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 22,185 complaints for TESLA
Incident date: Aug 9, 2024
Stabilitrak warning light comes on intermittently. Cruise or anti-lock brakes do not work when this condition is present
Incident date: Aug 8, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal was depressed but failed to respond. The brake pedal was depressed multiple times however still failed to respond. The vehicle proceeded to drift 150 yards causing the vehicle to crash into the contacts residence and come to a stop at a piece of furniture. No warning lights were il... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 8, 2024
LCA lower control arm front bushing on Right and Left front for 2018 Subaru Forester is a known issue with EVERY Forester. Mine had only 55K miles when the Right Front started shaking and now the left is doing so and I am only at 60K miles!!
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ram 1500. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact became aware of a failure with the power steering. The contact stated the steering wheel became difficult to turn and the contact also noticed a whistling sound coming from the steering wheel. There was no warning light illuminated. The dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnose... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
We started experiencing hesitation with our 2019 Ridgeline. We then experienced twice the check engine light coming on but eventually clearing on its own. We took the truck to the Honda dealer from where we purchased our Ridgeline new. They mentioned there is a huge backlog on the factory recalled fuel pump, which is part of the root cause of the truck stumbling and hesitating. They additional... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
June 14-15, 24 I was driving down the road when all of a sudden it felt like I hit something hard with the passenger front side of my truck. I knew there was nothing anywhere in the road other than potholes, so I was very shocked and worried of what it was. The truck jerked hard and slammed my head into the driver side window post almost knocking me out. It took all I had to keep from wrecking ... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 6, 2024
On Thursday, [XXX] my [XXX] son was driving my chevy malibu coming down the hill to get home when the brakes went out. He could not stop the vehicle and had to pass our neighborhood and let the vehicle slow itself down. He was able to get stopped and turned around and made it home. Saturday, [XXX] we decided maybe it needed new brakes and took it for new brakes. New brakes and rotors all the way ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
Vehicle surged forward with out touching the gas.
Crash
Incident date: Aug 7, 2024
Tire exploded while driving, causing loss of control. Spare tire replaced and also did the same thing. Tires had under 5,000 miles on them, tire pressures checked before trip, and tires have been stored indoors. Many people online are having the same issue with these particular tires.
Incident date: Aug 7, 2024
Failed component is the passenger airbag presence module. Failure of the presence module compromises the deployment of airbags. Failure of airbag confirmed by Vetter-McGill Chevrolet, Three Rivers, Michigan. Module component failure confirmed by Chevrolet dealer. Passenger airbag warning light prompted appointment with Chevrolet dealer to determine why the passenger airbag warning light was illum... Read more
Incident date: Jul 28, 2024
My 2018 Nissan Sentra has under 60,000 miles on it and is on its 3rd set of brake rotors, as well as had both front and rear brake pads replaced 2 times. The vehicle has always given the warning , front radar not detected alert, until the last 12 months where I began receiving a malfunction warning. My car has been brought to 2 different Nissan dealerships to work on this issue. The current one s... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
A service was scheduled to repair the rear view camera visibility in which the dealership failed to complete. The recall repair performed did not fix the situation. The rear view camera still shows up as a blue screen as well as the parksense sensors not working at all. This is a huge safety issue as nothing is shown when backing up and no sensors work. This problem occurred randomly while startin... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Hyundai Elantra. The contact stated that the brake pedal stopper was fractured, causing the brake lights to remain illuminated. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where an unknown diagnosis and an unknown repair were completed; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2024
This is a follow up to an earlier submission (NHTSA Tracking Number 11591550). After the initial incident, the dealership replaced the hybrid battery on the vehicle. A month later, yesterday, while driving the vehicle on the interstate, I again received the dreaded, "Stop Safely, Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon" warning indicator and the car lost all power about 30 seconds later. Thankfully, I was on... Read more
Incident date: May 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Edge. The contact stated that during startup the vehicle began to shake and vibrate and while driving the check engine light had remained illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the engine coolant had leaked into the engine cylinder number four and advised that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The man... Read more
Incident date: May 25, 2024
Service air bag light has been on about 2 weeks. Tried to unlock car with key fob today. 8/6/2024. Wouldn't work so I replaced the fob battery. Nothing will work on car now. Won't start, can't manually unlock back doors.Couldn't get it in neutral to get on flatbed tow truck. Dealership said it'll be at least 2days before they can look at it. Said there's a recall but no remedy/ parts to be able to... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2024
