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: Jun 23, 2023
Car emergency stops with no reason. Dangerous. Will cause accident. Needs recalled.
Incident date: Jun 12, 2023
I was driving from Palmdale, CA up to Mojave, CA at 7:05PM on June 16. The car was close to Rosamond, CA on the highway when it engaged FULL brakes. I started in the right lane, the autopilot was ON and set to 79MPH. The only cars visible on the highway were my car and the car in front of me. There were no other cars immediately visible to me or autopilot in front of me or behind me - other than ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 19, 2023
Door locks don’t unlock on 3 out of 4 doors. Transmission jerks and acts like losing power frequently. Engine tries to die at idle when stopping. Timing chains failed along with cam phasers yet symptoms still continue. Heater hoses leak to heater core. This caused high temps of 255 degrees to occur for engine.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2019
The contact owned a 2017 Ram 2500. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle in the parking lot of a residential building and turning the engine off, approximately 36 hours later the contact was alerted by the property manager that the vehicle was on fire. The fire department was called to the scene and extinguished the flames. During the failure, the vehicle was destroyed. A fire report w... Read more
Fire
Incident date: May 29, 2023
Extensive heat related damage to engine wiring harness, repaired at dealership due to no complete harness available.
Incident date: Jun 13, 2023
My car continued to move even with the brake pedal pressed, and collision avoidance systems did not turn on. This is very unsafe - a car that doesn’t respond when the driver brakes puts everyone else on the road in danger. The first time this happened was on Sep. 6, 2022. I was driving on the highway when the car in front of me stopped abruptly. I started to brake. The distance between our cars ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2023
The Uber app is set up to notify drivers of upcoming passenger offers and does so with a tone. This is done a good share of the time when you already have a passenger in the car and done repeatedly until you accept your next passenger. I have contacted Uber about this and was told it is an advantage to the driver to keep them under a trip. I can agree with that except for it is horribly dangerous... Read more
Incident date: Jun 13, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon opening the driver’s side door, a popping sound was coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the contact was informed that the spot weld on the front driver’s side door had fractured at the check arm attachment point. The contact then took the vehicle to two other independent mechanics who provided the sa... Read more
Incident date: Nov 16, 2022
I believe it's the engine or could have something to do with fuel. Car shuts off while in idle, mainly while sitting at a red light it shuts off/down completely. I then have to turn the switch to the on position to recrank it. It starts with no problem at all. Happens almost everyday. I've taken it to have it checked and they can't find any issues. It's been this way since I've gotten the car. Sti... Read more
Incident date: Jun 7, 2023
The contact owns a 2007 Ford Edge. The contact stated while attempting to accelerate, there was an abnormal humming sound coming from the engine compartment. The contact stated that the vehicle would not immediately accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. On several occasions, the transmission failed to shift into the proper gear, causing the vehicle to stall. After restarting the vehic... Read more
Incident date: Jun 12, 2023
The contact owns a 2014 Mercedes-Benz GLK350. The contact stated while starting the vehicle after refueling, there was an abnormal gasoline odor inside the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the fuel pump was leaking onto the rear seats. The contact was informed that the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 11, 2023
The Forward Collision Warning system in my 2018 Audi SQ5 is meant to autonomously apply the vehicle's brakes in the event the car senses an oncoming forward collision. At least five different times over the past five months, my vehicle's Forward Collision Warning system activated and applied the brakes at seemingly random times when there was no possible threat of an oncoming forward collision be... Read more
2 injured
Incident date: Jun 11, 2023
After ota software update, the vehicles braking systems (abs, traction control) and driver assistance systems(lane assistance, adaptive cruise control, one pedal driving mode) no longer functioned normally. The vehicle displayed warning information that read “stop safely, brake failure”; on the instrument cluster. This put my family and others at risk by changing the cars behavior by no ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 12, 2023
Driving my car in 85+ degree weather and an alert came on that said “check starter system,” “find a safe place to park,” “ignition shutting off.” My car shut off on the highway. A quick google search found that hundreds of people with 2019 jettas were having this exact same problem. This issue has now happened twice with my car, both when temperatures exceeded 85 degrees.
Incident date: Jun 11, 2023
The two systems that failed are the airbag release on the front passenger side and the stabilitrak system. Both systems show error lights on the dash. The front seat passenger does not have airbag protection. The stabilitrak system error light appears intermittently and when the traction system goes off the car brakes almost stop the car while driving. We go to Royal Buick in Tucson, Arizona. ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 10, 2023
Microwave turned on by itself with no one in the vehicle. Got very hot, smell of melting plastic.
