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.

2,245,377 Total Complaints

140,173 Reported Crashes

56,794 Reported Fires

8,580 Reported 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

How to Read NHTSA Consumer Complaints › How NHTSA Investigations Work › Used Car: 7 Recall Checks to Run First › The Takata Airbag Recall: Full Story › OBD-II Codes Explained › All Articles ›

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Showing 49,794 complaints for VOLKSWAGEN

Incident date: Apr 15, 2024

I have been Trying to set up a appointment with Citrus Motors Kia, Ontario California.1350 S Woodruff Way Ontario California 91761. And they are giving me the rounds. Seen last week I have been texting them and calling. And no answer.

Incident date: Apr 15, 2024

The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated, and the vehicle shuddered. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed with a high-pressure fuel pump leak. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V837000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) however, ... Read more

Incident date: Apr 15, 2024

Incident date: Jun 24, 2024

I noticed my 2017 CX-9 Touring was leaking coolant. It wasn't much but then checked the reservoir which is nearly empty. The car was overheating. I had it checked out by the dealer and initially I was told that it was bad radiator cap. This was fixed and resolved the initial overheating problems. The overheating issues resurfaced and took it a certified mechanic which indicated it was leaking from... Read more

Incident date: Jun 23, 2024

Transmission went out

Incident date: Jun 23, 2024

Car is stating air bag system check on and off.

Incident date: Jun 19, 2024

The IMA inverter system keeps malfunctioning without any clear reasons, and the car is in drive mode, which makes the electric motor unresponsive. Additionally, the braking system also malfunctions, leading to a lack of control over the vehicle. I have tried to repair it multiple times, but to no avail. It keeps malfunctioning without any apparent reason.

Incident date: Jun 19, 2024

I have a suspect that keeps adding air in brake lines of this vehicle. Police gave me permanent case number, but the guy is still breathing. Idk what to do, as he has done it on all our cars and on this F150 about 4 different times. The name of suspect is [XXX] , [XXX] . INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Incident date: Jun 22, 2024

The engine locked up due to oil leaking into it. This is a known issue with GM on these model cars but instead of issuing a recall they issued a special warranty that expired leaving consumers with these vehicles to be responsible for this repair which cost over $8,000.

Incident date: Jun 22, 2024

Driving on straight section of highway at dusk. No autopilot or other features on. Road slightly damp from earlier rain. Driving approximately 60mph. Without me moving my hands or feet then car suddenly slammed on the brakes and speed decreased to approximately 20mph. I pulled over and reset the car computer by pressing the two buttons on the wheel and no further problems but had someone been be... Read more

Incident date: Jun 22, 2024

Incident date: Jun 6, 2024

When making a left turn/curving left or even driving straight on the highway the steering wheel is sticking and or gets stuck turning left. To get out of the stuck portion of the steering wheel requires extra force that feels very unsafe as it pops or jolts. This is very unsafe because while in a left turn when the steering gets stuck instead of naturally straightening, an overcorrection in steeri... Read more

Incident date: Jun 9, 2024

Driving and the car does not shift correctly when speeding up onto the interstate and then engine light comes on and words engine power is reduced comes on. Called Chevrolet and can no longer drive vehicle.

Incident date: Jun 9, 2024

The contact owns a 2020 Volkswagen GTI. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V110000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); 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 man... Read more

Incident date: Jun 21, 2024

The contact owns a 2014 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the back over prevention camera failed to function as intended. The contact stated that the back over prevention camera displayed images on opposite sides of the rear of the vehicle. The contact stated that images on the left were displayed on the right side instead of the screen. The contact stated... Read more

Incident date: Jun 20, 2024

I was driving on the road going up a hill and my fuel was just alittle low about 120 miles my car sputtered and died and didn't start back up stuck on the road with barley any gaurd rail so I'm partially in the lane and I got it looked at and my high pressure fuel pump failed and sent metal scrapes all throughout my fuel system so it's estimated around 10k to replace I got told it's because the pu... Read more

Incident date: Jun 20, 2024

Internal failure, the bearings on the crankshaft failed. If an engine fails, the vehicle may lose motive power, increasing the risk of crash, fire and resulting injury. Yes, this appears to be a very common issue with 2016 Honda Pilots. They have a safety recall for a very limited number of VINS associated with this issue. Safety Recall 23-097: Safety Recall: 2016–19 Multi-Model Connecting R... Read more

