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: Sep 10, 2025
seats break easily and dont lock in place as well as control modulae harness from door to rear tail lights burn up
Incident date: Sep 10, 2025
seats break easily and dont lock in place as well as control modulae harness from door to rear tail lights burn up
Incident date: Jul 31, 2025
The contact owns a 2013 Honda Accord. The contact received an NHTSA recall email alert for NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V422000 (POWER TRAIN). After contacting the dealer, who confirmed the VIN inclusion in the recall, an appointment was scheduled. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for the recall repair; however, upon inspection, the dealer determined that the driveshaft did not require replacement.... Read more
Incident date: Aug 9, 2025
When I put the car in park and go to turn off the car, I'm getting a "Shift to Park" error when the car is already in park. This error will not allow the car to shut off. I have to shift it back out of gear and then back to park several times before it will recognize that it's in park and allow me to turn off the car.
Incident date: Aug 9, 2025
When I put the car in park and go to turn off the car, I'm getting a "Shift to Park" error when the car is already in park. This error will not allow the car to shut off. I have to shift it back out of gear and then back to park several times before it will recognize that it's in park and allow me to turn off the car.
TESLA
CYBERTRUCK
(2025) — STEERING
Sep 10, 2025
Incident date: Aug 26, 2025
During a road trip at mostly highway speeds, we experienced an intermittent "sticking" sensation in the steering wheel while trying to recenter the wheel on turns, almost as if the power steering temporarily disabled, that required additional torque to turn the wheel back to center, after which the steering felt normal again until the next time it happened.
Incident date: Sep 1, 2025
My Mazda CX90 consistently has a hard delay before jerking my car forward, especially when shifting between 2nd and 3rd gear. This is most common at slow speeds and accelerating from a stop. On top of generally rough shifting, there have been four separate instances where my car blatantly stopped accelerating and slowed my car from 70-80 mph down to 40-45 mph. Once driving up a hill, and the res... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2025
My Mazda CX90 consistently has a hard delay before jerking my car forward, especially when shifting between 2nd and 3rd gear. This is most common at slow speeds and accelerating from a stop. On top of generally rough shifting, there have been four separate instances where my car blatantly stopped accelerating and slowed my car from 70-80 mph down to 40-45 mph. Once driving up a hill, and the res... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2025
The central computer in my 2022 Tesla Model 3 failed unexpectedly. This is a critical component that controls essential vehicle functions, including safety alerts, battery management, regenerative braking, Autopilot features, navigation, and over-the-air updates. The failure makes the vehicle unsafe to operate. The car is only 2–3 years old, and such a major systems failure in such a short time... Read more
Incident date: Sep 10, 2025
The rear camera is malfunctioning!! It shows a blue screen!! Hasn't complete stopped working! A recall was released yesterday and the recall fits the description of what my vehicle is doing! My vehicle was not listed! This started about a month ago!
Incident date: Sep 10, 2025
The rear camera goes out when backing up. This causes a safety hazard due to not being able to see.
Incident date: Sep 10, 2025
Front left safety restraint. Airbags won’t deploy due to this issue.
Incident date: Sep 6, 2025
While using Adaptive Cruise Control at 47mph on a local highway, Automatic Emergency Braking activated almost stopping the vehicle with vehicles fairly close behind it nearly causing an accident. There were no vehicles beside our car and no vehicles or objects on the road in front that could trigger the braking. This has also happened several times at lower speeds on less crowded roads. Afte... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2025
when driving into a left curve the chrysler pacifica minivan at roughly 10:00 on the steering wheel, the steering wheel locks and is very hard to get out of the locked state. in order to clear the locked state I have to jerk the wheel hard back to the right to get it free. I feel that it will eventually either stay locked in that position and cause a head on collision or if overcorrected will caus... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2025
when driving into a left curve the chrysler pacifica minivan at roughly 10:00 on the steering wheel, the steering wheel locks and is very hard to get out of the locked state. in order to clear the locked state I have to jerk the wheel hard back to the right to get it free. I feel that it will eventually either stay locked in that position and cause a head on collision or if overcorrected will caus... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2025
On [XXX], I was driving my recently purchased 2018 Tesla Model S (VIN: [XXX], mileage approx. [30,536]). The vehicle was purchased directly through Tesla’s app in late August 2025 and delivered to me the same day of the incident. Approximately 4.5 hours after delivery, while driving with my son, white smoke began to come out of the cabin air vents. Within minutes, the smoke turned black and rap... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Sep 9, 2025
On [XXX], I was driving my recently purchased 2018 Tesla Model S (VIN: [XXX], mileage approx. [30,536]). The vehicle was purchased directly through Tesla’s app in late August 2025 and delivered to me the same day of the incident. Approximately 4.5 hours after delivery, while driving with my son, white smoke began to come out of the cabin air vents. Within minutes, the smoke turned black and rap... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Aug 17, 2025
Lane departure feature is overly sensitive, often adjusts the car when not needed and has made car swerve inadvertently
Incident date: Jun 1, 2025
Electronic power steering is having issues. Did some research and apparently it’s some sort of torque sensor that requires a whole steering rack replacement. This is a safety concern for the driver and other drivers on the road because the steering is “sticky.” It feels like pulling magnets apart to get the steering wheel to rotate more. Sometimes sticking so bad you have to fight it to stee... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2023 Vinfast VF8. The contact stated that while his wife was driving 30 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power and came to a complete stop in the middle of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and the vehicle was repaired but the contact was not provided a diagnostic report nor the rep... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2025
Resistive occupancy sensor consistently failing causing: -Bluetooth to not automatically connect anytime the vehicle is entered - vehicle puts itself in park to prevent rollback if seatbelt is not applied - car does not recognize when driver is in seat These are serious safety concerns as it could cause a domino effect in safety features if not applied when needed.
