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 15,069 complaints for VOLVO
Incident date: Sep 14, 2024
My vehicle had been experiencing loud acceleration as well as difficulty while driving. Upon taking the vehicle to the dealership where purchased they informed me the rear differential on the vehicle was starting to fail. They informed me they had ordered the part from Mopar with no recollection of when it would be in other than it stating it was on backorder. We have tried getting in touch with M... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2024
The indirect measurement TPMS system of this car has misdetected low tire pressure on three occasions. Most recently, on October 3 while driving on the freeway at about 70 MPH the TPMS alert illuminated. I checked the information screen and the display showed low pressure in all four tires. Because I have had misdetection of the right front tire twice before, and that it seemed very unlikely that ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where DTC code: P219C was retrieved. The dealer informed the contact that the engine needed to be taken apart for further diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and ref... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2024
Driving on a major roadway with no traffic or obstacles in front of me the car went into emergency braking mode and the engine shut down. The dashboard warning said “Engine Control Issue, Park in a Safe Place”. I could not restart the car for about 15 minutes, then it finally restarted and acted normally. The danger was the car braked violently and stopped in the middle lane of a busy... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2024
When I had to slow down or suddenly stop because there were other cars in front of me, I. stepped on the break, but it did not stop; maybe it slowed down a little, but the acceleration seemed to accelerate faster. I could hear the acceleration sound. I had to push the gear to stop. The car finally stopped. But I almost hit the front car. Similar occurrences happened when I came to a stop signal... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2024
The auto dimming feature on headlights fails to function. When the high beams are in use, they will not dim when approaching an oncoming vehicle. Conversely, when they are on low beam, they do not switch to high beam setting when it is totally dark outside and no cars are approaching. This fault was not disclosed during initial test drive and the dealerships only explanation is that they are so... Read more
Incident date: Oct 3, 2024
While driving the car at approximately 40 mphs the car suddenly jolted and stopped moving. Luckily no one was behind and I pulled over also noticing check engine light came on. I immediately called Toyota and was able to drive it to them. I spent $140 diagnosis fees for them to say it was ignition coil B. After replacing the coil the light and same problems continued. We took the car to anoth... Read more
Incident date: Oct 4, 2024
Driver's side rear: Blew out while at Shaw RV while they were moving it between lots. When I went to pick up the trailer on August 28th, I saw the blown out tire on the spare rack and the spare mounted in its place. Picture below shows the tire blown out. This tire was replaced at Discount Tire in Wake Forest, NC. Passenger side front: We were traveling and arrived at the RV park on Sunday, [XXX... Read more
Incident date: Jun 26, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated that on several occasions when the vehicle was shifted into reverse, the vehicle failed to reverse as intended. The contact stated that the vehicle was shifted into neutral(N) and then shifted into drive (D). The vehicle was then parked at the residence. The vehicle was taken to a dealer however, the failure could not be duplicated. The m... Read more
Incident date: Feb 16, 2023
I TAKE MY VEHICLE TO THE SAME DEALER FOR ALL SERVICES AND OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, I'VE HAD "BATTERY ISSUES" THAT TURN OUT TO BE CONTROL MODULE ISSUES THAT REQUIRE NEW WIRING FOR THE VEHICLE TO RUN AT ALL, BATTERY COMPLETELY DRAINS AFTER SEVERAL SMALL TRIPS AROUND TOWN. I HAVE FULLY REPLACED THE BATTERY, DONE A WARRANTY ON IT AFTER THAN AND I'M STILL CONSTANTLY STRANDED. NISSAN DOESN'T WANT TO... Read more
Incident date: Aug 5, 2024
The failed Transmission Lead Frame is causing the car to shift to first gear unexpectedly which can lead to a crash
Incident date: Jun 10, 2024
Case number 240821-000271 was opened on 8/21/24 with Volvo Car USA Support. I have three main concerns: 1) The infotainment system losing the favorites that I have saved in the Sirius application. This had been an intermittent problem that I had been having since I purchased the car. I finally took it into the service department at Volvo Cars of Gilbert on 1/7/23 for this problem (Invoice Numb... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2024
Whenever the car goes over bumps in the road at low speeds the ABS system activates. You can feel a “grinding” sensation emanating from the brake pedal. When it happens, if you try to engage the brakes, they don’t engage for several seconds. It happened to me recently with my kids in the car and we almost rolled into a busy intersection and could have been seriously injured.
