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: Apr 5, 2025
The passenger automatic sliding door closed on my arm and required a lot of effort to push it back open. I’d it was my child standing there he would have been seriously injured. The problem has been reproduced, but I’m terrified to actually leave my arm there to see if it will close on it again. Nothing was inspected and there were no warnings prior to this happening.
Incident date: Apr 20, 2025
Hello, I own currently a car, Kia Soul 2015 , I bought it from car auction, it was recovered after theft! The car is clean title! When I got it home a mechanic looked at it and told me the piston rod came out through the engine block and engine is seized up and this is a common problem for this model of Kia, piston rod is damaging the block , oil spilling and catching fire and he told me I need to... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2025
Hello, I own currently a car, Kia Soul 2015 , I bought it from car auction, it was recovered after theft! The car is clean title! When I got it home a mechanic looked at it and told me the piston rod came out through the engine block and engine is seized up and this is a common problem for this model of Kia, piston rod is damaging the block , oil spilling and catching fire and he told me I need to... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2025
On approximately the 12th of May 2023 i was driving home, and while i was driving the TieRod from the passenger side came loose and caused me to lose control and this was due to the crossmember being rusty as per the recall, description.
Incident date: Apr 16, 2025
2022 Ford F-150. The vehicle displays a warning message that reads, "Trailer Disconnected" continuously. It comes on as soon as the engine is started and comes back on as quickly as I can press the "OK" button to make it go away. I have taken the truck to the dealer for repairs four times so far and it still comes back. I have paid to have the trailer break control module reprogrammed as well as h... Read more
Incident date: Apr 16, 2025
We purchased our 2024 Santa Cruz [XXX]. On [XXX] the Santa Cruz we purchased from Korum Hyundai Dealership died on the highway as my husband and I were heading to town through the mountains. We had to roll to the side of the road as the Santa Cruz just lost all power and would not accelerate, it just died and lost power. I thought it was a fluke. My husband was driving. I asked if he had hit ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 18, 2025
My short block engine failed in the middle of pulling out onto a 4 lane roadway while my two children were in the vehicle. We were almost hit from behind as I lost power while entering the roadway. The vehicle was taken to and diagnosed by a Ford dealership as needing a short block and full engine rebuild. There was no warning or problems before the failure. My vehicle has 23,000 miles on it and i... Read more
Incident date: Apr 18, 2025
While stopped at a busy intersection, the “auto idle” feature turned the car off. When the foot was removed from the break, the car is supposed to turn back on and go. This time the car made a sound like metal grinding on metal, then the car automatically shifted into neutral. It would not shift back into drive. We had to put the car in park, turn it off and restart. Fortunately there was no o... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
Engine failure after fuel pump recall replacement(37,500 miles). My fuel pump had a mandatory recall. I drove my truck in and everything was running perfect. I drove the truck less than 100 miles after the fuel pump replacement recal and it started to make nocking sounds and the gas was lagging , not accelerating normal. The gears were not shifting normal but rather jerking in and out of gears at... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
Engine failure after fuel pump recall replacement(37,500 miles). My fuel pump had a mandatory recall. I drove my truck in and everything was running perfect. I drove the truck less than 100 miles after the fuel pump replacement recal and it started to make nocking sounds and the gas was lagging , not accelerating normal. The gears were not shifting normal but rather jerking in and out of gears at... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
Motorcycle stops randomly and goes into Limp Mode . BMW dealer does not seem to be able to fix . This has happened several times on the freeway . very dangerous .
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
The car stalled while driving on [XXX] while approaching Express EZpass toll on [XXX]. The car stayed in the middle of the fast lane until the tow truck driver came and started the car. I cannot recall the yellow message on the dashboard that appeared as soon as the engine stopped. A yellow triangle with exclamation point and a car with exclamation point appeared on the dashboard. We called 911... Read more
TESLA
MODEL 3
(2021) - ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL:CATALYTIC CONVERTOR
Apr 18, 2025
Incident date: Apr 17, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the catalytic converter. The contact was informed that the catalytic converter needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided n... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
Windshield glare creates a visible obstruction, resulting in compromised safety.
