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 18, 2025
ABS, BRAKE AND Stability lights came on, i have to press all the way down the brake pedal for car to stop.
Incident date: Oct 18, 2025
Dear NHTSA, I am writing to formally report a serious safety incident involving my 2016 Kia Optima Hybrid, which caught fire and was completely destroyed on October 5, 2025. Incident Summary: While driving on a highway at approximately 65 mph, I noticed that the vehicle was not entering Hybrid Mode, which is abnormal for its typical operation. I reduced my speed to 45 mph, then down to 35 mph a... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
Coolant Infusion Into Engine , Powertrain Light Issue Turns On But & It Stated To Replace Spark Plugs/ Coil Overs But Coolant Still Dissapates From Coolant Resevior
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
I have under 30,800 miles. On 02/25/2025 my car was completely dead. I called Andy Mohr Toyota. I had my car towed in . They said I needed a new battery. Okay I paid got my car back. On 10/16/25 car is completely dead again. I called roadside assistance. My new battery won’t hold a charge. The starter is working and alternator is connected. Inside looks brand new.
Incident date: Mar 5, 2025
5’8” 105lb person sitting in the front seat will result in the airbag indicator showing “off” for up to 15 mins of driving before turning “on”. Is happening on purchased vehicle and courtesy vehicle. I suspect the advanced airbag system is faulty.
Incident date: Sep 22, 2025
Car engine sometimes does not restart when the auto start-stop feature is engaged. Car engine is also sluggish to restart when it does work. My local Acura dealer evaluated the car on 10/15/25, found battery was low. Battery was replaced that day, and things seemed okay for about a week. Today (10/21) when I was stopped at a traffic light, the issue returned and my car would not restart after goin... Read more
Incident date: Sep 26, 2025
The contact owns a 2010 Honda Ridgeline. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the ABS and ESC warning lights were also illuminated. The contact had driven back to the residence. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer, where it was determined that, because of extreme corrosion to the rear cross members and s... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-250. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle experienced the death wobble. The steering wheel shook aggressively, making it difficult to maneuver the vehicle. The contact decelerated and was able to coast to the emergency lane on the side of the road to get off the interstate. The contact continued to drive the vehicle to the residence... Read more
Incident date: Nov 14, 2023
rear lights malfunction and UNKNOWN
Incident date: Nov 14, 2023
I have had 2 incidents of engine ceasure in my 2013 Kia Optima SX w/ Limited package. Once it ceased on the freeway causing me to have a minor collision with the offramp guide rail and just recenting on 10/18/2025 it happened again on the 405 with loud knocking sounds engine light flashing and no real engine power after ceasing. My engine was previously repaired under warranty with case number X... Read more
Incident date: Oct 13, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Hyundai Tucson. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond while stopped at a red light. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed; however, the diagnostic result was unknown. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was... Read more
Incident date: Oct 13, 2025
The contact owns a 2017 Hyundai Tucson. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond while stopped at a red light. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed; however, the diagnostic result was unknown. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was... Read more
Incident date: Oct 13, 2025
The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel failed to turn in the intended direction. In addition, the power steering failure warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was turned off. The contact stated that while attempting to restart the vehicle, the vehicle was started, and the power steering failure warning light ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2025
Sir this is not first time to make complaint I brought my car to Hyundai company after I got an appointment and they called text emailed me and the know my car information on 10/1/2025 I brought my car but they mentioned wrong VIN NUMBER and after that I came back on 10/8/2025 but when I got there to finish my recall 953 they said your car rebuild title and now my car engine I think out I don’t ... Read more
Fire
1 injured
Incident date: Oct 15, 2025
The info system screen goes blank. It will intermittently go off and return on before shutting off completely. The info screen is the only way to operate the air controls. This makes the vehicle unsafe to operate when conditions require air adjustments to keep a clear windshield. This issue also causes numerous dash alerts. Rear and front collision plus maneuver braking.
Incident date: Sep 25, 2025
Twice now I have had the vehicle not want to shift appropriately in low gears. When this happens, the vehicle locks up and will not move. Both times, VW has had. Tow get the vehicle and take it in for repair. 1st time was software update. Now it’s there for the second time with no answer as what’s wrong. They have replaced parts but cannot figure out why it’s not shifting correctly. At VW in... Read more
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
Volkswagen has a bad software patch that has impacted VW Atlas' nationwide. Infotainment systems including the front and rear safety cameras as well as car controls are not accessible because the infotainment system is completely off. This is impacting the entire nation and dealerships are unable to provide updates. This is a huge safety concern. People will get hurt because of this outage.