Incident date: Jun 21, 2024

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Versa. The contact stated that the vehicle was previously taken to the dealer, where the fuel pump assembly, the lower control arm, and the electronic parking switch were replaced. Additionally, the contact stated while starting the vehicle, the vehicle made an abnormal sound. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that cylinder #1 had misfired, ... Read more

Incident date: Jun 21, 2024

For about the last 6 months, we have experienced the "sticky steering" during every drive. I did not realize other Honda CRVs have been having the same issue, although it appears most reported model years have been newer than our 2019 model. There have been no "check engine" or warning lights on the dash. We have had a few experiences of the CRV being difficult to maintain within the lane while dr... Read more

Incident date: Jun 14, 2024

Truck shuddered and stalled in traffic on the highway. Was able to restart after a minute but it stalled and stopped again repeatedly leaving me vulnerable to a collision. This also occurred last summer on the interstate and the truck was towed to a dealer but they said they could not find anything wrong. Truck is currently at the dealer.

Incident date: Jul 3, 2023

I was driving on an empty highway at about 55 mph and all of a sudden heard a loud bang, after i pulled over i saw that my sunroof was shattered, bmw declined a warranty on it but the car had only 3k miles on it, prior to that accident i was hearing some squeaking noises from my sunroof when it was in fully closed position. After taking it to the dealership not only they declined on the warra... Read more

Incident date: Jun 5, 2024

Dealership is selling vehicle without disclosing recall information or correcting.

Incident date: Jun 5, 2024

The front passenger airbag sensor is faulty. My understanding is that the airbag is set up to be deployed when someone who is at least 65lbs sits on the front seat. I am 85lbs so the sensor should always detect me but it doesn't; it only does so about 10% of the time. Sometimes it turns on and then goes off. In contrast, I always trigger the sensor in my husband's 2023 Subaru Crosstrek.

Incident date: Jun 5, 2024

The steering is compromized. The wheel pulls or "locks up" and is not smooth when attempting to steer the vehicle into traffic or from lane to lane on the highway. I looked up any recalls and there is a recall for the steering rack for similar jeeps but not my speciifc VIN number. I took the car in for service. Certified mechanic checked the tires, the alignment, the shocks, etc. and determined th... Read more

Incident date: Feb 19, 2024

On June 16, 2024, My car lost power completely, I stepped on the gas pump and nothing. First I was parked and I tried to start and it would not give me acceleration. Later on, it re started normally, later on when in the freeway, it completely lost the acceleration capability. My speed went to 7 miles per hour. It was scary as other cars were driving at an average of 60 miles per hour. My mecha... Read more

Incident date: Jun 18, 2024

Customer concern confirmed there is a creaking noise coming from the front of the car while turning, I performed a visual inspection and found that both RF lower control arm bushings are torn and the LF frontward lower control arm bushing are torn but this is not the cause of the noise the cause of the noise is the upper control arms I took the load off of the upper control arms and the noise went... Read more

Incident date: Oct 17, 2023

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving 10 MPH around a curve, the steering wheel seized. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. There were abnormal beeping and chiming sounds detected. Additionally, the mileage changed from 54,529 to 88,529 without the vehicle being driven. The contact was able to park the vehicle. The vehicle was ta... Read more

Incident date: Oct 17, 2023

THE ENGINE FAILED IN JULY OF 2023. THE VEHICLE WAS BEING DRIVEN ON THE FREEWAY AND LOST COMPLETE POWER. NEW DRIVER WAS BEHIND THE WHEEL AT NIGHT GOING APPROXIMATELY 70 MPH AND NO WARNING LIGHTS CAME ON UNTIL VEHICLE LOST POWER. LIGHTS AND RINGING SOUNDS THEN OCCURED. VEHCILE TOWED TO DEALERSHIP. CONFIRMED ENGINE SEIZED AND COULD NOT CONFIRM AS TO WHY THIS OCCURED. VEHICLE HAD COOLANT, GAS AND ... Read more

Incident date: Feb 5, 2024

Remedy is available for the recall, but Honda will not fix the recall on my 2 vehicle’s that I own with this open recall. They are saying 2025 maybe. Unacceptable.

Incident date: May 1, 2024

Blown engine. Hole in engine block. Defective engine.

