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: Feb 21, 2023
The passenger airbag seat sensor is defective. It has disabled the passenger airbag, and will not reactivate even with a passenger in the seat. The cost to repair the sensor is $5670. Just the sensor. The airbag has never deployed. We requested that Nissan cover the repair or at least the part, as the airbag is obviously critical safety equipment, but they have refused.
Incident date: Feb 21, 2023
My car started making a funny sound above the right tire on the way to my hair apt on March 13, 2023. On the drive home from the appointment, my front axle came off in the middle of the expressway at 9:30 PM on 1-10 in Houston, Texas. I was so scared that I was going to die. Cars were coming so fast and swerving all around me. I turned on my emergency flashers and called 911 immediately. I do... Read more
Incident date: Dec 26, 2022
THREE TIMES NOW THE THROTTLE HAS GONE TO WIDE OPEN AND STICKS FOR ABOUT 5 SECONDS. SCARES THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF YOU.
Incident date: Mar 27, 2023
I purchased 2013 chevy cruze in 2021. Starting with steering going out, all electrical power is affected. Radio comes on and off. Light comes on to check stab trak. Engine started while key in ignition but I wasn't in car. I can't afford to get a different car now a days. I'm disabled and need this car to get to my Dr appts But I'm afraid the vehicle will kill me, someone or worse. This vehicle ne... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
When I put my car in park and try to turn my vehicle off I get an error message saying “shift to park.” The problem is the car is already in park and I am unable to turn the off. I usually have to start the car back and drive back and forth before the car actually recognizes it is in park. Im concerned for my safety.
Incident date: Mar 29, 2023
I was driving down expressway and my car started to make rattling noise and Clanking noise from the engine and then my car wouldn’t start it kept stuttering. My 2019 Kia forte was stalling it was not accelerating past 3k rpm’s and then the engine would completely shut off. Now my car has been out of commission for a few weeks
Incident date: Mar 12, 2023
Originally I had gottem my oil changed at the Hyundai dealership 2 months before . The car was turning off on me while driving making slow turns or slowing down to 5mph or less. Then my car broke down on me and wouldnt turn on. Mechanic was saying there was no oil in and it created a sludge in the engine basically ruining the car. My check oil light never came on, and the oil was just recently cha... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2023
Driving at speed the car brake by itself. There was no cars anywhere near me. It has happened multiple times
Incident date: Mar 18, 2023
After hitting a bump in the road, my 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit began to violently wobble while being flat towed behind my motor home on I-475. Vehicles in close proximity of the Jeep I was towing were at risk as there was a possibility that the vehicle could have broken loose or flipped endangering others. It appears that this defect is already known to the manufacturer of the Jeep and oth... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2023
The van has repeatedly (5 seperate times) stalled in the middle of driving. The electronics will remain on, but the power steering goes out and the van decelerates to a complete stop. When I try to start the van immediately after, the ignition turns over, but the engine does not start. After a period of 10-30 minutes the van will start up fine. We’ve had the van to our mechanic and there are no ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 25, 2023
Purchased from Mt. Ephraim Dodge in Mt Ephraim NJ on Dec 14, 2021. Have try to get them to look at engine/transmission problem at least 7 times always with a can't find the problem, No updates , No help today , Transmission guy out sick, transmission guy Quit.!!! Car bucks and jolts with NO warning engine races , Tach goes up to 3-4 K RPM. This saturday was the worst ever . The ar violently bucked... Read more
Incident date: Mar 3, 2023
The driver's seat belt unbuckles randomly while driving. This issue seems to be more prevalent depending on the seat position and dimensions of the driver. For me, a woman who uses the back of the seat in a more upright position, it seems to happen more often than for my husband, who uses the seat more reclined. Nevertheless, it has happened to him as well.
Incident date: Mar 18, 2019
For last 3 years whenever I fill my vehicle with gas the garage smells of gas until the tank is less than half a tank... The other major issue is the vehicle will not come out of park multiple time. This has put me in embarrassing situations many times. I stay away from driving the vehicle so many times when I could be in physical danger .
Incident date: Mar 18, 2019
For last 3 years whenever I fill my vehicle with gas the garage smells of gas until the tank is less than half a tank... The other major issue is the vehicle will not come out of park multiple time. This has put me in embarrassing situations many times. I stay away from driving the vehicle so many times when I could be in physical danger .
