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 138,338 complaints for TOYOTA
Incident date: Feb 13, 2025
Brakes are hard when pressed. Check engine light is on and when I had it checked I was told that it was an issue with the ABS.
Incident date: Dec 20, 2024
Brakes are hard when pressed. Check engine light is on and when I had it checked I was told that it was an issue with the ABS.
Incident date: Nov 1, 2024
A sticky hard steering feeling from the steering wheel. Results in a labored, exausting feeling from fighting the steering wheel. Results in an over correction of steering at times.
Incident date: Nov 1, 2024
The abs module has gone out and there's a nationwide hold on the part. The date keeps getting extended on release which tells me you all know there is a problem. Our truck has been sitting for months due to the issue but we are still expected to pay for something we can't even drive. Something needs to be done to correct this problem because there are lots of vehicles with the same issue which is ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 17, 2025
The steering recently failed in my 2009 Chevrolet Malibu (VIN # [XXX] ) and I feel that my car should have been included in the October 2014 safety recall related to the Torque Sensor. I called General Motors/Chevrolet on [XXX] and they told me that my car would not be covered. However, my torque sensor needed to be replaced (see attached repair bill) and I would like the manufacturer to reimburse... Read more
TOYOTA
GRAND HIGHLANDER
(2024) — ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Feb 19, 2025
Incident date: Jan 13, 2025
The UConnect functions will not work and randomly initiates functions so it changes stations, adjusts heating/cooling, asks if I want to contact 911, etc. This is very distracting and unsafe. Most of these functions on the Uconnect inaccessible. The car began having intermittent problems in 2021 just after the "Warranty" expired. The dealer said it would cost about $2,200 to replace and Chrysler w... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
When drive slowly, sometimes it grinds really lound when the wheels are wet or dry. Took it to 2 different dealers, they said it's normal. I have video for both incidents.
Incident date: Nov 1, 2023
A loud popping noise heard through the radio when light pressure applied to brakes. Noise loud enough to scare the hell out of all the occupants in the car. Brakes squeaked when car was in reverse. Tried to slow down on wet pavement. Car started to veer to the right. Forward collision warning nor automatic emergency braking worked. Pushed brake all the way to the floor and the car did not slow.... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Feb 11, 2025
Fuel tank is leaking at connection between fill tube and tank. Multiple recalls have been issued apparently for similar problems with cars of other years. With less than 1/2 tank, the fuel leak is not as pronounced. With the tank full, the tank drips fuel. Fire department in Riverside was called and confirmed issue. Upon bringing vehicle to Clearwater Mercedes and other mechanics, the problem was ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 31, 2025
I was pulling out into traffic. Gave the truck some gas and nothing. For a second or two it was at idle although I was giving it gas. The hesitation caused others to slam on brakes.
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
Drove my 2015 Hyundai Elantra on the coldest day of the year to an appointment. Car was fully warmed up. Pulled into a gas station to park and was going less than 3 mph, making a left hand turn into the space. Elantra suddenly accelerated hard and the car hit a cement pole, causing extensive front end damage. If car had full insurance coverage, it would have been a write off. Hood crumpled, r... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
Drove my 2015 Hyundai Elantra on the coldest day of the year to an appointment. Car was fully warmed up. Pulled into a gas station to park and was going less than 3 mph, making a left hand turn into the space. Elantra suddenly accelerated hard and the car hit a cement pole, causing extensive front end damage. If car had full insurance coverage, it would have been a write off. Hood crumpled, r... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
The Adaptive Cruise Control and Automatic Emergency Braking have not worked properly for over a year. Sometimes I get a message that the AEB/ACC is not working and to see the Dealer other times i have a light lit showing it is not working. On some occasions there are no signs of it not working but ate ACC works like the regular cruise control and does not slow the car down unless you apply the bra... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
24V405000 - Constant alerts are very distracting while driving, causing me to have to verify if the warnings can be ignored or if it is a major issue. This does not pertain to just one alert, but the automatic emergency braking warning, blind spot warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance warning all send notifications that they are not working at various times. Also, my version is... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
24V405000 - Constant alerts are very distracting while driving, causing me to have to verify if the warnings can be ignored or if it is a major issue. This does not pertain to just one alert, but the automatic emergency braking warning, blind spot warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance warning all send notifications that they are not working at various times. Also, my version is... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
The truck has a hesitation when accelerating from a stop or after coming to a stop and then accelerating again it has a hesitation or lag before powertrain responds making it a hazard when on coming traffic is approaching.
Incident date: Jan 30, 2025
The truck has a hesitation when accelerating from a stop or after coming to a stop and then accelerating again it has a hesitation or lag before powertrain responds making it a hazard when on coming traffic is approaching.
