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 15,318 complaints for VOLVO
Incident date: May 13, 2024
When the transmission went out, it shuddered so hard it broke the motor mounts. This is a serious problem and needs to be one recall list! I just had to pay $4000 to have the clutch, nigh shift levers engagement bearing and bearing support tube replaced. The dealership can almost do this car with his eyes closed because he has done so many! This should not be the case!!!
Incident date: May 27, 2024
Dealer sold me a car with two front rims that are dented causing steering complications. The steering wheel shakes and pulls to the right, there is a whine noice coming from the column.
Incident date: May 21, 2024
The car caught on fire driving it to my brother's house to babysit his kids while #4 being born prematurely with complications at southwest ms regional medical center. I lost almost 15,000 in equity and my husband recently passed things inside I can't replace. It was about 11:00 at night and I made a uturn to stop at gas station and truck was already on fire. Many police officers and innocent byst... Read more
Fire
1 injured
Incident date: May 21, 2024
GM vehicles manufactured between 2015 – 2019 equipped with GM’s 8-speed transmission are equipped with a defective transmission design of GM’s Hydra-Matic 8L90 transmission or Hydra-Matic 8L45 transmission, which causes vehicles to suddenly lurch forward, shudder, and experience significant delays in acceleration. GM not only knew about this pervasive issue but developed a fix for it in 20... Read more
Incident date: May 21, 2024
Tried calling the advertised number on your website: 1 888 327 4236 for online complaints but its rings and stops. I have been receiving letters from Honda for a couple of months for a safety recall pertaining o fuel pump. In this period, I took my vehicle ([XXX], 2024) for major servicing and my vehicle was not serviced for recall quoting "Unavailability of spare parts". This month ([XXX], 202... Read more
Incident date: May 22, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Edge. The contact stated while driving 5 MPH, the vehicle made an abnormal clicking sound. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the flex plate was fractured, and the engine short block was replaced. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle was experiencing rough starts and a rough idling. The check engine warning light was illuminat... Read more
Incident date: May 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Acura MDX. The contact stated that while his wife was traveling on Interstate 75 and driving 85 MPH, the vehicle independently slowed down, failed to accelerate, and shut off. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contac... Read more
Incident date: May 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Fusion Energi. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V440000 (Electrical System) 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 ha... Read more
Incident date: May 20, 2024
Passenger seat belt is hard to latch and hard to unlatch. Feels like something is stuck.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
On [XXX], 2024 I brought my car in for a recall that the dealership called me and advised me that I needed to get it done so I brought it in and mentioned that it was hesitating a little bit so they did the inspection and found out I needed oil They proceeded to tell me there was sludge and oil or something like that and they did an oil flush twice $600 later everything should be fine as I turn my... Read more
Incident date: May 19, 2024
The steering sticks in a center spot while driving. You have to really pull on steering wheel which causes it to oversteer and is very dangerous especially in curves. This happens everytime the car is driven on high speed about 50 miles per hour. This issues happened since 6 months ago, I noticed It gets more sticky. My car has 45,218 miles now. It shouldn't occur this issues at this mileage. I c... Read more
Incident date: May 20, 2024
Rear camera stopped working.
Incident date: May 20, 2024
Keep getting a safety restraint system fault error displayed and the estimate is more than $2000.This error just came out of the blue and I am not sure if the vehicle is safe to operate.
Incident date: Apr 1, 2024
My vehicle Chrysler 200 2016 has several car mechanical issues. The shifting gears. Rough shifting while driving.The affected vehicle would lurch through gears, and it would sometimes shut down or automatically shift to neutral. Grinding or a crunching sound. Clutch slips or doesn't “feel right” Burning smell or high engine revs. Car started rough, shifting and having transmission problems a y... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2024
On Monday, 5/13/24, I got in my car and there was a crack across the windshield that was not there earlier in the day. It seems to have spontaneously cracked for no known reason.
Incident date: Aug 8, 2023
I was driving at about 40mph and everything shut off for about 5 seconds. It was long enough for all the gages on the instrument cluster to go to their off positions. The desolation screen went blank as did the infotainment system and all lights.
