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 23,203 complaints for TESLA
Incident date: Oct 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2021 Ford Bronco Sport. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine seized. The contact's wife attempted to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to start as intended. In addition, the contact stated that the failure occurred on a busy freeway. The contact stated that a Police Officer assisted the contact's wife due to the fa... Read more
Incident date: Nov 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Honda CR-V. 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 local dealer was contacted. 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 e... Read more
Incident date: Nov 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Kia K5. The contact stated that while his wife was driving stopped at a stop sign, another vehicle traveling at approximately 30 MPH collided with the driver's side door. The air bags did not deployed, resulting in the contacts wife wife sustaining injuries he attributed to the failure. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a body repair shop but late... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Nov 20, 2024
While my car was in full self-driving mode, it attempted to make a lane change to the right which almost caused a crash into another vehicle. I had to manually take control of the car. On November 18, 2024, I reported this to the Tesla Service Center in Arlington, VA. Without even inspecting the car, Tesla concluded there was no safety concern and therefore, they declined my request to expediti... Read more
Incident date: Nov 10, 2024
I have a 2023 Ford F-150 that has experienced a fatigue fracture failure to the drivers side axle bolt exactly as described in recall 23S65. [XXX] My truck has 18,000 miles, and I noticed unusual noise while driving at low speed. I removed the separated axle bolt segment from within my wheel, and I continue to experience a squealing noise while lightly accelerating and braking. This failure c... Read more
Incident date: Nov 20, 2024
Failure of air valve between primary and secondary tanks. Does not isolate the two systems.
Incident date: Nov 20, 2024
It happened twice in 3 days. The first time I lost electrical power, the battery died. I use a trickle charger to recharge it for 4 hours, then it functioned as normal for one day, I went to the dealer for service and they looked at it and said there was nothing wrong and sent me home. On the third day, it died again. All electrical power was lost, the car was locked up, and could not be shif... Read more
Incident date: Nov 20, 2024
It happened twice in 3 days. The first time I lost electrical power, the battery died. I use a trickle charger to recharge it for 4 hours, then it functioned as normal for one day, I went to the dealer for service and they looked at it and said there was nothing wrong and sent me home. On the third day, it died again. All electrical power was lost, the car was locked up, and could not be shif... Read more
Incident date: Nov 20, 2024
It happened twice in 3 days. The first time I lost electrical power, the battery died. I use a trickle charger to recharge it for 4 hours, then it functioned as normal for one day, I went to the dealer for service and they looked at it and said there was nothing wrong and sent me home. On the third day, it died again. All electrical power was lost, the car was locked up, and could not be shif... Read more
TESLA
CYBERTRUCK
(2024) - AIR BAGS
Nov 19, 2024
Incident date: Nov 17, 2024
I came upon a hairpin turn on a country road in North Georgia. I applied brakes hard as was driving at 42 mph (according to engineering report). I made the turn without sliding and not colliding with anything when my side curtain airbags deployed. I hit nothing and no damage whatsoever with exception of nearly $10,000.00 interior damage from airbag deployment.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2021
Went to charge at AC charger and found that it would not charge. Tried another charger and same thing occurred. Car would say 0.3kW and than stop charging. Dealer said ICCU issue.
Incident date: Nov 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Alliance Paradigm RV. The contact stated that while the RV was parked, the contact and his wife became aware that the awning fabric had separated partially at the heat weld of the fabric. The awning was then closed and almost instantly, the fabric fell to the ground, and the arms were bent. The RV was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact believed that the failure was asso... Read more
Incident date: Nov 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Alliance Paradigm RV. The contact stated that while the RV was parked, the contact and his wife became aware that the awning fabric had separated partially at the heat weld of the fabric. The awning was then closed and almost instantly, the fabric fell to the ground, and the arms were bent. The RV was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact believed that the failure was asso... Read more
Incident date: Nov 19, 2024
Major down shifting hesitation when slowing down and then trying to accelerate. Very noticeable and dangerous when slowing down and turning. The hesitation is also noticeable when starting to go up an incline and trying to accelerate. In cruise control there is a delay when going up an incline the set speed will go down 3 MPH before shifting hard. Transmission also when shifting from forward to r... Read more
Incident date: Nov 10, 2024
The tires seemed to lose their tackiness at 44k miles. With tread life being around 48% they were deemed insufficient and needing replaced by the tire shop during an inspection. A solo accident where the vehicle lost control in wet weather warranted an inspection. The tires had even wear for the most part, but were showing cracking around the sidewall. The tires were only 2 years old and had 44k ... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Nov 19, 2024
Here’s a template for writing a formal complaint to SaferCar.gov about your Tesla issue: Subject: Vehicle Safety Complaint - Tesla 2023 To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to report a safety issue with my Model 3 manufactured in 2023. This issue has significantly affected the vehicle’s functionality and poses a potential safety risk. Details of the Issue: •VIN (Vehicle Identification Nu... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Nov 19, 2024
Here’s a template for writing a formal complaint to SaferCar.gov about your Tesla issue: Subject: Vehicle Safety Complaint - Tesla 2023 To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to report a safety issue with my Model 3 manufactured in 2023. This issue has significantly affected the vehicle’s functionality and poses a potential safety risk. Details of the Issue: •VIN (Vehicle Identification Nu... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Nov 19, 2024
AC evaporator temperature sensor has gone out at 40k miles. Cannot defrost truck windshield to see properly. Ford TSB 22-2089. Have been quoted $3000 to remove dash and replace.
