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: Nov 28, 2022
I am writing to bring to your attention a potentially catastrophic accident involving our leased C40 vehicle that happened on [XXX], 3:30pm. (ID [XXX] ) On the above mentioned date, my husband, [XXX] , was parking the C40 in a school parking lot to pick up our grandchild. He experienced an alarming episode of unintended acceleration. Despite his efforts to control the vehicle, the car lurched ou... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
I have had my car since March 2020 and have continuously had to have my car in shop for o2 sensor, or camshaft sensor #6 This is causing safety issues and concern with engine as the light has been on but the only issue is while driving and my children are in vehicle will it just stop working on me in mid-traffic? I’ve asked several times over years and dealership cannot pinpoint recall yet my m... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2012 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle started to lose motive power with several unknown warning lights illuminated before the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who determined that the engine had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the f... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 2024
The contact owns a 2014 Dodge Journey. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, an abnormal clunking and knocking sound was heard. The traction control, ABS, and AWD warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to accelerate as needed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who replaced the brakes and sensors. The vehicle was taken to anoth... Read more
Incident date: Mar 26, 2024
The fuel pump is failing causing the car to shut down randomly.
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
Hydndai will not fix my engine until it catches on fire and or seize- There was a lawsuit and as per the settlement - the warranty is extended for the engine but the claim form and service agent said in order for the engine to be approved for replacement I would have to wait for it to seize or catch on fire. As a mother who drives with her children I find this unsafe for them or to others as thi... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
GM issued a special coverage warranty for 2016-2018 Chevrolet Volts that had a BECM failure. However, they did not include all of the Volts. We have a 2016 that has a catastrophic BECM failure. The car won't start and the only indicator was the day before it said the vehicle didn't charge. This appears to be the same issue, but Chevrolet did not include our model. We have about 87k miles and are o... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2024
This is the 3rd time a control arm on the car has cracked. I see tons of people online complaining about the same issue with the fault aluminum control arms. I have no damage and no rust and it just cracked on its on as i was backing out of a parking spot. I could have been seriously injured or my daughter had this happened on the highway. My dad is an issurance adjuster for 30 years and has n... Read more
Incident date: Feb 8, 2024
This is the 3rd time a control arm on the car has cracked. I see tons of people online complaining about the same issue with the fault aluminum control arms. I have no damage and no rust and it just cracked on its on as i was backing out of a parking spot. I could have been seriously injured or my daughter had this happened on the highway. My dad is an issurance adjuster for 30 years and has n... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 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 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 experienced a failure. The contact... Read more
Incident date: Mar 13, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Hyundai Elantra. The contact stated while driving to the emergency room at approximately 50 MPH, the vehicle began to lose motive power and the contact had to pull to the side of the road. The contact stated that when the vehicle was restarted, there was a knocking noise coming from the engine. The contact continued to drive the vehicle to the emergency room, and after leav... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2024
On [XXX] my 2017 Jeep Cherokee Latitude experienced full power failure while driving, resulting in an uncontrolled stopped with lack of power brakes, steering or other electrical assistance while in middle of road with traffic traveling 20 mph just avoiding impact with car in front of me. Had I been on highway or traveling faster I may have encountered a deadly impact to rock walls on road or surr... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
Driving at approximate 25 mph when three warnings came on simultaneously and the vehicle abruptly lost power and I was required to pull off the road. The vehicle could not go any faster than 15 mph. Fortunately I was not running on the highway when this occurred. The three warnings are as follows. 1. SERVICE ENGINE SOON WARNING 2. POWERTRAIN MALFUNCTION / REDUCED POWER 3. PRE-COLLISION ASSIST ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated intermittently. The contacted stated that the vehicle was taken to the dealer several times, but the dealer was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the front end and the rear end of the vehicle were shuddering. The check engine warning... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 Hyundai Sonata. The contact was informed of NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V568000 (Engine), and the vehicle was taken to the dealer for the recall repair; however, the dealer informed the contact that the knock sensor detection system (KSDS) software update and the recall repair had already been performed on the vehicle. The contact stated that a failure related to the recall re... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
The contact owns a 2011 Hyundai Sonata. The contact was informed of NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V568000 (Engine), and the vehicle was taken to the dealer for the recall repair; however, the dealer informed the contact that the knock sensor detection system (KSDS) software update and the recall repair had already been performed on the vehicle. The contact stated that a failure related to the recall re... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
Attempted to start the vehicle and heard some sort of noise and nothing happened. Vehicle engine would not turned over or attempt to start. Received a message on the display stating Steering Lock Malfunction. Service now. I found a response from the NHTSA stating how to correct the issue. This only applied to the 2020 model. However, this corrected my issue.
Incident date: Mar 25, 2024
When reversing the 2023 Fiskers Ocean One, the whole computer shut down. This has happened multiple times and I am afraid it may happen while driving. Remedy for this issue I found is to get out of vehicle and lock it. Then unlock it and it was restart itself. This is not safe and needs to be addressed immediately. I have contacted Fiskers and no one has responded.
