the relay was going bad replaced the relay, Than we have "ESC" and ABS light come one for a bout a week took it to get the code read and they said all four wheel sensors (abs) were not transmitting signals ans that my steering angle sensor was bad which I dont think it is equipped with one now today as of 1/6/2024 ESC, ABS and BRAKE all light up and soli... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 29, 2023
I was driving the vehicle and it started beeping. I looked at the dashboard and multiple lights in relation to the brakes were on or flashing such as the brake light, abs, service advancetrac, traction control etc. The main issue was I was driving and the vehicle had some sort of glitch and all the lights for the brake system came on the and vehicles brakes did not work. The brake was soft and i... Read more
Incident date: Jan 5, 2024
Randomly while driving both of my motors failed. I was given a message on my screen to pull over immediately which i did. The car completely failed and needed to be towed to Tesla. Tesla had to replace both motors. When I was given the car back it did not drive properly. The car was squeaking when I accelerated and braking. I had to bring the car back to Tesla. They told me the Axils and other par... Read more
Incident date: Mar 5, 2023
instrument cluster would not function and was completely black. Had to pull the fuse to reset it
Incident date: Nov 9, 2023
At just over 130K miles, we have a cracked engine block.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2024
When driving vehicle at highway speeds the steering wheel appears to lock and requires forceful correction to keep car going straight. Also around curves vehicle wants to keep going the way the wheels are pointed takes forceful effort to straighten.
Incident date: Jan 6, 2024
Warning lights started being displayed stating that multiple vehicular functions were not working. (Vsa stability, emissions system, brake system, brake hold system, power steering problem) Upon inspection at the dealership I was told it was a fuel injector problem and it was not covered under the recall. The fuel injector is currently on back order and I have been waiting several weeks for a par... Read more
Incident date: Jan 6, 2024
I was on my way to work. All the warning light appeared on my dash. Then all the warning light, radio, speedometer gage and all head light and tail lights went out. I was driving in the dark. My engine bogged down no power. I was barley moving. I replaced the battery no difference. I replaced the alternator worked for 3 minutes and then the car was back to the same as before. I contacted a nearby ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V838000 (Electrical System). The contact stated that the recall to be performed would not disable the "Auto-steer" function, however the Over the Air software update had disabled the auto steer. The contact stated that the manufacturer advised that to restore the auto steer feature the contact had ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 21, 2023
In three separate incidents while car only shows 70 in fuel indicator, my 2016 Crosstrek stalled while driving on a highway. I have brought my car to Subaru dealer, but they cannot find anything wrong with my 2016 Crosstrek. In each of the three separate instances after waiting on the side road for 30 minutes, I was able to restart the car and drive home. My car just had a new engine air filter r... Read more
Incident date: Dec 21, 2023
Rear plastic hitch cover piece flew off at interstate speed endangering other drivers on the road
Incident date: Dec 21, 2023
Rear plastic hitch cover piece flew off at interstate speed endangering other drivers on the road
Incident date: Jan 5, 2024
The service 4w drive indicator came on on the vehicle while I was driving in light snow of about 1 inch. I was unable to stop because the wheels spun and felt like they were not spinning in sync. I spun out and narrowly missed hitting 3 cars. My wheels spun wildly and the jeep picked up speed as I tried to stop. Luckily I did not hit anything. A few days later I was then driving and experienced a ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2024
I purchased this Vehicle in February of 2023, I had a problem shortly after with the oil always being low. I was adding oil to it all the time. 7 months later the engine blew. This is a very faulty problem with this engine that I am NOW finding out. This problem needs to be addressed and fixed. Now I am stuck with a vehicle that I still owe money on that will cost me 6 to 9 thousand to replac... Read more