Incident date: Apr 3, 2024
1st: water reservoir tank was empty and didn't notice it until heat was cold...inspected and filled reservoir back to max had it tested and couldn't find reason for coolant to be low...Ford tech told me to drive it because they were unable to explain.2nd issue when vehicle sets overnight when backing out of carport back brake system sounds like a scrubbing sound then after drive awhile it may or m... Read more
Incident date: Apr 3, 2024
1st: water reservoir tank was empty and didn't notice it until heat was cold...inspected and filled reservoir back to max had it tested and couldn't find reason for coolant to be low...Ford tech told me to drive it because they were unable to explain.2nd issue when vehicle sets overnight when backing out of carport back brake system sounds like a scrubbing sound then after drive awhile it may or m... Read more
Incident date: Apr 3, 2024
Driving 40 miles per hour, steering wheel became difficult to turn right or left and car abruptly stopped 100 meters behind another vehicle. No accident no crash no police was contacted. Just want to fix the recall.
Incident date: Sep 19, 2023
The contact owns a 2024 Kia Telluride. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the driver's side rear window independently fractured. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic; however, the cause for the failure was not yet determined. The window was replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure... Read more
Incident date: Nov 17, 2024
Engine area of car caught fire with ignition off
Fire
Incident date: Nov 15, 2024
While we were driving we heard what sounded like a shot, when we pulled over we noticed the rear window was shattered, and noticed nothing had gone through or hit it After inspecting it. My daughter was scared to stay in the car so we had to call someone to pick them up and give them a ride. The dealership told me my vehicle is no longer under warranty only drivetrain warranty and that it was not ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Jeep Wrangler. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V720000 (Electrical System); 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 not made aware of the issue. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
Incident date: Nov 11, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-150. The contact stated that the vehicle was making an abnormal rattling sound on cold starts. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the cam phasers had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The mechanic related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Number: 21N03. An unknown dealer was notified of the f... Read more
Incident date: Nov 18, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle unexpectedly downshifted. There was no warning light illuminated. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.
Incident date: Nov 18, 2024
engine light came on. took to ford dealer , They stated that antifreeze was leaking in to cylinder. and that I needed a new engine. and that I should not be driving it because it could stall out or could catch fire. Ford has other ford engines doing the same problems . because of a seal . that they {ford} have been aware of. Codes from dealers code readers are reading number 4 cylinder messed ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 29, 2024
Trailer brake system alert pop up a lot. With no reason.
Incident date: Oct 29, 2024
My vehicles engine will stop running sometimes while the car is at a complete stop and sometimes while it's in motion. Sometimes the vehicle restarts immediately and sometimes it struggles to restart. The problem happens sporadically sometimes going weeks between occurrences. This has caused me to be stalled in busy traffic and has also caused more dangerous situations where the vehicle loses p... Read more
Incident date: Oct 29, 2024
My vehicles engine will stop running sometimes while the car is at a complete stop and sometimes while it's in motion. Sometimes the vehicle restarts immediately and sometimes it struggles to restart. The problem happens sporadically sometimes going weeks between occurrences. This has caused me to be stalled in busy traffic and has also caused more dangerous situations where the vehicle loses p... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2020
When braking at 30mph +, brake is very stiff. I also noticed that my brake rotors on the front right(passenger side) were clean or smooth, but on the brake rotors on the left side(driver side) were still rusted, because of water during the car washing. i knew that the front left brake arent braking. Did a proper brake bleeding on all four, and only the Front left had no fluid at all and the brake ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
hello I'm wondering why this is not a concern for a safety recall. VSA Module. the VSA module systems seems to be a problem from 2012 all the way to 2017 model Hondas. this module effects powersteering. ABS. tire pressure and traction control. it seems that this is a global problem and their are countrys that have done a recall on this VSA Module. on Honda accord sedans.
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
hello I'm wondering why this is not a concern for a safety recall. VSA Module. the VSA module systems seems to be a problem from 2012 all the way to 2017 model Hondas. this module effects powersteering. ABS. tire pressure and traction control. it seems that this is a global problem and their are countrys that have done a recall on this VSA Module. on Honda accord sedans.