Incident date: Feb 7, 2024
I was driving on [XXX] from Carson City to Reno in Washoe Valley while on autopilot, the car suddenly alerted with very loud alarms, showed 1. steering assist reduced, 2. Automatic Emergency Braking is unavailable 3. Traction Control disabled 4. Stability control disabled 5. Park Assist unavailable. I pulled over to a safe parking area. Then the car locked out for 75 mins, in Neutral gear, can't s... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2024
ON [XXX], while driving my second Tesla Model X on [XXX] from Carson City back to Reno at the speed of 79 mph on Autopilot, the same sudden loud alarming situation occurred, with 1. park Assist unavailable 2. Steering assist reduced 3. Adaptive ride control degraded 4. Traction control disabled 5. Stability control disabled 6. Lane departure avoidance features unavailable 7. Automatic emergency Br... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2024
ON [XXX], while driving my second Tesla Model X on [XXX] from Carson City back to Reno at the speed of 79 mph on Autopilot, the same sudden loud alarming situation occurred, with 1. park Assist unavailable 2. Steering assist reduced 3. Adaptive ride control degraded 4. Traction control disabled 5. Stability control disabled 6. Lane departure avoidance features unavailable 7. Automatic emergency Br... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
ON [XXX], while driving my second Tesla Model X on [XXX] from Carson City back to Reno at the speed of 79 mph on Autopilot, the same sudden loud alarming situation occurred, with 1. park Assist unavailable 2. Steering assist reduced 3. Adaptive ride control degraded 4. Traction control disabled 5. Stability control disabled 6. Lane departure avoidance features unavailable 7. Automatic emergency Br... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
Engine with rod bearing failure occurred at 108k miles. No check engine light warning came on to notify with engine knock sound as the only indicator that there was a mechanical issue. Regular oil changes have been done on the vehicle however oil levels were low when checked on the day of engine failure (no low oil light came on). 3.3 L V6 engine is not covered under Hyundai’s KSDS Software Upd... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
A-pillar applique trim clip attachments are not properly engaged due to improper assembly or repair.
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
Brakes did not engage when depressing the brake pedal. No warning lights in the dash. Car was used a few hours prior with no issues. No other warnings of the failure occurred before or during my attempt to brake, aside from the lack of braking action. Occurred at a stop sign cross traffic, I turned into oncoming traffic, cutting off the other car but avoiding a collision. I confirmed the brakes d... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
The instrument panel in front of the driver is black. I’m unable to see the speed limit, warnings, safety or collision warnings, etc. The vehicle is not making any noise or beeping to allude to the fact that there might be an issue but the Kia app is stating that there is an issue. I have used the vehicle yesterday 3/23/24 with no issues and when I went to drive this morning (3/24/24) it’s not... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
The instrument panel in front of the driver is black. I’m unable to see the speed limit, warnings, safety or collision warnings, etc. The vehicle is not making any noise or beeping to allude to the fact that there might be an issue but the Kia app is stating that there is an issue. I have used the vehicle yesterday 3/23/24 with no issues and when I went to drive this morning (3/24/24) it’s not... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2024
I recently purchased a 2021Mitsubishi Mirage G4 Carbonite Edition. Vin : [XXX] . I noticed (and tried everything i could) that the forward collision mitigation is not operational (FCM). I took it to the only authorized Mitsubishi Dealer in Las Vegas called 'Johnny Legends Mitsubishi'. They could not give me any helpful details and / or find what was wrong so they did not charge me the $195 fee. I ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 24, 2024
I NEED REMEDY COMPENSATION IN REGARDS OF MY RECALLS MY ENGINE WARRANTY WAS GONE AFTER BEING REPLACED DUE TO ENGINE SEIZED 01/01/2023 I HAD ENGINE WARRANTY SINCE 2020 AND NOW MY CAR WAS BEING REJECTED REFUSED REJECTED EXCLUDED IAM BEING DISCREDITED I OWN MY 2015 KIA OPTIMA I LIVED SLEEP IN MY CAR IAM HOING THROUGH FINANCIAL HARDSHIP SINCE 2021 I NEED LEGAL ADVICE HELP ASSISTANCE PLEASE
Incident date: Mar 22, 2024
The truck has the 5.3l engine which is DOD equipped and the DOD system causes lifters to fail and can ultimately destroy the engine while driving I had a lifter go bad and it causes the truck to run rough and smoke it's a major issue that happens in the 5.3l v8 engines something needs to be done cause it's causing major problems for any truck equipped with the DOD system.
Incident date: Feb 29, 2024
Rear hatchback fills internally with water and only drains when tailgate is raised. Standing water and freeze/thaw cycle has potential to damage electrical components (taillights, rear camera, license plate light, rear defroster, rear wiper). This issue has been confirmed by Honda dealer, but they have been unable to fix it after 3 attempts.