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
Volkswagen has a bad software patch that has impacted VW Atlas' nationwide. Infotainment systems including the front and rear safety cameras as well as car controls are not accessible because the infotainment system is completely off. This is impacting the entire nation and dealerships are unable to provide updates. This is a huge safety concern. People will get hurt because of this outage.
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
Volkswagen has a bad software patch that has impacted VW Atlas' nationwide. Infotainment systems including the front and rear safety cameras as well as car controls are not accessible because the infotainment system is completely off. This is impacting the entire nation and dealerships are unable to provide updates. This is a huge safety concern. People will get hurt because of this outage.
Incident date: Oct 20, 2025
My car has never been in an accident. One day while turning into my driveway, I heard a large clicking sound. Since then, my airbag malfunction light is on and my car horn does not sound/work. All steering wheel controls are broken. This has been an issue for about 6 months. I've been waiting on a recall impacting my specific VIN/year/make/model, however I am being informed that I will need t... Read more
Incident date: Oct 20, 2025
The contact called on behalf of the owner of a 2013 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while his father-in-law was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle unintendedly downshifted from 6th to 1st gear. The father-in-law pulled over to the side of the road, turned off and restarted the vehicle and the vehicle returned to normal functionality. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact st... Read more
Incident date: Oct 18, 2025
Pulling into traffic car stalled without warning. Went from about 25 MPH to a complete stop in approximately in less than 100 feet. Car sputtered with transmission grabbing intermittently as it jerked to a stop. Restarted about several times with similar behavior. (Covered under 60,000-mile warranty (actual mileage ~55,000)). Replaced fuel pump driver control module to correct. No accident due to ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 18, 2025
Pulling into traffic car stalled without warning. Went from about 25 MPH to a complete stop in approximately in less than 100 feet. Car sputtered with transmission grabbing intermittently as it jerked to a stop. Restarted about several times with similar behavior. (Covered under 60,000-mile warranty (actual mileage ~55,000)). Replaced fuel pump driver control module to correct. No accident due to ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2025
Over the air software update causing the infotainment system to fail and shut down causing all the safety systems to not work. The infotainment system in this car also contains the climate control, am/fm radio, hands free communication, and all charging devices which will not work either. VW has no solution, resetting the system does nothing ( hard or soft).
Incident date: Oct 5, 2025
The infotainment system, which controls most of the functions of driving safely, is down again for the 2nd time since I purchased my Atlas on 6/9/25. The first time it happened, the local VW dealer had me bring it in on 8/30 & they "fixed" it relatively quickly. They stated it was a local issue & had many Atlas screens that went down but they didn't know why. Now on 10/16 this occurred again... Read more
Incident date: Oct 6, 2025
The vehicle begins to vibrate in the front end when accelerating and reaching 80 km/h. It becomes extremely unstable. The dealership was unable to find the cause of the problem.
Incident date: Oct 6, 2025
Infotainment screen reset multiple times while driving. Once parked, I turned the car off and back on again to see if that would fix the issue. The screen now won’t turn on at all and multiple safety features are disabled.
Incident date: Oct 1, 2025
The car only has 54700 I am orginal owner. Drivers seat does not work, Catalytic converter, GM Service Bulletin #43210. Ask if your VIN is affected or if they’ve seen similar failures in 2014 models. This car is a lemon.
Incident date: Oct 1, 2025
The car only has 54700 I am orginal owner. Drivers seat does not work, Catalytic converter, GM Service Bulletin #43210. Ask if your VIN is affected or if they’ve seen similar failures in 2014 models. This car is a lemon.
Incident date: Oct 15, 2025
The car only has 54700 I am orginal owner. Drivers seat does not work, Catalytic converter, GM Service Bulletin #43210. Ask if your VIN is affected or if they’ve seen similar failures in 2014 models. This car is a lemon.
TESLA
CYBERTRUCK
(2024) - POWER TRAIN
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
The Dealer sold me the car which is on recalls he sold this car to me on Saturday October 11th till date he didn’t give me my car there is active recall on it it is parking Rod something he is not giving update. If Ford customer care they are not sharing proper time line . When they will give back my car the Ford is not fallowing proper timeline to give my car Till date they didn’t tell me w... Read more
TESLA
CYBERTRUCK
(2024) - ENGINE
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that upon placing the gear shifter in park(P) and turning off the vehicle, the message "Transmission Not in Park" was flashing on the instrument panel. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start up after several attempts. The contact called an independent mechanic, and the vehicle was towed to the shop. The mechanic discovered that... Read more
TESLA
CYBERTRUCK
(2024) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Oct 17, 2025
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that upon placing the gear shifter in park(P) and turning off the vehicle, the message "Transmission Not in Park" was flashing on the instrument panel. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start up after several attempts. The contact called an independent mechanic, and the vehicle was towed to the shop. The mechanic discovered that... Read more
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
The infotainment center is not working- the screen is black. I am unable to see any of my cameras, change my air/heat- it is currently set to cold and it is freezing when I drive my car, I can’t use my map or hands free calling. This is very unsafe and none of the safety features are working.
