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: Jul 26, 2024
When accelerating from a complete stop, there will occasionally be significant hesitation in the car actually accelerating. For example, I was at a stop sign then attempted to make a left turn when there was a break in the oncoming traffic. My car would not accelerate, almost as if it shut off. It then begins to accelerate. On another instance, I was at a stop sign and when I had the right of way,... Read more
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
Car reports RCM a056 error related to Occupant Control sensors. This is apparently a common problem for this year and model (related car forums and social media report > 100 such incidents that I can find), but is not covered ($1700 repair). This should be a safety recall.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
I was in traffic and we slowed down to a stop. Suddenly my car went to neutral and it didn’t want to go to Drive. I put emergency lights, as many cars were behind in the highway. I turned the car off and turned it back on. Then I was able to drive again! This has happened twice in the last 3 months.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
I was in traffic and we slowed down to a stop. Suddenly my car went to neutral and it didn’t want to go to Drive. I put emergency lights, as many cars were behind in the highway. I turned the car off and turned it back on. Then I was able to drive again! This has happened twice in the last 3 months.
Incident date: Apr 15, 2024
Power steering going out intermittently while driving
Incident date: Apr 15, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Corolla. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not exp... Read more
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
This has happened twice: I was driving on the expressway and didn’t hear anything hitting my little sunroof, just suddenly noise from that general area. When I pulled over I saw that the sunroof had cracked and the largest part(s) was missing.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
My vehicle is listed in this Mercedes recall campaign bulletin, and it is also experiencing the safety issue that is discussed in this recall campaign bulletin: Campaign No.2021070010, August 2021 Revision A 09/03/2021 When I contact Mercedes to have the issue addressed, they stated my Vin is not a part of this recall campaign, and to contact you about it.
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the engine was shuddering significantly. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with engine failure and cylinder #3 misfire. The dealer replaced the spark plugs; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where it wa... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
While towing a trailer in tow/haul mode on the highway traveling around 60mph, their was a strong downshift clunking sound. About 10 miles later, it happened again, except this time the brakes logged up and truck skid for about a full second and then trailer began fishtailing slightly. Check engine like P2C7A came on. Seems like brakes or transmission momentarily locked up.
Incident date: Jul 24, 2024
This car was purchased [XXX] and has been in my possession for 3 years and 4 months. It has sat in a dealership repair facility for 13 of those months to replace the engine and high-voltage hybrid battery. Meaning I have actively driven this vehicle for approximately 27 months and the retraction system for the seatbelts is malfunctioning and as its a safety issue I feel the need to report this and... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
1st incidence: The car with full self driving mode self-changed to shoulder lane on [XXX] for unknown reason. I had to steer back to my lane to avoid hitting the FWY divider. 2nd incidence: with autosteer/cruise control mode, the car self changed to left lane, again I quickly guided the steering wheel back to my lane to correct the action and it caused a car accident. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUA... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
Seat occupancy system failure received. June 27, 2022 Mobile service inspected for wiring damage, as common cause. recommended appt at service center. Sep 2, 2022, could not fix issue, had to replace entire passenger seat. July 23, 2024 took car to service center for seat occupancy system failure received. Tesla stated I needed to pay for lumbar seat occupancy system sensor as it was failing. This... Read more
Incident date: Jul 17, 2024
Seat occupancy system failure received. June 27, 2022 Mobile service inspected for wiring damage, as common cause. recommended appt at service center. Sep 2, 2022, could not fix issue, had to replace entire passenger seat. July 23, 2024 took car to service center for seat occupancy system failure received. Tesla stated I needed to pay for lumbar seat occupancy system sensor as it was failing. This... Read more
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
2020 TOYOTA COOLANT BYPASS VALVE. $800 estimate to repair
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
The crankshaft sensor tone wheel is damaged. I found that there was a recall on this item on our make/model and year of our Jeep. It's recall number W68/NHTSA 20V-475 and W58/NHTSA 20V-475. The dealership is refusing to follow the recall and make the repair and quoted us over $3,000 out of pocket to fix a known and recalled problem with our vehicle. I'm not understanding how it is legal for them t... Read more
Incident date: Jul 16, 2024
A warning message saying "Warning Notification A warning light was turned on. Would you like to call an operator?". Diagnostic performed by Yark Toyota confirmed coolant bypass valve malfunction which can cause overheating. Warning comes on when I turn on the A/C. I now have no air conditioning in the hottest summer I can remember. Repair costs just under $1,000 total.
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
My 2019 Tesla Model X suddenly accelerated as I was going to park and ended up hitting a tree. It did not stop even on braking. The car is currently being inspected by the car insurance company, Geico. I checked online and found known issues of sudden unintended acceleration with Tesla vehicles.