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
Above the windshield on the driver's side, paint is progressively peeling away with regular operation of my pearl-white 2017 Kia Sorento. What began as a very small and barely noticeable chip in the paint has progressed to a large paint-less spot. On the hood and surrounding areas, paint chips are appearing as well. According to the auto body repair shop I received an estimate from, this is referr... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2025
Ford has a battery that corrodes while driving and can shut off car. This is dangerous. On top of that, they had to extend warranty on drivers seat belt and fuel injector but will only allow those to be replaced once they break. My car is unsafe to drive. Imagine, car shuts off and seat belt breaks. This is dangerous.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2024 BMW X5. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V104000 (ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC), SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC); 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 not made a... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2024 BMW X5. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V104000 (ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC), SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC); 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 not made a... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2025
Starting at around 12k miles, my odometer started flashing and backup cameras completely stopped working, unable to see while backing up, at the same time the active lane management and auto emergency braking went out as well, took my car into the dealership and was told pam module was not good and covered under manufacturer warranty, even after pam module was replaced, the active lane management ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal rattling sound coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and was diagnosed with a fractured axle and bolts. The contact was informed that the axle and bolts needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. In addition, the contact was informed that the parts ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 16, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 GMC Sierra 1500. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, the transmission would downshift, and the vehicle was aggressively shaking while idling and while depressing the brake pedal. While driving approximately 35 - 40 MPH, the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Service message was displayed, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 16, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 GMC Sierra 1500. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, the transmission would downshift, and the vehicle was aggressively shaking while idling and while depressing the brake pedal. While driving approximately 35 - 40 MPH, the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Service message was displayed, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 16, 2025
My vehicle, which I bought used with about 140,000 miles on it had cracked exhaust manifolds, which I replaced. Both were cracked and one actually fell to pieces when unbolted. One replacement cracked after about 15,000 miles, but was able to have it braised. Now, at about 180,000 miles they a spewing carbon monoxide into the cab again. This is a serious health and safety issue, and from checkin... Read more
2 injured
Incident date: Apr 9, 2025
The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Avalon. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (Air Bags); 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 dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 9, 2025
The Driver Attention Warning continues to go off shutting the cruise control off. This happens continuously and is a safety issue when driving in traffic and the vehicle suddenly decelerates. This causes traffic behind you to almost reared you because the vehicle decelerates so quickly. Hyundai suggests to move seat, not to wear glasses and other options that in themselves are additional safety co... Read more
Incident date: Apr 9, 2025
The Driver Attention Warning continues to go off shutting the cruise control off. This happens continuously and is a safety issue when driving in traffic and the vehicle suddenly decelerates. This causes traffic behind you to almost reared you because the vehicle decelerates so quickly. Hyundai suggests to move seat, not to wear glasses and other options that in themselves are additional safety co... Read more
Incident date: Apr 11, 2025
Vehicle transmission locked up. I see safety recalls for 2019 and newer but mine is not on the list. I’d like to get the GM 1-year/1500,000 mile warranty they have issued.
Incident date: Mar 7, 2025
Porsche is making use of aluminum fasteners for important engine components. These fasteners are substandard for the service. At 100,000 miles, two of the bolts for the timing chain cover simply broke in half during normal service, resulting in a substantial oil leak and an expensive repair (about $3000). At 120,000 miles, one of the bolts for the valve cover also simply broke in half, resulting i... Read more
Incident date: Mar 7, 2025
Both A Pilar Trim pieces are currently loose on my 2014 Ford Explorer. This is now a recall from Ford as of February 2024 from the notice I received in the mail. I have been trying to have these trim pieces replaced on my car since March of 2024 but the part has not been available. Prior to this recall, this piece has already been repaired on my car once on August 4, 2020. The trim piece flew off... Read more
Incident date: Mar 7, 2025
*Engine failed - Rattle was detected and after dealership took a look at the vehicle, it was determined that the engine needed replaced because the truck was consuming oil at a high rate and there was metal found in the manifold. *If I continued to drive a truck with low oil, a failure of engine/engine fire could have occurred (oil was changed 2 weeks prior to inspection). *Confirmed by dealer *Ve... Read more
Incident date: Mar 12, 2025
It's a problem that occurs when my Acadia fails to recognize that the gear shifter is in the park position. As a result, the car doesn't fully shut down, leaving the engine running. Unable to shut down vehicle if shift doesn't fully activate brake notice, and could be a safety issue if it truly doesn't park. I have not taken the vehicle to a dealer or services to have the problem reproduced yet. I... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
