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: May 30, 2023
RECALL unable to be remedied by Manufacturer despite numerous attempts at two different dealers. Concerned for my safety as well as the safety of my family and elderly parent I care for. "Fuel starvation may result in an unexpected loss of motive power, which can cause a vehicle crash without prior warning."
Incident date: May 29, 2023
Adaptive cruise control with Auto Steer will without warning or noticable reason suddenly decelerate the vehicle. At highway speeds from 70 to sudden deceleration to 30 mph if the accelerator pedal isn't pushed immediately when it slows without warning. Sometimes with vehicles behind. There has been some close calls but no accidents.
Incident date: May 29, 2023
The steering in my car is sticking/tightening during any speed over 45 miles an hour. At low speeds around 30 miles an hour there are not issues. It feels as though something is pulling on the steering wheel. It seems to only be noticable during warmer time frames. I had my car inspected at a Honda dealership and they did an alignment and assured me that they did not find any issues. I've brought ... Read more
Incident date: May 29, 2023
Error message "Secure vehicle with parking brake when stopped. Consult service center" on my 2016 BMW X1. Seems common enough for a recall - I am quoted $2,700 fix by the dealer and the problem seems to be a small spring in the gear selector box!?
Incident date: May 26, 2023
The brake & turn signal lights are located at the bottom of the bumper, however the vehicle has additional taillights midway up the back of the vehicle, these are in the traditional area of the car, however these taillights in the traditional place do not indicate a stop or turn. This is where most people’s eyes are focused when they are following you, not at the bottom of the bumper. This creat... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2023
Repetitive phantom braking. Happens quite often. Three time today on the intestate. I had cruise control set at 71mph and without any vehicle or obstacles in the area the car hard breaked from 71 down to 40. I have it on video.
Incident date: May 28, 2023
Hybrid system failure, car stopped in the middle of traffic
Incident date: May 28, 2023
The airbag recall was opened on May 10th. I have not yet heard of any remedy despite the fact that the nhtsa site says that the dealer should be replacing my airbags.
Incident date: May 29, 2023
Went to put car seat in rear drivers side seat to find the seat belt doesn't latch. Seems to be similar to current Honda recall
Incident date: May 29, 2023
I took my car to get a alignment n come to find out that they couldn't align the back wheels to to seize bolt and also my steering rack n pinionand it's also reading code c1122
Incident date: May 27, 2023
When traveling on cruise control the car will suddenly break in the middle of the road even though there are no vehicles, pedestrians, or threats.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
On 10/17/2021 my son was killed along with his passenger in this Tesla. The car was thought to be going over 100 miles an hour on a city road Coconut Point Road in Estero Florida. The car was thought to have hit a tree with the rear tire and was sent flying through the air and hit another tree and split in half. My son knew this road well as it was close to his home and drove it on his way home... Read more
Crash
2 deaths
Incident date: May 27, 2023
On 10/17/2021 my son was killed along with his passenger in this Tesla. The car was thought to be going over 100 miles an hour on a city road Coconut Point Road in Estero Florida. The car was thought to have hit a tree with the rear tire and was sent flying through the air and hit another tree and split in half. My son knew this road well as it was close to his home and drove it on his way home... Read more
Crash
2 deaths
Incident date: Oct 17, 2021
On 10/17/2021 my son was killed along with his passenger in this Tesla. The car was thought to be going over 100 miles an hour on a city road Coconut Point Road in Estero Florida. The car was thought to have hit a tree with the rear tire and was sent flying through the air and hit another tree and split in half. My son knew this road well as it was close to his home and drove it on his way home... Read more
Crash
2 deaths
Incident date: Oct 17, 2021
Headlight went out. Lane change assist not working
Incident date: Oct 17, 2021
Headlight went out. Lane change assist not working
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
Car needs to rewired because my break lights keep blowing out & will no longer work. They are burned from the inside. Also when turning on lights to my car the car stalls.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
Car needs to rewired because my break lights keep blowing out & will no longer work. They are burned from the inside. Also when turning on lights to my car the car stalls.