Incident date: Jan 30, 2025
The truck has a hesitation when accelerating from a stop or after coming to a stop and then accelerating again it has a hesitation or lag before powertrain responds making it a hazard when on coming traffic is approaching.
Incident date: Jan 30, 2025
Hesitation From Stop and Surge Concerns. this may cause traffic surge, collison in my front for having no control of the speed if I end up pressing the gas all the way which it cause a quick surge of speed, due to the hesitation when pressing the gas, this happened to my car for a lot of times now which I ignored it until I saw the help from the Toyota Tundra forum, that I can actually send a repo... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
Since the coasting feature on the Genesis GV80 and similar models is inoperative, it could mean that Genesis misrepresented the vehicle’s fuel efficiency and emissions performance. The coasting function is designed to disengage the engine from the drivetrain to improve fuel economy, and because it doesn’t work as advertised, real-world MPG may be lower than stated. This could mislead consumers... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
Since the coasting feature on the Genesis GV80 and similar models is inoperative, it could mean that Genesis misrepresented the vehicle’s fuel efficiency and emissions performance. The coasting function is designed to disengage the engine from the drivetrain to improve fuel economy, and because it doesn’t work as advertised, real-world MPG may be lower than stated. This could mislead consumers... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
Truck hesitates when acceleration from a dead stop, brakes has squealed since new 1) when pulling out in traffic, truck randomly hesitates and then jerks to go, very concerning and unknown if i will pull into traffic and the truck wont go 2) brakes have squealed since it had 3k miles, very concerning that they will not stop the truck in an emergency
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
Two weeks of zero degree weather caused the rear main seal to fail causing a large oil leak that could have resulted in the engine locking up if I had not noticed oil running down the driveway. Repair shop advised this was a common problem with the 2.4 liter engine caused by a failure of the PCV system and there is a service bulletin on this problem. GM has not recalled these engines to correct ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
The contact owns a 2014 Nissan Altima. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine compartment. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a Service Station where the contact used a self-diagnostic tool to determine that the Transmission Control Module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. Th... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
Vehicle hesitates when pressing the accelerator, especially when pulling off after a complete stop. This doesn't happen 100% of the time. From my experience, this happens 65-70% of the time with varying degrees of hesitancy. It's a safety issue as you never know when this is going to happen and to what degree; especially when crossing traffic lanes at an uncontrolled street crossing. I have sp... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
Dashboard notification indicating tighten gas cap, and then check engine light comes on. Took vehicle to get scanned and code says evap leak, took to mechanic all issues were fixed including replaced gas cap as suggested by many Chevy Traverse owners who have the same issue. 30 days later now same issue is coming up. Researched online and it seems that many other owners have experienced this and f... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
I received a letter from Fisker in Sep 2024 about NHTSA Campaign number 24V623 which was about braking Improvement Software update. It's now Feb 2025 and nothing has been received over the air. For the past several months there's a weird clicking feeling when applying the brake pedal and I assume that's what this Over the Air update was to address. The closest service place that can force an updat... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that the front headlights were very dim while in use. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the projector inside the headlight assemblies were defective, causing the headlights to not illuminate as needed. The contact was provided an estimate for the repair. Neither the dealer nor the manufactu... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
I went to reverse and my brakes didn’t work, the error then came on dash “break system failure max speed 43 mph” I then had to drift into a parking lot to wait for my car to stop. Car dealership said they can’t find anything wrong, I have images showing the error
Incident date: Jun 1, 2024
Vehicle sporadically hesitates when accelerating from stop. Cause unknown. Dealer declined to address condition because they could not replicate it.
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
This is regarding an incident with my 2019 Honda CRV, on 2/12/2025. Conditions were dry, clean and dark with street lighting at approximately 6:15 pm Pacific time. I was driving northward uphill on a paved street and approximately half way up the hill, my car came to an abrupt stop and shut down. My body was jolted forward and I felt an immediate discomfort in my lower back. There was a car behind... Read more
1 injured
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
The contact owns a 2019 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while attempting to shift to park(P), the message to “Shift to Park” was displayed. The contact shifted from park to neutral and back to park until the proper gear was recognized. The local dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact was informed that the VIN was not under recall. The manufacturer ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
Front is very low. Right side is tilted without anyone inside. Very unusual tire wear on inside edges of both front tires. Immediately after starting the engine the front ricked side took side and made loud noises.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2025
There is a continuous alert stating "Travel Assist not available" even though Travel Assist is actively on, working, and exterior sensors are clear and clean. A Volkswagen dealer confirmed that it is due to faulty sensors in the steering wheel. There seem to be hundreds of people who have reported the same issue over several years, yet there has not been a recall yet for this issue.