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
Upon traveling we noticed a loud engine knocking when the car was at idle. We immediately pulled over and checked the engine. The coolant level was lower than normal and the engine oil level was fine. We immediately returned home and parked the car. While returning home the front camera continued to display an error message that it was not working and would repeat every 30 seconds. After doin... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
Upon traveling we noticed a loud engine knocking when the car was at idle. We immediately pulled over and checked the engine. The coolant level was lower than normal and the engine oil level was fine. We immediately returned home and parked the car. While returning home the front camera continued to display an error message that it was not working and would repeat every 30 seconds. After doin... Read more
Incident date: Aug 24, 2023
For the last year the vehicle has been in the shop at the dealer for a rancid chemical smell in the cab of the truck that causes a burning to the eyes and lungs. It gets worse when it's hot outside. The smell is there even when the vehicle is not running. The dealer cannot find the source of the smell and has turned the vehicle back over to us with no solution. It feels unsafe and is extremely unc... Read more
Incident date: Jul 7, 2024
Antifreeze is leaking into the valves. It requires a new engine. The vehicle has 108000+ miles and has regular maintenance. The engine light came on and said the issue was the 2nd valve. Could be a spark plug or coil. On the way to be serviced, very visible white smoke came from the exhaust. Had all spark plugs and coils replaced for an update. Light came on again as did the issue with power ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2024
>Refer to investigation PE24018. For reference recall 23V-265 was performed on this truck. >This incident was before the recall work, and it was mentioned to my dealership. There have been no additional incidents. >Driving on a rural road at about 30mph. I slammed on breaks to avoid contact with animal. My vehicle went into park, emergency break activated, and engine turned off. I was able to... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
AC compressor failed within 1000 miles of High Voltage battery being replaced. This is the second AC compressor failure, the first failure occured at approx 70k miles, Nov 2022. The AC is used to cool the battery during high voltage charging and driving. Upon failure speed can be reduced, determined by multiple factors and charging rate is reduced as well. I was told it was an internal failure ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Fusion. The contact stated after a week of the vehicle not being driven, the battery was drained. The contact stated that the battery was new and should have not drained so soon. No warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mil... Read more
Incident date: Jul 21, 2024
I have a coolant intrusion. CEL came on a couple weeks ago. The code it gave was a cylinder 3 misfire. I took it to Perry County Tire in Hazard KY and they said it needed a new ignition coil and 4 new spark plugs. They replaced the coil and all spark plugs. The CEL came back on a few days later, giving the same cylinder 3 misfire code. I then took it back and they replace the ignition coil again. ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V858000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated while accelerating from a complete stop, the vehicle hesitated to respond. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring while driving.... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2024
I was traveling at expressway speeds (70 mph) when traffic in front of me hit the brakes quickly to avoid an object in the road. At this time, I hit my brakes relatively hard and fast in what I would describe as a panic brake. I avoided incident here. About a mile further up the road, traffic in front of me hit the brakes once again. At this time, I also hit my brakes, but I could not. My bra... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2024
I was told by 2 different vehicle repair shops that the subframe is broken. I just dropped it off at the Mercedes service shop near me to look at.
Incident date: Jul 23, 2024
This complaint is about a Tesla rental car from Avis which has just shown up in the salvage yard. Because the VIN of the wreck can not be identified I have used the VIN of another wrecked Tesla. Here is the wreck in question. [XXX] It is available for inspection. The front wheels have clearly fallen off BEFORE the crash since they are shown in almost undamaged condition apart from popped ball joi... Read more
2 injured
Incident date: Jul 8, 2024
This complaint is about a Tesla rental car from Avis which has just shown up in the salvage yard. Because the VIN of the wreck can not be identified I have used the VIN of another wrecked Tesla. Here is the wreck in question. [XXX] It is available for inspection. The front wheels have clearly fallen off BEFORE the crash since they are shown in almost undamaged condition apart from popped ball joi... Read more
2 injured
Incident date: Jun 30, 2024
This complaint is about a Tesla rental car from Avis which has just shown up in the salvage yard. Because the VIN of the wreck can not be identified I have used the VIN of another wrecked Tesla. Here is the wreck in question. [XXX] It is available for inspection. The front wheels have clearly fallen off BEFORE the crash since they are shown in almost undamaged condition apart from popped ball joi... Read more
2 injured
Incident date: Jun 30, 2024
The headlights in my car both went out because of this wiring issue. The wiring insulation inside the headlight is very prone to cracking and subsequently breaking which causes the headlight to not function. I have repaired this issue myself on both headlights for almost every wire going into the igniter. No headlights is a major safety issue at night, and due to the cracking along all of the wiri... Read more
Incident date: Jun 30, 2024
I bought a 2024 Colorado Trail Boss on May 31 and after a week the truck broke down I made a stop in a T intersection, once I had a clear path I started to accelerate and in that moment the truck jerked and at the same time I heard a loud noise under the back of the car. It felt like if I had been accelerating in neutral and suddenly changed gear to drive. After that, the car continue moving but... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2024