Incident date: May 28, 2023
ABS ESC constantly flashes and chimes non stop…. Failed control to wheels in wet weather conditions/ no cruise control/ 4x4
Incident date: Apr 12, 2023
Car smoking white , and driving slow after I hit a pothole when it was raining hard.
Incident date: Apr 12, 2023
Car smoking white , and driving slow after I hit a pothole when it was raining hard.
Incident date: May 26, 2023
Vehical infotainment system constantly beeps and changes formats, including randomly dialing phone numbers while driving. turning volume down does not control the distraction and system cannot be turned off. beeping is so load, it can be heard from 20 feet away from the car (outside of vehicle). the distraction is a safety problem for the driver. problem is in effect over 6 monthes and unit cannot... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2023
The car only left in the parking lot for 8 hours and then crack. No sign of hit.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
While driving on a relatively straight, 2-lane highway with cruise control set and no autopilot, the car started to brake suddenly and aggressively. This caused the car behind me to almost rear end my car. Luckily I was quick enough to press the accelerator to avoid the accident. This same sudden braking happened a total of 4 times within a 200 mile trip, one of which almost caused an accident.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
My car engaged the automatic emergency braking (AEB) when the car in front of me lightly tapped on their brakes-- When the AEB engaged, my car come to a complete stop... I tried to accelerate to prevent being rear ended, but my accelerator was disabled and I had no control of my car... Nearly causing me to get rear ended and probably causing a 5+ car collision. MANY Tesla drivers have experience... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
My car engaged the automatic emergency braking (AEB) when the car in front of me lightly tapped on their brakes-- When the AEB engaged, my car come to a complete stop... I tried to accelerate to prevent being rear ended, but my accelerator was disabled and I had no control of my car... Nearly causing me to get rear ended and probably causing a 5+ car collision. MANY Tesla drivers have experience... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2023
My car engaged the automatic emergency braking (AEB) when the car in front of me lightly tapped on their brakes-- When the AEB engaged, my car come to a complete stop... I tried to accelerate to prevent being rear ended, but my accelerator was disabled and I had no control of my car... Nearly causing me to get rear ended and probably causing a 5+ car collision. MANY Tesla drivers have experience... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2023
The Infotainment System started acting strange. The volume adjusts itself. It starts blaring very loudly and has nearly caused several collisions and it continuously turns on and off. I can not use it at all.
Incident date: May 28, 2023
This BMW was sold to with a faulty condition with a faulty engine. No lights ever came on . Although there was a bad engine.
Incident date: May 12, 2023
repeatedly, i have had my car brake harshly when travelling anywhere from 30-55 mph while using adaptive cruise control. there is nevere anything in the road or a car anywhere nearby to warrant a dramatic braking. the decelertion is harsh and alomst caused someone behind me to hit me on 2 occasions. i have repeatedly told Tesla about this and mostly gotten a nebulous response about "hardware" or '... Read more
Incident date: May 15, 2023
repeatedly, i have had my car brake harshly when travelling anywhere from 30-55 mph while using adaptive cruise control. there is nevere anything in the road or a car anywhere nearby to warrant a dramatic braking. the decelertion is harsh and alomst caused someone behind me to hit me on 2 occasions. i have repeatedly told Tesla about this and mostly gotten a nebulous response about "hardware" or '... Read more
Incident date: May 15, 2023
The Ioniq 5 has a braking system that does not engage the brake lights on deceleration when in certain regenerative braking settings. This is dangerous as the car will quickly decelerate and not warn drivers behind you potentially causing a crash because they are unaware the Ioniq is stopping quickly. Please have Hyundai address the issue for recall.
Incident date: May 15, 2023
The Ioniq 5 has a braking system that does not engage the brake lights on deceleration when in certain regenerative braking settings. This is dangerous as the car will quickly decelerate and not warn drivers behind you potentially causing a crash because they are unaware the Ioniq is stopping quickly. Please have Hyundai address the issue for recall.