Incident date: Feb 11, 2025
The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestar. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the speedometer failed to function as intended. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
Incident date: Feb 7, 2025
Uconnect system/radio screen visually not working appropriately. Gets glitchy lines and will go black. Flip upside down. And blurr together. Screen will respond to touch even when not visually able to see anything. This will happen at random even when using back up cameras which is dangerous will go completely black when trying to use screen in any way. No damage to screen. Car is 2021 should not ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2025
Uconnect system/radio screen visually not working appropriately. Gets glitchy lines and will go black. Flip upside down. And blurr together. Screen will respond to touch even when not visually able to see anything. This will happen at random even when using back up cameras which is dangerous will go completely black when trying to use screen in any way. No damage to screen. Car is 2021 should not ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2025
ABS Braking System Pump with an abnormal leak of ACC Press. Under recall # DLD for the same ABS Brake Booster Pump failure a Lexus dealer repaired the system under recall notice in 2013. The same issue happened again in 2025 an ABS Brake Booster Pump failure rendering the car unsafe to drive with a defective braking system, an ABS light and Brake light illuminated on the dashboard. The vehicle was... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2025
The contact owns a 2020 Dodge Grand Caravan. The contact stated that after refueling the vehicle and leaving the fuel station, it was noticed through the side view mirror that the fuel door was still open and was forgotten to be closed after refueling. The contact came to a stop and shifted into the Park position, she exited the vehicle and left the driver's side door open to quickly secure the fu... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Feb 1, 2025
Truck will hesitate to respond to throttle pedal input when attempting to accelerate from a stop. This has occurred numerous times over the 3 years I’ve owned it and appears to happen randomly. This 1-2 second delay puts driver safety and other drivers at risk due to inability to quickly enter or cross lanes of traffic.
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2019) — FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Feb 18, 2025
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
My Model 3 failed at under 50,000 miles and gave out a series of failure warnings. It was unable to drive anymore and steering became stiff and unresponsive. In researching this I see it is a common issue with hundreds of thousands of cars affected. And the NHTSA has an open investigation into it. Tesla as usual is denying the problem exists.
TOYOTA
HIGHLANDER
(2019) — STEERING
Feb 18, 2025
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
My Model 3 failed at under 50,000 miles and gave out a series of failure warnings. It was unable to drive anymore and steering became stiff and unresponsive. In researching this I see it is a common issue with hundreds of thousands of cars affected. And the NHTSA has an open investigation into it. Tesla as usual is denying the problem exists.
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
All warning lights cycle through on vehicle dashboard after turning on vehicle. Vehicle was taken to Honda Auto Service Center, where issue is diagnosed as Carbon Buildup, causing misfires. Error Diagnostic Code is one of P0300 - P0304. After maintenance, error clears out. However, there is a Honda Service Bulletin 23-042 which provides a warranty extension for Honda Fits of the same year, make, a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
I took my 2022 Wind AWD EV6 into Bob Johnson Kia for the required SC327 recall service on Feb 17. I was informed that the service would not be performed because they were having too many problems with critical failures after performing the service on other cars. Specifically, they said they had 7 EV6s that died within weeks of performing the SC327 update, 4 of which were still in their back lot wa... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2022
There is hesitation when depressing the accelerator. After stopping at stop sign then trying to move into traffic the vehicle will not move for several seconds. When the vehicle does move it takes off at an increased rate. This has happened several times from the first day the vehicle drove off the lot until present day.
Incident date: Feb 18, 2025
No check engine light, and my transmission didn't engage gear. I left vehicle off for the night, started it and it worked perfectly fine. Still, no check engine light was on.
Incident date: Feb 17, 2025
It burns oil excessively Stalls out while driving Stability traction control comes on Timing chain has to be replaced now Fuel pump needs replacement All this happened at same time My cost is 2700.00
Incident date: Nov 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Can-Am Spyder RT. The contact had received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V728000 (Power Train). The contact called the dealer and was informed that the recall remedy would be performed based on the mileage. The contact was informed that at the current mileage (31,709), the vehicle no longer qualified for the recall repair. The contact stated that the recall repai... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2025
The contact owns a 2022 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while parking, pulling forward slowly, or reversing, the electric parking brake engaged without application. The brake warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V509000 (Parking Brake). The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who determined that the outer rear brake... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2025
Hesitation when I press the accelerator almost causing several accidents as I get stalled in the middle of an intersection. This has happened approximately five times in the last several months. A very scary situation. Very dangerous several times almost was T-boned