While driving Jeep losses power and stops. At garage now and they can’t find reasonable explanation. Has less than 50k miles. Danger while driving since it just shuts off while no lights come on to indicate problems
Incident date: Jul 2, 2024
While driving Jeep losses power and stops. At garage now and they can’t find reasonable explanation. Has less than 50k miles. Danger while driving since it just shuts off while no lights come on to indicate problems
Incident date: Jun 22, 2024
While driving lost the power brakes making stopping vehicle incredibly difficult having to apply excessive force to brake pedal and shift into neutral to stop. Vehicle could not be driven for service and needed to be towed. If my wife had been driving her car, she would not be able to stop as I (her husband) had to apply leg force as much as I could apply to get vehicle to slow down and had to s... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2024
MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE. For over a year (with a tie rod unresolved recall due to a "national back order") my young son's Nissan Sentra has consistently made noises and vibrations when he turns at low speeds. My husband repeatedly called the local Nissan Dealership in Pensacola, Sandy Sansing Nissan, citing the recall and the issues he was having but was offered no fix. My son was/is having actual safe... Read more
Incident date: May 16, 2024
Trailer brake lights malfunction
Incident date: Jun 10, 2024
I have been getting "RCM2_a626" error for "front passenger safety restraint system fault. It comes and goes. Apparently it is a common issues among tesla owners. When I first filled for the error they quoted $2000 for replacing front passenger seat. The error went away so I canceled the appointment. Then it came back in a random fashion and getting more frequent. This time, in addition to replacin... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2024
Lost power when accelerating up highway hills, it coded P0420, catalytic converter on Bank 1 is not operating as efficiently as it should. This code is often caused by issues with the fuel or exhaust systems, which can result in insufficient oxygen leaving the catalytic converter. Hyundai dealer changed the catalytic converter July 2023, 1 yr to the day my vehicle did the same thing and had anothe... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2024
Lost power when accelerating up highway hills, it coded P0420, catalytic converter on Bank 1 is not operating as efficiently as it should. This code is often caused by issues with the fuel or exhaust systems, which can result in insufficient oxygen leaving the catalytic converter. Hyundai dealer changed the catalytic converter July 2023, 1 yr to the day my vehicle did the same thing and had anothe... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2024
Today (XXX), After shifting my manual 5 speed transmission into first gear it stalled. I restarted my car then proceeded to drive on the highway in a severely reduced power mode "Limp Mode". I could not reach highway speed and this created a very unsafe condition with tractor trailers behind me. The power loss only allowed speeds up to about 45 MPH. Acceleration was very slow. I will contact my Ni... Read more
Incident date: Jul 15, 2024
Today (XXX), After shifting my manual 5 speed transmission into first gear it stalled. I restarted my car then proceeded to drive on the highway in a severely reduced power mode "Limp Mode". I could not reach highway speed and this created a very unsafe condition with tractor trailers behind me. The power loss only allowed speeds up to about 45 MPH. Acceleration was very slow. I will contact my Ni... Read more
Incident date: Jul 4, 2024
I have a 2024 Hyundai Pallisade and have had the brakes not work properly three separate times. After one time I had my husband drive when I needed to drive the kids because it scared me so much. After two weeks I started driving it again full time and the brakes locked up again and I slid and couldn't stop. I had Hatchett Hyundai take the car for weeks and it never happened for them they said. I ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2024
Driving very slowly into my 36 foot deep garage I took my right foot off the accelerator pedal when the 2021 Toyota Camry suddenly unintended accelerated forward 15 feet and crashed through the rear garage wall, the automatic brake didn't work,. Then with my foot on the brake pedal, it continued at high speed across 35 feet of concrete patio and came to rest on top of thick hedge with front whee... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jun 24, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Honda Ridgeline. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign number: 23V858000 (Fuel System and Gasoline). The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated, and the vehicle hesitated and stalled. The contact continued to drive the vehicle until arriving to a parking lot where the vehicle was turned off. The contact waited for sever... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
Brake line failure. Had local repair shop repair brakes and realign, because I had to jump a curb at 40mph to avoid collision. Ford refuses (thru nonresponsive) to pay damages. Recall repaired weeks later by plate valley ford of Kearney NE.
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
Occasionally the turn signal button cannot be pressed down to make a turn signal. This event has happened quite a few times during some urgent moments when I need to exit the highway and gives us a big concern. I heard from many other owners that Tesla just replace your steering wheel, but it dose not fix the problem. It is not because of pressing on the wrong area of the button. This should be a ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 11, 2024
On G models of the bmw 5 series. Ac coil leaks r1234yf freon which causes safety issue due to the gas being exposed into the cabin of the car and to the atmosphere. Dealerships wants $5000-7000 for this repair as the whole dash needs to come out. This is almost a guaranteed failure and BMW has failed to recall for this fix. This issue arises usually at 50k-70k miles. There are no lights that come ... Read more