Incident date: Jun 18, 2024

Passenger door lock-right rear door will not unlock from outside or inside

Incident date: Jun 18, 2024

Passenger door lock-right rear door will not unlock from outside or inside

Incident date: Jun 16, 2024

I purchased the car late April. I drove the car for three or four days and started noticing a rattling coming the front right part of the car (passenger side.). I chatted with the warranty company (SilverRock.). They asked me to take it to a Meineke auto repair facility in Olympia, WA. Meinke’s mechanic diagnosed it as a loose component involving the brake caliper. He informed me they were co... Read more

Incident date: Jun 18, 2024

Driving 70 mph, warning lights and alarms "Hybrid System Failure" "Vehicle shutting down" and then it does. No lights, no hazards, no power. Push button battery restart starts it again with no visible issues. Driving 30 mph, warning lights and alarms "Hybrid System Failure" "Vehicle shutting down" and then it does. No lights, no hazards, no power. Push button battery restart starts it again with ... Read more

Incident date: Jun 13, 2024

Coolant leak into engine block. Coolant needs to be topped off weekly to avoid overheating. No loss of coolant on the exterior of cooling system

Incident date: Jun 12, 2024

The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle lost steering functionality. The vehicle was swerving from left to right. The driver was able to stop the vehicle. After turning off and restarting the vehicle, the vehicle regained normal functionality. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who info... Read more

Incident date: Jun 12, 2024

The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while reversing, the contact became aware of a red line around the image displayed. The contact also stated that when the vehicle was shifted into reverse(R), the beeping sound of the rear-view camera was activated when there were no objects in the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic o... Read more

Incident date: Jun 16, 2024

The car completely dies. No power at all. Battery has been checked and is fine. Advanced auto parts said alternator was bad but 2 dealerships have said it’s fine. Both dealerships looked at the car and cannot find the issue. Car has gotten towed to both when it dies and no one can find the issue. Had the car for 1 week when this happened - car only had 3,000 miles. Car was purchased on ... Read more

Incident date: Jun 16, 2024

Since the latest software update, the rear camera feed flickers unpredictably, blocking the rear view. As I understand it these systems are mandated for all cars on US roads and to be more functionally operational than this. I have two of the same model car and this problem started with both with the last software update. This problem started with a software update and resolves when I manually cle... Read more

Incident date: Jun 17, 2024

Spontaneous windshield cracking

Incident date: Feb 15, 2024

The screen showing the speed and the backup can stop working at any point leading to a crash and compliance issues. It's been several months and VW still has not come up with a solution for this recall and these cars are still on the streets, hence they are a major threat to consumer safety.

Incident date: Apr 30, 2024

The contact owns a 2018 Kia Soul. The contact stated that the vehicle was experiencing excessive oil consumption. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where an oil consumption test was performed, and the mechanic determined that the test was positive for excessive oil consumption. Additionally, the vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the oil valve was replaced under an unknown Manu... Read more

Incident date: Apr 30, 2024

The contact owns a 2018 Ford EcoSport. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V905000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) 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 aware of the issue. The contact... Read more

Incident date: Apr 30, 2024

The contact owns a 2013 Ford F-150. The contact stated while coming to a stop, she became aware that the brakes was not functioning properly. The contact had to depress down on the brake pedal with excessive force for the brakes to activate as needed. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer however, the diagnostic test result was undisclosed. The vehicle was not... Read more

Incident date: Apr 1, 2023

Purchased 12/1/202312/2/2023- Tire flat next day (paid 200.00) 12/7/2023- 2/1/2024-EPC 2/2/2024- EPC again 4/9/2024- 1-squeak breaks - no resolve 2-Red circle warning in the middle of the cluster-no resolve3-wireless phone and gps turns off -no resolve 6/1/2041-Brakes squeak (2x)- 2 new brake pads 2-Radio (2x) screen will turn off and reset-maps- software was updated 3- wipers sporadically stop... Read more

Incident date: Jun 12, 2024

AC BLEND DOORS are non functional and a known issue but only did it on a select few cars and only for a year past warranty.

Incident date: Jun 7, 2024

Our car has lost power to accelerate on 4 occasions on the highway. The first instance was in October of 2023, the second instance was in November of 2024 (and was brought immediately to the dealership and they said the fix wasn't available yet), the third instance was in March of 2024 and the most recent incident occurred in June of 2024. For example, the car will be moving at a speed of 60 mph ... Read more

Incident date: Aug 17, 2022

On June 12, 2024 I first noticed the door handle on the Front RH passenger door stayed extended when the vehicle was locked at the end of a short trip in town. When locked, the door handles on the Fisker Ocean are designed to retract flush with the surface of the door. The extended door handle was locked, so the car door could not be opened (as expected). The next morning, I unlocked the car us... Read more

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Consumer Safety Complaints

What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?

How to interpret what you read

If you've experienced a defect

Read more from our blog