On [XXX] at approximately [XXX], my [XXX] Daughter was using my car to go to work. When she called us and informed my husband that the car did not start. At that point he asked to video call him so that he can visually see what was going on. She was directed to turn on the car again at and that point, the car started then smoke was noticed from coming out of the hood. My daughter managed to ope... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
On [XXX] at approximately [XXX], my [XXX] Daughter was using my car to go to work. When she called us and informed my husband that the car did not start. At that point he asked to video call him so that he can visually see what was going on. She was directed to turn on the car again at and that point, the car started then smoke was noticed from coming out of the hood. My daughter managed to ope... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jun 9, 2023
On [XXX] at approximately [XXX], my [XXX] Daughter was using my car to go to work. When she called us and informed my husband that the car did not start. At that point he asked to video call him so that he can visually see what was going on. She was directed to turn on the car again at and that point, the car started then smoke was noticed from coming out of the hood. My daughter managed to ope... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Apr 12, 2025
My 2025 Equinox EV suffers the same issue many others have reported, unsafe glare from the shiny plastic dash piece. It happens during sunup and at night with street lights. This glare creates a danger that easily avoidable with either a different type of windshield or a replacement dash part that is matte finished to stop the glare. GM has failed to address this issue for 2 model years, please in... Read more
Incident date: Feb 12, 2025
Coolant intrusion, need new engine
Incident date: Apr 11, 2025
I have 2 problems that I believe are situations that could be considered safety problems, I purchased my motorcycle in November of 2024, new, from the Harley Davidson dealership in Orlando FL. and since that time I have had the bike in the shop 5 times. The problems are that the rear brakes are not working correctly it takes a tremendous amount of pressure before they will begin to slow the bike d... Read more
Incident date: Apr 11, 2025
I have an electric power steering pump, it’s not working at all. It’s showing it’s part of a recall but mine is just shy of the date. But I have spoken with many ford dealers and they have told me to report this to here, cause it should be a part of it as well. It’s a very hefty expense to repair this. But no one should be driving one with power steering assist fault and traction control f... Read more
Incident date: Apr 10, 2025
The vehicle is having issues recognizing when I shift it to park. It is dangerous because I don't know if it is really in park or not. There was a warning saying : "action required shift to park " when I already shifted it
Incident date: Apr 4, 2025
The 48V Belt Starter Generator failed on my 2020 Ram 1500 with the 5.7L eTorque system. It caused my truck to stall in the middle of a busy intersection at a red light. The battery drained fast, and I couldn’t move the truck out of the way. I was stuck in a dangerous spot cars were coming around a turn at 45–55 mph, and since my hazard lights started dying too, I had to get out in the rain and... Read more
Incident date: Mar 29, 2025
Transmission failure, hard shifting, slipping and loss of power also severe shuddering. Very dangerous driving. I had to have the transmission replaced after taking the vehicle to a dealership and upon verification from same dealership reproducing the transmission failure. Massive financial loss, dealership stated these transmissions are known to fail. Manufacturer has been notified by numerous co... Read more
Incident date: Mar 29, 2025
Transmission failure, hard shifting, slipping and loss of power also severe shuddering. Very dangerous driving. I had to have the transmission replaced after taking the vehicle to a dealership and upon verification from same dealership reproducing the transmission failure. Massive financial loss, dealership stated these transmissions are known to fail. Manufacturer has been notified by numerous co... Read more
Incident date: Apr 7, 2025
Engine Light- Crankcase Ventilation Valve Replacement P052E71. Vehicle will jolt aggressively at the time of acceleration.
Incident date: Apr 7, 2025
The contact owns a 2025 Cadillac Escalade ESV. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle, the contact heard a ticking sound coming from the engine compartment. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the headlights were inoperable. The contact stated that the headlights failed to function properly and turn on. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnos... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2025
The rear brake line has heat damage and needs to be replaced. Recall was done to it, but it is NOT adequate.
Incident date: Apr 5, 2025
The rear brake line has heat damage and needs to be replaced. Recall was done to it, but it is NOT adequate.
TESLA
MODEL 3
(2017) - SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS
Apr 9, 2025
Incident date: Apr 5, 2025
The rear brake line has heat damage and needs to be replaced. Recall was done to it, but it is NOT adequate.
Incident date: Mar 3, 2025
1) The engine began making unusual noises. I had the vehicle towed to the dealer. It is currently at Zimbrick Eastside in Madison Wisconsin. 2) The problem was noticed prior to my family being put at risk only because I noticed the noise happening while we were parked. 3) The problem has been confirmed. The dealer is doing a complete engine replacement. However, as of today, it has been a... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2025
I went to Maplecrest Ford in Unión New Jersey to resolve this recall which is to include a Lead Frame replacement because the truck dropped gears and I almost crashed thanks to this recall they refuse to fix the issue only state to me they reprogrammed what was to be done and they said the rest is not their issue because the title is salvaged. Whether or not the title is salvaged it is their res... Read more