Warning light came on saying that the Lane departure warning and Forward were not working. Another message said "Unavailable High Cabin Temperature". After further investigation 2 of the 3 advanced navigation aids were flashing which means they may not be working correctly. In reality 1; the lane departure warning and functions stopped working. 2; Cruise Control was working. 3; Vehicle to vehicle ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated when starting the vehicle and shifting into drive(D), the vehicle would hesitate and then jolt into gear. The contact stated that the vehicle was increasingly harder to shift into gear. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determi... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
Engine light started flashing 5mins after driving on a busy freeway. Had to pull over to allow engine to cool with children in the car. Topped off coolant. Over the next week, the leak continued. Took the car to my mechanic who was unable to replicate the issue. Warning lights continued to flash and coolant continued to leak. Took car back to mechanic who advised engine block intrusion common to F... Read more
Incident date: Aug 6, 2024
I call the Honda dealership in grand island regarding a recalls that I found out by carfax on June 11 2024. The recalls was for lower ball joints and the dealership to me to bring my vehicle in for repair/replace. They never did any works on it but wrote on the receipt that they did
Incident date: Jul 30, 2024
Adaptive cruise control gave out, due to air conditioning compressor failure
Incident date: Apr 17, 2024
The front triple camera glass was found to be dirty on the interior part of the glass. I had alerts of camera blocked/blinded and also I had several instances of emergency corrective maneuvers including braking, lane assists and forward collision warnings. Tesla cleaned the interior of part of the glass.
Incident date: Apr 17, 2024
Had recall completed for Subaru Forester (WUM-98) where dealer replaced ODS sensor harness in 2020. At the end of 2021 had the SRS light intermittently come on but would then go off for months( front passenger seat). This kept happening intermittently so I brought it to dealership and had it diagnosed in 2023. They suggested replacing the passenger seat ($1200 P&L). Dealer said no water damage to ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 17, 2024
Had recall completed for Subaru Forester (WUM-98) where dealer replaced ODS sensor harness in 2020. At the end of 2021 had the SRS light intermittently come on but would then go off for months( front passenger seat). This kept happening intermittently so I brought it to dealership and had it diagnosed in 2023. They suggested replacing the passenger seat ($1200 P&L). Dealer said no water damage to ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 3, 2024
Vehicle was in cruise control, and cruise control did not deactivate causing the vehicle to propel into a building, causing airbag deployment. Safety sensors of car failed to recognize building, other vehicles, and obstructions as required.
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Aug 3, 2024
The car accelerates during breaking
Incident date: Aug 3, 2024
The affected part that is part of the current recall, the plastic pillar piece came flying off my car tonight on my way home from work while I was on the interstate. Luckily there were no cars around me but it could have been a safety issue if there had been. I was unable to go retrieve the piece.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
Windshield formed a crack for no apparent reason. The crack increased to about 10 inches in the course of 2 days.
Incident date: Aug 4, 2024
My AC system in my 2018 Honda has now failed twice under 80000 miles. The first time the compressor and condenser were leaking and failed around 50000 miles which the dealership said was due to a new refrigerant that Honda had started using for this generation of civics. Following this repair, Honda extended the warranty for these components of the AC system. Early in July 2024, I had the same iss... Read more
Incident date: Feb 27, 2024
The car will need a new coolant by-pass valve ($663 installed). This is a problem that seems to be affecting more cars than usual as it is in many websites and social media portals, but it's not recognized to be recalled!! A $70.00usd part for $663.00 installed??
TESLA
CYBERTRUCK
(2024) — SERVICE BRAKES
Aug 5, 2024
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The contact owns a 2024 BMW X5. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V104000 (Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Service Brakes); 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 manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 29, 2024
The start/stop operating system failed. When the engine cut off while waiting for train to pass, the engine went to turn over and completely stopped the vehile. Although the car would not start, I was unable to cut the car off completely. It would say ignition on. The lights in vehicle were on. Running the ac caused the car to say high power consumption but there was no way to cut vehicle off with... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The sunroof spontaneously exploded. Sunroof was closed at the time. AC on. Driving on the highway. Loud band and glass pieces rained down. Made it to the next exit to assess damage. No warning that this would happen. No debris hit the car. I have contacted my insurance about this, USAA. Kia said that they won’t cover this or repair for free. And in fact said that they haven’t heard of such a t... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
Electrical connectors within the power steering system are corroding, which is causing the power steering system to stop working.