Incident date: Jul 26, 2025
Yesterday again my 2024 I7 x50 bmw suddenly engaged its auto brakes. I have been in communication with different dealers trying to repair this problem as it almost cause another accident. Luckily there was no cars behind me and there was no cars ahead of me. The cars door also would not close. I have video evidence of this
Incident date: Jul 26, 2025
Yesterday again my 2024 I7 x50 bmw suddenly engaged its auto brakes. I have been in communication with different dealers trying to repair this problem as it almost cause another accident. Luckily there was no cars behind me and there was no cars ahead of me. The cars door also would not close. I have video evidence of this
Incident date: Jul 26, 2025
The vehicle experienced serious drive control failures on three separate dates: September 21, 2024; October 2, 2024; and July 26, 2025. On each occasion, acceleration was either severely delayed or completely unresponsive, and the vehicle rolled backward when attempting to move forward on an incline. The following warnings appeared on the dashboard: “Stability Control Disabled,” ESC (Electron... Read more
Incident date: Sep 7, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 MPH around a roundabout, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal before the vehicle stalled. Several unknown warning lights illuminated with an abnormal beeping sound coming from the vehicle. The contact was able to coast to the side of the road. The cont... Read more
Incident date: Sep 7, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 MPH around a roundabout, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal before the vehicle stalled. Several unknown warning lights illuminated with an abnormal beeping sound coming from the vehicle. The contact was able to coast to the side of the road. The cont... Read more
TESLA
MODEL 3
(2023) — SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC; AUTOHOLD BRAKE SYSTEM/BRAKE HOLD:SOFTWARE
Sep 8, 2025
Incident date: Sep 7, 2025
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle jerked hard with several alerts for the "Traction Control, ABS, Lane Departure feature displayed. Additionally, the Stability Control System was disabled, and the message “Brake Hold Unavailable” was displayed. The contact stated that the “Automatic Emergency Braking Unavailable" and an orange tr... Read more
Incident date: Aug 26, 2025
The glare from the dash to the windshield on occasion is so severe that it is impossible to see/avoid a pedestrian or other vehicle close in front of you. This is a major safety issue.
Incident date: Dec 20, 2023
Leased a new 2025 Polestar 3 and took delivery Dec 28, 2024. I expected some growing pains as it’s a new car model and relatively new brand, but have had to take it to the dealer and/or call support almost monthly. Most of the issues are resolved via resetting some system, but the major issue has been charging at home. Around March I had an issue where it wouldn’t charge at home and the car st... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2023
I bought the car in October of 2024 with 92,000 miles. Around 99,000 miles or so it started running kinda rough drove like it had less power and is shifting hard. It affected the drivability of the car. I took it to the ford dealership and they quoted me $5,200 for a torque converter. The car is out of warranty and I cannot afford to fix it and I still owe money on the car. If I knew this was goin... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2023
This is a complaint regarding intermittent camera blindness, driver assistance failure, and dismissed diagnostics on a 2023 Tesla Model Y. These issues have impacted critical safety systems including: •Pillar and rear-view cameras •Autopilot and Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC) •Park assist and visualization systems Despite multiple service visits and clear documentation, Tesla has faile... Read more
Incident date: Jul 27, 2025
At 85,000 miles I was experiencing a grinding noise coming from my front end when making sharp turns to left or right. Took car to my mechanic immediately for diagnosis. They found the motor mounts and rear differential is binding and close to failure. My mechanic contacted FOMOCO to see about a replacement for the rear differential and was told that there were not any available due to a REDESIGN ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2025
I am filing this complaint regarding my Nuna RAVA convertible car seat. The seat’s harness straps have loosened unexpectedly, even when fully tightened according to the instruction manual. While I have been able to get them to stay tight, I have to constantly monitor them for potential slippage. This unpredictability is concerning because it could compromise my child’s safety in the event of a... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2025
I leased a 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe. The main failure involves the hybrid electrical system, which repeatedly malfunctions. The most serious issue is that the vehicle will suddenly stall while driving, without warning, leaving me and my children stranded in the middle of traffic. This creates an extreme safety risk, as it has happened in intersections and nearly caused accidents with other veh... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2025
According to my local ford dealership, the rattling/clicking sound in my engine is due to a faulty water pump which is apparently a known problem for a 2019 ford escape. I did not even have a check engine light appear and just happened to have my vehicle there for a different reason. This is an extensive and costly fix that should not be an issue with a 6 year old vehicle with 77k miles. With this... Read more
Incident date: Sep 3, 2025
The contact owns a 2025 Chevrolet Equinox. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, the engine revved to a higher RPM unexpectedly. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions, and the brake pedal needed to be depressed very hard while attempting to stop the vehicle. The contact stated the vehicle had started independently two to four times in a row. No... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2025
On September 2, 2025 at 1004-1005 EST, my car phantom braked, when there was nothing in front of me and this time instead of just flashing brake on the dashboard, it actually breaks itself and threw me into the steering wheel thank God my seatbelt caught me, but it really choked me up. This has happened quite a number of times before, but this is the first time that it breaked when I actually step... Read more
Incident date: Sep 5, 2025
See attached document for complaint.