Incident date: May 10, 2024
Driver instrument cluster shuts off , go's black and resets while driving vehicle. Antilock and airbag system show failure message on Ford app. Instrument cluster then reappears condition reoccurs approximately every 5 minutes
Incident date: May 16, 2024
- For the brakes, one month after the purchase date (November 2022), the brakes make a loud screech and to this date (17 May 2024), they still screech. I have took it into the dealer to report it and they still don't have a remedy. - My engine had something internally brake on Easter Sunday 2024. When I first took it to the dealer on Monday, it took a day or two and they found nothing wrong. ... Read more
Incident date: May 16, 2024
- For the brakes, one month after the purchase date (November 2022), the brakes make a loud screech and to this date (17 May 2024), they still screech. I have took it into the dealer to report it and they still don't have a remedy. - My engine had something internally brake on Easter Sunday 2024. When I first took it to the dealer on Monday, it took a day or two and they found nothing wrong. ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-150. The contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, there was a rattling sound coming from the engine compartment. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer and the contact was informed that the cam phaser needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the conta... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the transmission slipped and independently downshifted. The contact stated that the failure caused the vehicle to skid. In addition, the contact stated that the manual warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2024
I'm looking into purchasing a Chevy Cruze 2013 Lt from a friend. I am researching and noticing some issues and recalls. I was wondering if this statement is true. Could you let me know more information about this? Thank you for your time. The issues I'm seeing are the turbocharge and coolant at the moment.
Incident date: May 14, 2024
Since my short time of ownership I have had two specific issues with the car. One the safety features. The lane departure warning often doesn't work. The icon will stay unlit when veering out of lane. This is random but often. Next the automatic emergency braking system. The icon will show turned off randomly yet often. Forcing me to go back into the menu when the car is in stop to activate it a... Read more
Incident date: May 13, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the driver’s side windshield was cracked. The contact also stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, she became aware of a crack on the passenger’s side windshield. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer ... Read more
Incident date: May 13, 2024
The contact owned a 2011 Kia Sorento. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V652000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulics) and would like to be removed from the recall distribution list. The local dealer and manufacturer were not contacted.
Incident date: May 13, 2024
There is a cyclinder 2 misfire which hundreds of people have been effected by. There is electrical issues causing the temperature to not read correctly, side door not working, and rear air vents do not work.
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V064000 (Air Bags). The dealer was notified of the recall and an appointment was scheduled to have the vehicle serviced. The contact stated that on the day of the appointment, a call was received from the dealer which stated that parts for the recall were not yet available and that the anticipated rel... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2024
So my 2011 expedition has a lead frame problem it is stuck in 4th gear and all the warning lights are on associating the lead frame. The shop I left told me it Is the lead frame. The problem is the ford f150 with the exact same transmission as mine has a recall for that exact part. But no recall on the expiration with the exact same transmission as mine. This is a safety problem as it is stuck in ... Read more
Incident date: May 4, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Mazda Mazda3. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the abnormal sound would increase. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic who listened to the engine and ended up removing pistons from the engine. The mechanic discovered there was a... Read more
Incident date: May 4, 2024
automatic emergency braking system slammed on the brakes with no apparent obstruction in the way. I turned a corner, started to accelerate, brakes slammed on and light on dashboard came on. only took a couple of seconds
Incident date: May 7, 2024
Vehicle placed in the park position on several occasions, but indication from monitoring system shows not in park position, vehicle rocks back and forward when foot taken off brake pedal. indicator requiring me to remove shifter from park and place back in park several times before indicator acknowledge vehicle in park. Transmission jerks and stalls when initial drive train mobolized and leaking... Read more
Incident date: Nov 14, 2023
The contact owns a 2013 Dodge Journey. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the front passenger’s side headrest air bag independently deployed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 132,300.
Incident date: Nov 14, 2023
Vehicle says to shift to park when it is in park. This doesn't allow you to turn off the car.
Incident date: Apr 29, 2024
My car keeps saying please put in park, even after the car is parked. If I don’t turn on and off the car multiple times shifting from park to reverse to get it to not say put in park, my lights in my car stay on and the battery will eventually die. Seems electrical, and afraid of it says please put in park, is it really in park if it says that?