Incident date: Jun 10, 2024
The contact owns a 2013 Kia Soul. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number 23V652000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic). The contact called the dealer to schedule an appointment for the recall repair and the appointment was set for September 2024. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the dealer informed the contact that the fuse needed to be ordered to perform the repair. The v... Read more
Incident date: May 8, 2024
ABS system warning light turns on and off, and ABS fails after 50,000 miles on vehicle. System requires ABS actuator replacement, but replacement isn't reliable. Nissan has been contacted and refused to acknowledge issue or offer assistance with issue. This has been an issue in ALL Nissan Kicks and Leaf models dating back to 2018 and through current models. I believe a recall should be instated fo... Read more
Incident date: Sep 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Tundra. The contact stated that prior to a failure being experienced, while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle was started, and there was an abnormal knocking sound coming from the engine. The contact stated that there was a loss of power going to the engine. The vehicle was towed to a nearby dealer. The dealer informed the contact that the engine needed to be repla... Read more
Incident date: Sep 22, 2024
2021 Volkswagen Tijuan has an oil leak caused by a defective Timing Cover Gasket, and or PCV component(s). If you do a simple Google search, there are thousands of these vehicles experiencing the exact same issue, and numerous individuals are not happy. The warranty is 4 years or 50k miles, this problem occurred at 53K, very convenient for the dealers repairing these vehicles. This is absolutel... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2024
Driving down the interstate and lost power due to rough running engine. I barely made it to the emergency lane before someone hit me. Coolant intrusion in the cylinders cause the engine malfunction. Ford is fully aware of this problem and refuses to help.
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
Due to a faulty design were antifreeze is allowed to get into the cylinders and mix with the oil, the engine malfunctioned while I was on a busy highway and I barely got off the road onto the shoulder. It was very dangerous. I thought it was an isolated incident but it happened again. Now they want to charge me $8,400 to replace a defective engine. I know some of Ford's similar engines are being ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2024
Chest clip is magnetic and can be opened by child without using the buttons to open. No longer staying closed.
Incident date: Sep 9, 2024
The forward collision warning system engages and slows the car, often very abruptly, when on the highway and only when cruise control is on. It happens after we have been on the highway for a few hours, thus the dealer cannot reproduce the incident. It happens a few times on every road trip and is very disturbing when there are no other vehicles or obstacles in the road or nearby. We have reported... Read more
Incident date: Feb 23, 2024
The contact owns a 2022 Lincoln Corsair. The contact stated while refueling the vehicle, there was fuel dripping out of the filler neck onto the ground. The contact stated that the failure had occurred two times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed fuel tank filler pipe. The contact was informed that the fuel tank filler pipe needed to be replaced. The vehicle ... Read more
Incident date: Sep 19, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the rear drivers side sliding door failed to latch securely. The contact stated that when the driver’s side sliding door was closing, the contact heard a whining sound. In addition, the instrument cluster displayed a black screen. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or th... Read more
Incident date: Sep 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford EcoSport. The contact stated while driving at various speeds and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle was intermittently sluggish and failed to respond as needed. The contact stated that the vehicle then lost motive power. The contact was unable to pull over to the side of the roadway. The contact was able to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle experienc... Read more
Incident date: May 14, 2024
We started hearing a metal knocking type noise on start-up and acceleration. We took it to a mechanic who diagnosed it as a rod-bearing problem. Then we took it to the Honda dealership thinking it was related to recall 23V751000 which also deals with 2018 Honda Odysseys, but for some reason our VIN was not included in that recall even though our problem sounds exactly like what is mentioned in t... Read more
Incident date: Sep 16, 2024
I was driving down the road and a bottle was thrown out of a vehicle going the opposite direction as me. Upon impact my windshield shattered and sent shards of glass flying into the cabin of my vehicle. The shards of glass were thrown into my face and would have gone into my eyes had I not been wearing glasses. The glass broke into small shards and splinters that could have easily damaged my eyes ... Read more
VOLVO
XC90
(2016) — EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM(GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM)
Sep 17, 2024
Incident date: Sep 14, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Volvo XC90. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the oil light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V308000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that an oil change was needed. The vehicle was repaired. The vehicle was taken to another loca... Read more
Incident date: Sep 14, 2024
Brakes failed (for the 4th or 5th time) while driving on the highway after approximately two hours. While traveling approximately 55mph on the highway (I do not drive engaging the brakes unless stopping) the Notice Service Braking System alert indicated on the dash. When I went to push in the brakes, they went to the floor, grinding and "pulsing" in and out as I attempted to stop. Please note that... Read more
Incident date: Sep 14, 2024
ABS and Traction Control lights have come on for the second time. First time at 100K miles the Hydraulic Module and Controller were replaced at my expense. Now at 153K miles the lights are coming on again. This is a habitual problem with this generation of RAM trucks and it's a safety issue for the following reasons: 1) the ABS system stops working 2) the traction control system stops working... Read more
Incident date: Aug 7, 2024
My wife pulled into a neighbor's driveway and put the car in Park. The car stopped. She reached over to the passenger's seat to pick up an item and the car lurched forward, crashing into the closed garage door before she could stop it. There were no warning lights alerting her that this would happen. She later told me, though, there had been previous instances of the car "bucking" after she had pu... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Aug 7, 2024
My dad was driving his Honda and the rear window all of a sudden shattered without cause. My dad was so scared. This happened on 9/13/24 at 6pm. Already called Honda about this matter and hopefully I will get a call back with a good news.