Incident date: Mar 15, 2023
I want to apologize for the lengthy description but I feel this is quite possibly the most critical area to not be vague in. **This problem occurs every time, NOT an intermittent condition.** REAR SEAT/CENTER SEAT BELT RETRACTOR; will not extend out from the retractor. The belt is locked in the fully retracted (unoccupied) position. The vehicle can be on a flat surface, an incline, or a declined... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2023
Fire on sliding portion of read window. Short on connection point of wiring harness for defroster. Dealer verified and confirmed. All has been documented. Also has had PCM and other electrical components real places two times now, along with other electrical issues that are still ongoing since time of purchase back in March of 2021. John L. Sullivan of Yuba City refuses to do work or rectify this ... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Jun 7, 2023
Unknown… airbag light came on and horn and all buttons on wheel stopped working. It says airbag malfunction
Incident date: May 5, 2023
High injector fuel pump top engine mount went out at 68000 miles. It caused the vehicle to stall and lose power and basically cut the car off while driving.
Incident date: May 1, 2023
When driving at any speed, vehicle (2022 Jeep Renegade Altitude with 10,000 miles); intermittently jerks about 4-5" to the left or right on the road-like someone is jerking the steering wheel . Complained to dealer and they checked it over and said the vehicle is ok- Its NOT ok- HELP! HAPENDS ALL THE TIME!
Incident date: May 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Wrangler. The contact received notification of the NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V116000 (Power Train) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. An undisclosed dealer was contacted and confirmed that parts were not yet available for the recall repair. The contact was advised not to drive the vehicle. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceed... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The engine has a mind of its own and decides not to do engine breaking even if the driver downshifts. I first noticed this at low mileage when slightly tapping on the breaks would sometimes cause engine breaking as long as I kept my foot off the accelerator. However if I down shifted for additional engine breaking on the same slope the engine would scream revving up to 6000 RPM without slowing the... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2023
The engine has a mind of its own and decides not to do engine breaking even if the driver downshifts. I first noticed this at low mileage when slightly tapping on the breaks would sometimes cause engine breaking as long as I kept my foot off the accelerator. However if I down shifted for additional engine breaking on the same slope the engine would scream revving up to 6000 RPM without slowing the... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2023
Vehicle shakes at highway speed (62-75mph) and under heavy acceleration (highway on ramp) since 1st day of owning vehicle. Steering wheel vibrate and rear mirror shakes and is unusable. Took to dealer on 3rd day of owning car and they balanced tires and performed alignment with no improvement. Dealer stated it is a problem known to Volvo with no corrective action and they were instructed by Vol... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2023
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Traverse. The contact had not yet received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (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 manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced ... Read more
Incident date: May 9, 2023
Key repeatedly gets stuck in ignition. Similar problem to other model years. Vehicle needs to be restarted and put in park several times to be able to remove key. Needing to start and move the car several times to remove the key puts pedestrians in the area at risk as visibility in parking spaces is often limited. It happens randomly, and is not regularly reproducible, but happens frequently. We h... Read more
Incident date: Feb 12, 2021
I get the "death wobble" if I hit even a small bump on a smooth highway at speeds above 50 mph. The dealer says this is normal and nothing to worry about, which is crazy. The vehicle has just over 40,000 miles and has been maintained in full compliance with the manufacturer's warranty. The dealer said they could try replacing the steering damper but that it wasn't likely that it would fix the issu... Read more
Incident date: Apr 4, 2023
While driving, I heard a loud POP. I thought something hit the car, but I was not close behind another vehicle or road hazard. For about 15 minutes I thought no harm, no foul. Then suddenly, I saw a long, mostly horizontal crack from the bottom left and extending about 18" toward the center of the windshield. I called the Subaru dealer [where I bought the car] and was quoted $910 parts and $... Read more
Incident date: Apr 4, 2023
On Friday, June 2, 2023, I was traveling at highway speed in the left lane south on Interstate 15 just south of Temecula, California. With no warning my vehicle speed started dropping quickly, and did not respond to pressing the accelerator pedal. I immediately started moving lanes to the right, as my speed quickly decelerated to 30 mph. Luckily, I was able to make it to the shoulder safely. Th... Read more
Incident date: May 29, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 Toyota Highlander equipped with Continental Tires, Tire Line: Alenza Sport A/S, Tire Size: 235/55/R20, DOT Number: 1W28AALA12522. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22T021000 (Tires) however, the part to do the recall repair was not available. Several unknown dealers were contacted and confirmed that the parts were not yet available for the recall r... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2023
My vehicle began shutting completely off while in drive and approaching a stop. This has endangered myself as well as my family due to the current condition and unpredictability of the engine turning off while approaching a stop light or stop sign. The vehicle has been inspected by a dodge service location and the check engine light does come on. Also included is a mopar warranty bulletin addressi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2020
The contact owns a 2016 Volvo S60. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the SRS warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who repaired the vehicle under NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V378000 (Seat Belts) and 16V798000 (Seat Belts). The dealer also repaired an unstated electrical failure. The contact stated that the cells in the battery were faulty. T... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2020
LED brake lights and tail lights not working on passenger side. Partial LED failure on driver side.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2020
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was pulling to either side, shaking, vibrating, and was very unstable. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who diagnosed that the torque converter weld studs had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failu... Read more
VOLVO
C40BEV
(2023) — SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:ANTILOCK/TRACTION CONTROL/ELECTRONIC LIMITED SLIP:ABS WARNING LIGHT
May 31, 2023
Incident date: May 23, 2023
The contact owns a 2018 Ram 2500. The contact stated that the traction control and ABS warning lights were illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the ABS pump to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired due to parts being on backorder. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.