Incident date: Apr 29, 2024
There is a ticking sound coming from the engine, it seems like there are many issues with faulty hydraulic lash adjusters after a search online.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
Paint is peeling off the hood of the car.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
Dealer sold me a car and the next day the car no turn on engine and have a full leaking under
Incident date: Apr 25, 2024
Purchased new vehicle (Kia Telluride) 4/27/24 and on 5/1/24 the windshield has a crack on the passenger side. Not even a week in or 100 miles and already a problem, how is this not covered under any warranty. 3rd time driving the car. Awful quality
Incident date: Apr 25, 2024
My vehicle has not repaired. I have not been in an accident. However there are two open safety recalls for my car and I am terrified that myself or someone else is going to be injured or even killed due to this problem has yet to be resolved. The first recall for my car is the headliner plates. I took my car into my local dealership (Stokes Kia of Goose Creek) and they told me it would take 10 bus... Read more
Incident date: Apr 25, 2024
My vehicle has not repaired. I have not been in an accident. However there are two open safety recalls for my car and I am terrified that myself or someone else is going to be injured or even killed due to this problem has yet to be resolved. The first recall for my car is the headliner plates. I took my car into my local dealership (Stokes Kia of Goose Creek) and they told me it would take 10 bus... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2023
The engine failed completely needing full replacement @ 110,270 miles. Technical Service Bulletin 22-2322, super ceding TSB 22-2134 (attached file ford gave me) Coolant leak into cylinder 2 due to engine defect. I was getting on the highway when the car suddenly started overheating, the warning light did come on. This was roughly around [XXX], I do not recall the exact date. Then suddenly everyt... Read more
Incident date: Apr 1, 2023
1.) Vehicle will not shift into forward or reverse. Shift lever moves but vehicle does not respond. Intermittent problem. 2.) Excessive acceleration is required before vehicle will move, then lurches forward or backwards.
Incident date: Jan 14, 2024
12V battery died and vehicle not operable. Luckily vehicle was parked. This has recurred multiple times (3+) Issue has been confirmed by dealer. Not addressed yet. No warning lights of imminent problem
Incident date: Jan 14, 2024
This is a white Toyota where the paint is peeling on both sides of the windshield and the top of the trunk. This is a known issue with certain white Toyotas.
Incident date: Apr 17, 2024
While driving I find it extremely difficult to maneuver my steering wheel. My steering wheel is tightening up or glued to a certain position. I was forced to unsafely wobble the steering wheel from right to left to untighten it from being locked up, which I have found to be the only solution. My steering wheel is making my car a hazard to the road and will eventually injure or kill me, or some... Read more
Incident date: Apr 20, 2024
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 65 - 70 MPH, the vehicle unintendedly shut off. The high engine temperature was displayed with a message to pullover immediately. The contact became aware that there was no coolant in the reservoir. The contact added coolant. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who informed the contact that there was an internal co... Read more
Incident date: Apr 23, 2024
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Sorento. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V652000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. T... Read more
Incident date: Apr 23, 2024
Was driving vehicle on highway. Road was being milled. Went over the transition from milled to normal asphalt pavement. Vehicle lost power, error message appeared about battery, transmission shifted to neutral. Once vehicle was on the side of the highway, stopped, it turned itself off.
Incident date: Apr 15, 2024
While driving, the vehicle will suddenly flash a message about gear selection being unavailable until speed is reduced, followed by error messages about collision-assist disabled, ESC disabled, hill-start assist disabled, and service messages. Check engine light and service lights also come on. No response to throttle inputs, once vehicle decelerates to around 1-2 mph electronic parking brake is... Read more
Incident date: Apr 22, 2024
Since last four months I get multiple warning lights with alarm in my car . 1) Engine failure contact dealer immediately announcement 2) steering assist failure announcement ( & steering becomes heavy) 2) Hill assist failure 3) rear park aid failure announcement 4) 911 assist is not operational contact dealer . The odometer and speedometer goes blank and I can not see what speed I am driving at. I... Read more