Incident date: Aug 3, 2024
Doors will not lock or unlock from remote or inside switch. If an accident was to occure a person's can not get out of the vehicle.
Incident date: Aug 2, 2024
I was driving my suv while it was raining heavily and my driver side wipers just stop working out of no where the passenger side still operates. I have not been to see if a dealer can fix it because I was unaware it was under recall so now I’m trying to find someone to fix it while under the recall.
Incident date: Jul 13, 2024
Several times while using Traffic Aware Cruise Control, the system will suddenly brake severely for apparently reason. At these times, I was on a lightly traveled Interstate with no vehicles ahead of me. Each time, it was during daylight hours and it was sunny. This has also occurred while using Autopilot with Autosteer and with Full Self Driving. Once, there was a vehicle close behind me, so this... Read more
Incident date: Jul 13, 2024
When placed in park the DIC will intermittenly indicate "Shift To Park". At that point, I am not certain whether or not the vehicle is in park. It will often go into accessory mode when this happens. I cannot turn the vehicle completely off at this point. I need to shift it from park to reverse or drive and then back into park. It may take several attempts for it to register that the vehicle ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
The passenger side frame rusted through. The bolt holding the frame collapsed through the rusted frame while I was driving on the highway and I lost control of my car as I was entering an exit off the highway. My mechanic said the air conditioning system drips on this area of the frame causing the rust and failure of the frame to hold the bolt. There were no warnings prior to the incident excep... Read more
Incident date: Aug 3, 2024
On 7/26/2024 vehicle in to dealer because warning light coming on if doing 55-65 mph stating front radar blocked, front safety system disabled. Vehicle at that time had 15,488 miles on it. Told dealer warning light does NOT come on while local driving to stores, for gas etc. Dealer said radar module had damage due to "minor collision". Not so, I am [XXX] uses car for local trips mostly. Contacte... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2024
An error has displayed on the screen stating: "Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault RCM_a056 Service is Required" and reaching out to the local Tesla service center, I discovered the prescribed repair costs $1600. After searching online for other owner's experience with the error, I discovered that this is a common issue caused by a wire connection to the seat control model coming loose ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2024
Driver side airbag warning light came on, took vehicle to dealer for inspection and report is the airbag system has a fault in it and whole system will need to be replaced. Vehicle is available for inspection, and issue has been confirmed by dealer. Told airbag unlikely to go off, but may not deploy in the event of an accident.
Incident date: Jun 28, 2024
Passenger headrest deployed without an accident.
Incident date: Jul 7, 2024
The automatic windshield wipers will not turn on during rain and mist. Also the wipers will not turn on when there is water and visibility is very poor. For unknow reason the car jammed the brake almost bringing the car to a stop on the freeway on cruise control and nearly caused a pile up.
Incident date: Jul 7, 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 7, 2024
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the power steering malfunctioned, and the steering wheel was very difficult the turn in either direction. The contact stated that the failure lasted for approximately 10-seconds before self-correcting. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who diagnosed that the steering rack and power steering module ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 11, 2024
I am writing to file a claim concerning a recall affecting my Tesla vehicle, identified by NHTSA Recall Number 24V376. The recall involves a defect in the seat belt reminder system software logic affecting certain Tesla models, including my own. The defect causes a failure to provide audible and visual seat belt reminders when the driver’s seat belt is not fastened after the ignition is turned t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 11, 2024
Warning light keeps coming on the gauge saying clean windshield or your safety features will not operate. Comes on as soon as I drive car into my garage. Came on even after washed the car by hand. Been to the dealer twice and the second time they changed the camera in the windshield. Light came back on 3 days later. There is an electrical issue because the rear led cargo lights remain glowing even... Read more
Incident date: Jul 18, 2024
Warning light keeps coming on the gauge saying clean windshield or your safety features will not operate. Comes on as soon as I drive car into my garage. Came on even after washed the car by hand. Been to the dealer twice and the second time they changed the camera in the windshield. Light came back on 3 days later. There is an electrical issue because the rear led cargo lights remain glowing even... Read more
Incident date: Aug 2, 2024
Smelled gasoline while driving but not sure of source. 10 min into drive fumes were very strong and then all light came on and engine shut down. A fire safety vehicle noticed fuel pouring out from under the vehicle. Because of the fuel spill the police came and called a tow truck. The car was towed to Firestone where they determined that the fuel line on top of gas tank was spilling fuel. I notic... Read more