Incident date: May 28, 2023
On multiple occasions (100+) during a 4,000 mile road trip, (May 7-26, 2023) this vehicle slammed on its brakes while driving down the highway while using the adaptive cruise control feature. Speed reduction was up to 25 MPH from highway speeds of 65 - 80 MPH. This braking was quite dramatic, just short of locking the brakes up. Traffic conditions varied from very light (no vehicles in sight) t... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2023
Had just pulled out of my local hardware store and was going home when the brakes suddenly came on bringing me to a very sudden stop while traveling on a main road. Luckily the car behind me had time to stop. I didn't apply the brakes or the parking brake. I don't know what caused it. No cars were directly ahead of me. After the stop I was able to move again. I pulled off of the road to see if I c... Read more
Incident date: May 28, 2023
My truck has what is known as the death wobble. I am having it repaired again because if I hit a bump while I'm driving down the road, it'll jerk over into other people's lanes almost hitting other cars. It's horrible this is the second or third time I've had to repair this and is a well-known issue between 2007 and 2019. Can something please be done about this? This is starting to get a little ri... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Drivetrain malfunction, made car inoperable. Went into park mode. No neutral ability to move. Had to be special tow. Car is 2 days old. Only 200 miles on odometer. Check internet, many many same issues.
Incident date: May 28, 2023
This recall is potentially life threatening. It has been months & the dealer is still saying there is no fix. I believe they are not giving it the proper attention because this recall affects only Diesel engines & there were not many diesel jeep models purchased compared to traditional gas engine jeeps. I own 2. Both are affected & I feel unsafe. Please see that they remedy this problem asap befor... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
On a trip from Spokane to Seattle on 5/27/2023, while traveling at 72mph on I-90, we experienced “phantom braking”. This resulted in the vehicle rapidly decelerating based on its detection of something in front of the car to avoid a collision. This occurred 3 times on the trip, and in no case was there anything for the vehicle to avoid. Weather was clear and road conditions were dry. Our bigge... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
The power steering fails. It has happened several times while backing up and while slowly moving forward. The car loses all power steering and the steering wheel catches.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Brakes are very poor, car lurches forward at stop lights and you have to stomp the brake pedal to prevent running into the car in front of you.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
We have had our car for under 3 months and have had repeated episodes (easily 2 to 3 dozen) of extremely rapid braking when the car is in cruise control on the open interstate road when there are no cars ahead of us or any other obstacles that might have triggered the camera sensor. Tried turning off the forward collision avoidance option and the events still happen. Have kept the windshield over ... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
The front bedroom slide out has caused a structural crack.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Twice reported transmission issues to dealer. They suggested changing transmission fluid, so we did. Issue did not resolve. Check engine light came on. Car won’t shift gears.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
During a 30 mile trip on a two lane highway I activated the cruise control. A number of times the car made significant slow downs. They seamed to be associated with oncoming trafic. I then shut off the cruise control. Later on when I could see there where no oncoming cars I again set the cruise control for 65 MPH. After only about 15 seconds the car made a rapid deceleation. The deceleration... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
When the front passenger seat is damp, the passenger airbag light shows it is off, and the dash lights display an error light on the dashboard. The concern is that the passenger is not protected while the airbag is not on.
Incident date: May 27, 2023
It has been almost a half year and still no solution for backup camera that shows blue screen. It is happening more and more. It is a big vehicle (and expensive one) . When backing up, one is at a great disadvantage with just a blue screen. You cannot see people or other objects. Car dealership says they do not know when it will be rectified. I think Ford/Lincoln is dragging their feet, using COVI... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2023
Car caught fire in driveway spontaneously. It had not been used since the previous day and had been sitting atleast 16 hours since last use. We woke up and black smoke and flames coming from car taller than our house. Significant damage to other three cars in driveway and side of our house. Car that caught fire is totaled
Fire
Incident date: May 27, 2023
Software Version: 2023.12.10 Over the past month, I have experienced a recurring problem with my vehicle's auditory notification system. The issue first began a couple of software updates ago and has persisted through the most recent update. The problem manifests sporadically, having occurred three times within the past month. When this issue arises, all system sounds, excluding radio and media, ... Read more
Incident date: May 27, 2023
The car will NOT start with a ESC warranty