Incident date: Oct 17, 2025
The infotainment center is not working- the screen is black. I am unable to see any of my cameras, change my air/heat- it is currently set to cold and it is freezing when I drive my car, I can’t use my map or hands free calling. This is very unsafe and none of the safety features are working.
Incident date: Oct 13, 2025
The cars brakes randomly firm and grab hard, or in other cases are soft and require the drive to depress them twice or three times as much as when they are firm, or they needed to be pumped to engage as expected. This car has been inspected by the manufacturer and not issues were found. A similar concern was reported by consumer reports in their review. “feeble and inconsistent brake pedal fe... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2025
fuel guage does not accurately indicate the amount of fuel in the tank. when guage showing completely empty the car takes about 12 gallons to fill, tank capacity shown in manual is 17.2 gallons.
Incident date: Jul 22, 2025
I am writing to formally file a complaint for gross negligence, excessive delays, and repeated mechanical failures regarding my RAM 2020 ProMaster1500 HR; VIN: [XXX] at the authorized dealership Bomnin-Doral in Miami, FL. The vehicle remained at the dealership for 1 year, 4 months, and 18 days due to transmission damage and other mechanical issues. Five days after final delivery, the transmissio... Read more
Incident date: Jul 22, 2025
I am writing to formally file a complaint for gross negligence, excessive delays, and repeated mechanical failures regarding my RAM 2020 ProMaster1500 HR; VIN: [XXX] at the authorized dealership Bomnin-Doral in Miami, FL. The vehicle remained at the dealership for 1 year, 4 months, and 18 days due to transmission damage and other mechanical issues. Five days after final delivery, the transmissio... Read more
Incident date: Sep 29, 2025
All summer my pickup was fine, now that it is getting colder my power steering isn't working anymore. Seems like anything below 32° and my power steering will kick off and stop working. It has almost caused multiple crashes since the vehicle is hard to steer. I got it diagnosed by a dodge dealership, and they told me the internal control board is malfunctioning and needs to be replaced.
Incident date: Feb 12, 2024
while driving between 5-10 MPH on a dry, smooth paved road, the transmission began cycling through 4WD modes and began shifting from normal mode to 4WD Sand mode, i was able to pull over and park, but the transmission continued shifting and fully transitioned to 4WD mode. This is the second time it has occurred, the first time the transmission fully switched 4WD and i was barely able to pull off t... Read more
Incident date: Oct 14, 2025
The car installed an upgrade over the air, in the background, and while driving it shut down. It flashes the screens and shut down while in drive on a busy road. Steering wheel locked and had to turn on and off aeveral times just to move slowly to the side away from oncoming vehicles. After looking online, found article about this issue across the country in the models, and tried the reset instr... Read more
Incident date: Oct 10, 2025
I was driving down I-45 mid day on October 14th, 2025 going about 65-70MPH and out of no where I hear a loud gunshot like noise and about a minute or two later I heard my sunroof crack and glass fall in. I believe it is from nickel sulfide inclusions
Incident date: Oct 14, 2025
Vehicle accelerated on its own at a stop and then at highway speeds. Took it to dealership who experienced the same thing and confirmed the issue and could not find the reason why.
Incident date: Oct 14, 2025
trailer brake control is junk, it is a known problem! While driving the control shut of the brakes of the trailer. Had a fully loaded trailer 14,000 pounds with no trailer brakes, ended up going through red light, because the trucks brakes where not enough to stop trailer!
Incident date: Oct 14, 2025
10R80 transmission in the 2019 Ford F-150 is defective and dangerous. Hard/delayed shifting and shuddering causes vehicle to speed up, slow down and jerk unexpectedly while shifting gears.
Incident date: Oct 4, 2025
On [XXX] I was driving out of state on the highway and abruptly I received an engine warning on my dashboard, my car immediately went into "limp" mode. Pulled over on the highway as car was now un operable. The car received 2 diagnostic tests via the closest mechanic on 10/6 which stated my engine has gone. The car than was towed to Victory Nissan of Mechanicsville who completed the second diagnos... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2025
The driver side passenger "door ajar" sensor stays on constantly and is unsafe because we aren't sure if the door is truly open or not? We are scared to have passengers sit on that side of the vehicle for fear of the door flying open and causing injury by falling out or other injury because the sensor does not tell us accurately as to whether the door is truly closed all the way or not. It also d... Read more