Incident date: May 29, 2023
The part that failed is the power steering rack Yes it is available for inspection The part failed while I were driving Yes I report it to the dealer an were told they had a recall on this part but were expired in 2021 on the 2017 camaro I took my car to the dealer they wanted to charge me 2600 hundred to change the part I have 37890 miles on this camaro No one drives this car but me This i... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2023
Both headlamp lights have water on it (Condensation ocurring on both headlamps) Please verify if this situation could be considered a safety hazard.
Incident date: May 19, 2023
passenger occupant detection system (PODS) may detect a malfunction and switch off the passenger airbag even though the seat may be occupied. Cars battery has been replaced yet battery problems still occur.
Incident date: May 28, 2023
Evaluating car seat in NICU for car seat study. Car seat was to be rear facing and we utilized the base to assist with proper recline. Upon locating the level bar on the side under the handle. We attempted to make car seat reclined according to level bar for positioning and the seat did not look right. I utilized the base foot and noticed the level bar was at an increased angle. When level indicat... Read more
Incident date: May 19, 2023
On a trip from Spokane to Seattle on 5/27/2023, while traveling at 72mph on I-90, we experienced “phantom braking”. This resulted in the vehicle rapidly decelerating based on its detection of something in front of the car to avoid a collision. This occurred 3 times on the trip, and in no case was there anything for the vehicle to avoid. Weather was clear and road conditions were dry. Our bigge... Read more
Incident date: Oct 14, 2021
The contact owns a 2013 Chrysler Town and Country. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled without warning, after driving over a bump in the roadway and while coming to an abrupt stop. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. Upon investigation, the contact linked... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2023
The ABS, traction control, cruise control and 4x4 no longer function. It started intermittently and now is constant. The vehicle is available for inspection. After a hard stop the abs won’t engage and I lost traction of the truck. There are two warning lamps that are on at all times (abs and traction control). It has been ongoing for almost 1 year and 10,000 miles or so.
Incident date: May 23, 2023
I also am having the sticky steering problem I have to overcorrect it gets stuck. It looks like I’m swerving and is extremely dangerous. It’s not covered under warranty and it’s a $2000 part on top of a 480 car payment a month for some thing is supposed to be a brand new save car Honda needs to be held responsible they’re still making these cars they’re still selling them they’re not r... Read more
Incident date: Jan 11, 2023
Coolant is leaking into the cylinders as confirmed by a Ford service center. This issue poses an engine overheating/fire hazard. This issue did not present until 68,000 miles which is outside of the manufacturer's warranty.
Incident date: Jan 11, 2023
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Fiesta. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the "Transmission Malfunction, Service Now" message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the transmission control module (TCM) needed to be replaced; however, the part for the repair was on backorder. The vehicle was repaired; however, the contact then ... Read more
Incident date: May 12, 2023
It was explained to me that since the Back rear seat in the Volvo XC60 seatbelt had a fault that it alerted the SRS airbag system. In event of a crash the airbags in my car would not deploy and that the only remedy was to replace the entire seatbelt in the Volvo. To prove this point I took my car in to a Volvo dealership and the technicians offered the fix as the only way my cars airbags would wo... Read more
Incident date: May 12, 2023
seat collapse. Available to be inspected. Unable to see over wheel or reach the acceleration and break pedals. Airbag light comes on due to the collapsed seat either cutting the airbag electrical cable, or puncturing the airbag itself. Vehicle has only been inspected by our fleet manager, our in house mechanic, and the dealership. No prior warning(s) before the failures.