Incident date: Mar 13, 2024
At about 14,000 miles, started experiencing issues with steering wheel. It is harder to keep a straight line. On gradual turns, steering “sticks” and doesn’t return to natural position, therefore, overcorrection is needed causing vehicle to jerk. If steering goes back to “normal”, due to initial overcorrection, staying in lane is hard potentially causing a wreck or turning vehicle upside... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
The thermo control valve on vehicle failed on 2020 Subaru Forester which is causing vehicle to loose acceleration, multiple errors codes displaying on the vehicle instrument dash panel and no heat in the vehicle (see attached photo for reference). The failure of this device could cause a vehicle fire depending on what position/ and or state the thermo valve failed in. There needs to be a manufact... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2024
The front suspension steering damper on my vehicle not effectively damp oscillation of the steering system, resulting in a sustained shake or shimmy in the steering wheel. This can be more noticeable when driving at speeds exceeding 55 Miles Per Hour (MPH) 88 Kilometers Per hour (KPH) after contacting a bumpy road surface and in temperatures below 40° Fahrenheit (5° Celsius).
Incident date: Mar 4, 2024
The recall on the air bags in my car have yet to be fixed. I received the recall notice over a year ago, contacted my dealership and still have no remedy for this. This is my only vehicle and I have had to drive it everyday, with my children in the vehicle, worrying if the airbags are gonna fail and we get hurt or worse. I just want it fixed and not continue to wait for "their faulty product" to ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 22, 2024
The transmission shift level locks in Park. The vehicle is available for inspection. Safety was a concern as I was stopped in a school unloading zone/fire lane and was unable to place the shifter in drive. This caused the lane to be blocked. I googled the problem, and was able to remove a cover and access a manual release. I do not know if the problem was previously inspected, however, it is ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
We have a cracked windshield and VW has not been able to provide us with a replacement windshield. I have contacted VW parts at the dealership, called VW care, and called harrs auto glass. No one can get me any info on when a new windshield will be available for my car. I'm told the windshield is on backorder with an unknown ETA. I have been waiting for a windshield for 1 year with no news.
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while driving at unknown speeds for an extended period, the transmission temperature, traction control, and the check engine warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving. The contact stated that when the failure occurred on several occasions, he came to a stop to allow the vehicle to cool off. The con... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that while driving at unknown speeds for an extended period, the transmission temperature, traction control, and the check engine warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving. The contact stated that when the failure occurred on several occasions, he came to a stop to allow the vehicle to cool off. The con... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2024
Odometer section of dashboard failed to light up/turn on. Continued to happen after restarting the car. Eventually after running the car for ~20 minutes it started flashing and turned on. If this continues to occur or fails completely/indefinitely, there is a risk of stalling on the road or highway if unable to monitor the gas gauge.
Incident date: Mar 18, 2024
[XXX] tire on driver's rear began to have significant vibration while towing 16,000 lb. fifth-wheel RV. Stopped and visually/tactilely determined unusual wear pattern so went to commercial tire shop in Pahrump, NV. Their inspection determined tread separation rendering the tire unusable so we replaced it with a different brand. This is the second of three tires installed at the same time that ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 5, 2024
The ABS/EBS errors lights comes on and cruise control won't work. Did some research online seems like a common problem. Hoping to see a recall by Ram.
Incident date: Mar 20, 2024
These Vehicles have a ongoing problem with the brake actuator. Lexus I'm sure Is aware of the problem I believe they should take care of it. It's a really expensive fix that we as customers shouldn't have to be responsible for. This issue makes driving the vehicle very uncomfortable.
Incident date: Dec 14, 2023
My windshield wipers started intermittently not working then completely stopped working while driving in the rain.
Incident date: Mar 17, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS450V. The contact stated that while driving at unknown speeds and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle hesitated to respond. The contact stated that no warning lights were illuminated before the failure. The contact drove the vehicle to the dealer, where the failure could not be duplicated. Additionally, the dealer informed the contact that the braking s... Read more
Incident date: Mar 17, 2024
Rear tailgate will occasionally pop open while driving for no reason. Often times when parked rear tailgate latch will not open it. Takes several attempts to get it open, sometimes have to open another door to get it to work.
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
MY FORD ESCAPE IS IN THE. DEALERS SHOP WITH A DIAGNOSIS OF COOLANT IN THE CYLINDERS THE FIX IS ENGINE REPLACEMENT AT $8,000.00 TO $9,000.00. I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IN AN ONGOING PROBLEM WITH FORD 1.5 AND 2.0 LITER ENGINES. MY CAR HAS 50,419 MILES AS OF 2-21-24. WHY HASN’T THERE BEEN A RECALL OR OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM? APPARENTLY A LARGE NUMBER OF FORD CUSTOMERS HA... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2024
Front windshield cracked for no apparent reason.
Incident date: Mar 18, 2024
There is still not a remedy and we have been notified of this problem since November. Having to wait 6 months for a remedy and the chance that it might catch on fire is highly dangerous and scary! There is no reason that this should take so long. Can the manufacturer not do something about this.
Incident date: Oct 5, 2023
The contact owned a 2023 Tesla X. The contact stated that while driving at 25 MPH, the contact became distracted by an incoming phone call and crashed into another vehicle. The air bags deployed upon impact and the contact became locked inside the vehicle. The whereabouts of the other driver were unknown. The police were called to the scene but were unable to assist with the contact's removal from... Read more
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