Incident date: Aug 15, 2025
The rear parking brake pivot point gets stuck in the on position. After some research, this is VERY common on these vans and is going to cause wrecks or deaths. The pivot point where the parking brake connects to the rear parking brake linkage rusts and gets stuck VERY easily. My van only has 60,000 miles on it. There is no sensor in this pivot point, so when you release the parking brake, it seem... Read more
Incident date: Aug 15, 2025
The vehicle has been taken in for routine oil changes and other routine maintenance since purchasing in January 2024. On 9/4/2025, just before arriving home from work, the oil light came on. I checked the dipstick and it was dry. There was no oil in the engine. The last oil change was ~3600 miles ago (regular intervals of 5,000 with synthetic oil). I added two quarts of oil before driving anywhere... Read more
Incident date: Aug 13, 2025
When adaptive cruise control is enabled and I’m at cruising speed, new vehicles entering the lane in front of my vehicle are not being acknowledged leading to my vehicle getting too close and collision becoming likely. This leads to me having to takeover control frequently to prevent accidents. This happens often, not always, but it is becoming more and more frequent. This happens at all speeds... Read more
Incident date: Aug 28, 2025
The front control arms, their bushings and ball joints are failing. My car only has 125k miles on it, but it drifts and bounces around as if there is no struts at all. It is very scary to drive, it feels like something terrible is about to happen like a wheel snapping off and causing accident. I took it to several mechanics. They say it will cost $1,700k to replace ONE control arm! $3,400k for bot... Read more
Incident date: Aug 28, 2025
The front control arms, their bushings and ball joints are failing. My car only has 125k miles on it, but it drifts and bounces around as if there is no struts at all. It is very scary to drive, it feels like something terrible is about to happen like a wheel snapping off and causing accident. I took it to several mechanics. They say it will cost $1,700k to replace ONE control arm! $3,400k for bot... Read more
Incident date: Sep 4, 2025
The rear camera suddenly has bright wonky colors making it difficult to see what is behind you.
Incident date: Jun 26, 2025
I went to leave my workplace and got into my car with a message of “Only Exit Vehicle in a P Position. Please Service Vehicle”. I turned off my vehicle and restarted it and the message went away The next morning I got in my vehicle and the same message came back. Leaving my workplace it shut itself off again I found that this year and model has been affected by a recall for that same issue b... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2025
Vehicle: 2019 Chevrolet Traverse High Country Mileage at Failure: ~68,897 miles Problem: Rear auxiliary evaporator leaked refrigerant, causing the A/C to blow warm and fail. Safety Concerns: Loss of cooling performance in high summer temperatures → potential heat stress risk for passengers, especially children and medically vulnerable occupants. Refrigerant leaking inside the vehicle → po... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated that while stopped at a traffic light, the vehicle experienced a loss of automotive power, and the vehicle failed to start. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that after several attempts, the vehicle restarted and the contact drove to a parking lot, and then the vehicle was towed to a local dealer, where it was di... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Impreza. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50-55 MPH, the sunroof exploded without impact. The contact was able to pull over safely. There were no reported injuries. The local dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 92,860.
Incident date: Aug 10, 2025
My 2020 Genesis G70 is affected by Recall 24V-528 (high-pressure fuel pump defect). About 10 months after the recall service was marked “completed,” my car began showing DTC P0088 (Fuel Rail/System Pressure Too High), which is directly tied to the recall defect. On 8/30/25 car was hesitating when just slowly pulling out of driveway, and check engine light came on and stayed on. The car jerks a... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2025
On July 17, 2025, shortly before 4am, my son's 2013 Kia Rio caught fire, while sitting in the driveway turned off, and was totally destroyed. The car was parked in the driveway at his house and there were not any warning signs before it happened. On June 10, 2024 we had the HECU fuse replaced through a recall that could cause a fire. After we had it "fixed" we had no idea that it could still cat... Read more
Fire