Incident date: Aug 7, 2024
Driver side mirror glass shakes constantly at any speed. This has been reported to the only dealership around my area. Mirror was replaced once by Service Dept, but only the mirror housing (not the glass). The mirror shakes the same or worse now. I went back to the dealership within minutes of driving my car off the lot after the replacement and told them the issue was not fixed. I was told to res... Read more
Incident date: Sep 12, 2024
The contact owns a 2016 Ram 2500 equipped with Hankook Tires, Tire Line: Dynapro AT2, Tire Size: 275/70/R18, DOT Number: 1BJWBRNB. The contact stated that while his son was driving approximately 60-65 MPH, the vehicle started severely vibrating and shaking on the front passenger’s side of the vehicle. The driver pulled to the side of the road and removed and replaced the front passenger’s side... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2024
The contact owns a 2023 Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE53. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle shut off without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with fuel contamination. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V880000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); and the vehicle was repaired under recall. The contact stated that in Septem... Read more
Incident date: Aug 22, 2024
In the morning when I start the car, I have a blank digital instrumentation screen. No way to tell how fast you are driving or how much gas you have and no warning lights. Sometimes it will take over an hour to come back on. Took it to a Ford dealership and they said they could not duplicate the problem, but a service bulletin was out on is problem was out on this to make sure software was up to... Read more
Incident date: Sep 2, 2024
My vehicle is currently in the shop getting the motor worked on for a bad lifter. From the information the mechanic provided me this is a common issue with the vehicles that have the Active Fuel Management system. They are seeing many of these vehicles have to come in and have very expensive repairs. My first quote I received was $16, 000, they told me I needed a whole new motor and this assess... Read more
Incident date: Sep 7, 2024
The brakes did not work when the automatic emergency braking turned on. When I pressed the brakes all the way down, the brakes didn’t respond because it was still in automatic mode. I was able to swerve into the next lane to not hit the vehicle in front of me. The automatic emergency braking also turned on when I was reversing from a parked location when there was a vehicle waiting to park behin... Read more
Incident date: Sep 7, 2024
My 2024 Nissan Versa 5 speed has gone into limp mode approximately 4 times in 6 months. When this happens you can’t accelerate which could be a great safety issue
Incident date: Sep 7, 2024
My 2024 Nissan Versa 5 speed has gone into limp mode approximately 4 times in 6 months. When this happens you can’t accelerate which could be a great safety issue
Incident date: Aug 30, 2024
The “Engine Maintenance Required” light came on, indicating issues with the coolant valve. This is become a common issue with the RAV4. If this is becoming a common issue for owners, it needs to be looked into!! I commute and my engine can overheat.
Incident date: Aug 23, 2024
August 23rd, 2024, the car started hesitating when gas was applied. The transmission light came on, then the parking brake light came on saying it was turned off, the check engine light came on, the volvo on call light came on, and the car wouldnt turn off. I moved the shift into different gears, and was able to turn the car off. I waited a while and started the car again. This time the on call, a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2024
On September 7, 2024 at around 8 AM I was driving my 2014 Ford F150 3.5 L eco-boost and suddenly my brakes failed on me. I was driving and noticed that the low brake fluid light turned on and when I was coming to a stop, it was very difficult to stop the vehicle because I had to press my foot all the way down to the floor since I didn't feel any pressure when I pressed down on the brake. I made it... Read more
Incident date: Aug 23, 2024
At 41,000 miles “check abs and electronic brake system” warning started coming on causing system failure to vehicle. Vehicle was taken to dealer with it requiring replacement of Hydraulic Control Unit and ABS control unit. Now at 71,000 miles same problem is occurring with cruise control deactivating, traction control failure, and ABS failure without warning. Apparently this is a known issue b... Read more
Incident date: May 30, 2022
POWER STEERING BRAKES BATTERY ADAS
Incident date: May 30, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Ram 2500. The contact stated that the brake pedal was depressed and traveled to the floorboard. The contact engaged the parking brake to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance for the repair. The failure mileage was 12,000.
Incident date: May 30, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Ford F-250. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the NHSTA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 16,000.
Incident date: Aug 30, 2024
The system that starts the vehicle, called a igs failed yet again. This failed at 700 miles in downtown chicago on the street blocking traffic. Now several months later today going on a trip and the vehicle dies in the middle of the street blocking traffic. Was unable to restart the vehicle again. Attempted to contact Volvo Customer Service and was on hold over 25 minutes without talking to so... Read more
Incident date: Aug 30, 2024
Power steering went out while driving and became real hard to steer luckily was in a straight away
Incident date: Aug 30, 2024
Vehicle shuts off and engine stalls at slow speeds, then applies electronic e brake for no reason. I have seen multiple reports online for same issue. Then voltage drops until restarting Vehicle which then resets. Went to dealership and they have found code p032f with no fix.
Incident date: Aug 29, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle made abnormal grinding sounds. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the high-pressure fuel pump had failed, causing metal shavings to enter the engine. The dealer determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was no... Read more