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
The problem is in the anti-lock braking system. When the vehicle slows to under 15 mph. and you apply the brakes the brake pedal" kick back" occurs with loss of braking . Making the vehicle a hazard to drive. Now with repeated depression of the brake pedal the vehicle does stop. But, if you are approaching a stopped car or some other stationary object a collision could occur. Thankfully this has n... Read more
Incident date: Nov 16, 2024
While exiting/entering from one highway to another, I was slowing down vehicle in curved ramp area to approximately 35mph from 65mph. The car's driver display (a warning banner) indicated that I had insufficient battery and that I should stop the vehicle. The battery was at 65%. I coasted vehicle to right shoulder of road. Steering was difficult. This area of highway access was under construc... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
Car keeps hesitating to accelerate, stalled a few times & is burning through gas extremely quickly. Error code "engine emissions problem" came up, believe this is part of the recall
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
I have a tork converter that locking the transmission and causing the truck to down shift and sometimes comes to a quick stop when braking. I am afraid if a family member drives the truck it could cause them to make a dangerous move in on goin traffic. Or not stopping and hitting a person or another vehicle. It hits hard and stops while pulling the vehicle in on coming traffic especially when not ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2024
My rear passenger side window will not go back up. It is constantly receiving power to pull the roll the window down. This is a known problem in the community. If you visit any Ford F-150, Explorer, or Maverick forum, there are post about work arounds on how to get the window up and temporarily get the window to stay up until the part comes in to repair it the correct way. Many of the people are p... Read more
Incident date: Nov 5, 2024
P0128 code- Assisted steering fault Check engine light Ac blowing cold Temp gauge flat lined Need to replace temp sensor and thermostat. Others with this issue have reported steering can completely lock up, which could cause serious accidents which could result in fatalities.
Incident date: Nov 5, 2024
I understand Honda isn't doing soo well so I hope this is added to the list of the feds research we just bought this tlx aspec don't understand how these cars need to be 4000lbs but anyway the gas mileage advertised is not what you get I've seen on multiple forms people are saying they experience 13 mpg and on a cylinder engine that is just not acceptable 2 hear grinding noises in our drive train ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 5, 2024
I understand Honda isn't doing soo well so I hope this is added to the list of the feds research we just bought this tlx aspec don't understand how these cars need to be 4000lbs but anyway the gas mileage advertised is not what you get I've seen on multiple forms people are saying they experience 13 mpg and on a cylinder engine that is just not acceptable 2 hear grinding noises in our drive train ... Read more
Incident date: Aug 17, 2024
The catalytic converter had to be replaced twice due to a cracked in it and the exhaust fumes keep coming into the vehicle’s cabin through the A/C. Transmission keeps having problems also.
Incident date: Nov 15, 2024
Took my vehicle to ford dealership to have leaking sunroof checked, had it repaired for broken track, but the amazing things was the price that ford charge me for the repair of the sunroof track which was $5507.49, wasn’t really told why it cost me so much being that it’s a 2018. I do have the receipt, and has been trying to find a lawyer to try and recover some of my losses. Please let me kno... Read more
Incident date: Nov 13, 2024
NOTE: the item / malfunction described below is CURRENTLY UNDER RECALL for multiple Honda models but has not YET been recalled for the 2021 Accord Sport 2.0T. Please add this model to the recall list!!! I had been driving on the interstate for about 30 minutes on Thursday, 11/7, when suddenly seven of the warning lights flashed in succession on my vehicle, including braking system warnings, emis... Read more
Incident date: Nov 13, 2024
NOTE: the item / malfunction described below is CURRENTLY UNDER RECALL for multiple Honda models but has not YET been recalled for the 2021 Accord Sport 2.0T. Please add this model to the recall list!!! I had been driving on the interstate for about 30 minutes on Thursday, 11/7, when suddenly seven of the warning lights flashed in succession on my vehicle, including braking system warnings, emis... Read more
Incident date: Nov 13, 2024
After a few hours of parking in a lot, or overnight from my garage I lose accelerator response when trying to accelerate. I will lightly use the throttle to pull out of a stop, turning right, and the truck will not accelerate for up to 12 seconds even with steady throttle input or pumping the throttle. If I press the accelerator to the floor it will shorten the delay time, but will surge at full... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2022
On [XXX] I turned on a [XXX] in Amelia Co Va when I pressed the gas to get up to speed, all of the sudden the headlights, dashboard lights, interior lights go dark. Warning lights on the dashboard were flashing. I put on my hazards and pulled safely into a convenience store parking lot and shut my truck off. I waited a few minutes and turned it back on and everything came on along with the check e... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2022
On [XXX] I turned on a [XXX] in Amelia Co Va when I pressed the gas to get up to speed, all of the sudden the headlights, dashboard lights, interior lights go dark. Warning lights on the dashboard were flashing. I put on my hazards and pulled safely into a convenience store parking lot and shut my truck off. I waited a few minutes and turned it back on and everything came on along with the check e... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2022
The battery has died twice within 3 months. I couldn’t leave my house to collect my kids. The problem has been commented on by a dealership. No.