Incident date: Mar 12, 2023
While driving vehicle, warning lights came on stating "Stop Safely Vehicle will shut off soon". There was no other indication of any issue with the vehicle. The engine then shut off in the middle of the road with no power steering or any other features. Safety was put at risk not being able to control vehicle while driving in the middle of the road. Vehicle restarted 10 minutes later with no is... Read more
Incident date: Nov 12, 2020
The PTC Heater and A/C compressor failed on my 2018 Nissan Leaf, just as the winter of 2022 was getting started. The vehicle passed prior service inspections, with no mention of issues on either of these components. The failure of the PTC heater and A/C compressor results in a "Service EV System" error message, and indication that the vehicle would not restart after powering off. When this error... Read more
Incident date: Mar 23, 2023
Went for an inspection and entire frame is completely rotting out. Could have ben killed. Truck only has 65,000 miles on it because it was previously owned by my 80 year old grandfather. Toyota should have to fix everyone of these issues not just a certain time frame.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
obd2 scanner reported Error Code P052E which seems a very common issues on Mercedes C class 2015 or newer and there is no recall issued by Mercedes Benz yet which points out to possible problems with "PCV Regulator Valve components. There are 100s of post in the forum related to same issue
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
This is a dangerous problem and I expect Honda to have a major recall some day, unfortunately not today. Symptoms were two things, 1) ACC when on would not slow down with another car in front, it just kept accelerating into the car until I put on the brakes. Crazy dangerous. 2) The collision warning light would come on and beep loudly when there was no possibility of collision. Required replacing ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 21, 2023
Approximately one month ago I noticed that my engine began running roughly upon a cold start. The engine was misfiring and running rough until the vehicle warmed up. Shortly afterwards, the Check Engine light came on. I took my vehicle to the original Ford Dealer for service. The Service Consultant contacted within a day with the following information: - Identified the Check Engine light as a... Read more
Incident date: Mar 20, 2023
While driving on the interstate going the speed limit of 70 mph the plastic windshield trim on the left side of the vehicle (driver’s side) became loose and flew off. This was alarming and caused a distraction that could have resulted in an accident. The trim piece is about 2-3 feet long and could have caused damage to the vehicles behind us. Or worse an accident. The trim appears to have also d... Read more
Incident date: Feb 17, 2023
The hood on the 2018 Honda Accord vibrates at highway speeds (not a little, but significantly). Two separate body specialists tried to make adjustment which resulted in slightly better but, but still, the hood vibrates (again, not a little, but an unsettling amount) at highway speeds. Honda already has a known issue with the Pilot model's hood: https://honda.oemdtc.com/711/hood-flutter-or-vibratio... Read more
Incident date: Feb 17, 2023
The vehicle had a very violent shift (perhaps it was turbo lag related?) at low speed (under 20 miles per hour - typically, this happens in a parking lot or the like as you slowly drive away). This has been mentioned to the dealer, numerous times, who claims that the issue is not reproducible.
Incident date: Feb 17, 2023
The 2018 Accords have a system called "Brake Hold" which is intended to engage the braking system while a vehicle is stopped at, say, a stop-light. The intent seems to be to allow the driver to have their foot on the gas, instead of the brake pedal. The Brake Hold system frequently has an issue where it allows the vehicle to creep. This, generally, seems to happen in colder temperatures. Another, ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2021
My 2017 Ford f250 has what my mechanic described as the death wobble. The front end shakes uncontrollably after I hit any kind of a small bump in the road and I'm afraid I'm going to lose control. This has happened several times.
Incident date: Mar 10, 2023
I was pulling into a parking lot when my transmission failed and was only able to go in reverse. This was from a main road and the truck went from drivable to undriveable with no prior notice or issue. The truck was towed by Ram Roadside assistance to the nearest Ram dealer and the dealer confirmed that the transmission failed. They removed the transmission and diagnosed the issue as follows: The ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 7, 2023
My Tesla model Y reports that cameras are blocked or blinded nearly every trip. This happens day or night, and seems to be related to condensation in front of the camera. There is no other condensation in the vehicle; and there is nothing I can do to remedy this. I have brought it to the service center multiple times. On the last visit, the manager informed me that this is a known/common issue and... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2023
The contact owns a 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500. The contact stated that while the vehicle was at the dealer for routine maintenance, the dealer determined that the rear driver's side brake caliper was corroded and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 47,000. The VIN was ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 15, 2023
The contact owns a 2022 BMW i4. The contact stated that while pulling into her apartment's parking garage, the vehicle surged forward as the steering wheel independently maneuvered to the left without warning. The vehicle initially hit the rear bumper of her passenger's vehicle and then a concrete planter. The vehicle finally came to a stop once it hit her apartment building's wall. The air bags d... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Feb 27, 2023
While driving down the highway car all of the sudden alarmed service power steering now and service advance trac system. The steering wheel then locked up on the highway putting my family in harms way because we were unable to steer going 70mph. We were able to slow down and turn the steering wheel just enough to get off the highway and wait for a tow truck. My car was examined by the local for de... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2022
There seems to be a huge ongoing problem with ABS pumps and control modules for this model vehicle. I can find pages and pages of issues online for the same truck. The 'service brakes' warning comes on and off intermittently and I managed to replicate the fault after several months long enough to get it diagnosed. I am told the following parts are the issue: 68347098 - AB MODULE AN 08035030 68143... Read more
Incident date: Oct 31, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Ecosport. The contact stated when he started the vehicle the "low oil pressure" light was illuminated. The contact drove the vehicle to a dealer who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the engine needed to be replaced due to a failure of the oil pump. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The contact researched onli... Read more
Incident date: Oct 31, 2022
Airbags Warning lite are on. Mileage at time taken to dealship 91007 ,I’m original owner Service restraints message is on-airbag lite is on dealer states that airbags will not deploy Took to Chevy dealership on 9/21/2022 they stated that parts are not available No police or insurance is involved Messages and warning lite appeared on 9/12/2022 I have contacted BBB ,attorneys to no prevail loc... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
We have two infants in car seats. The car does not have the car seat LATCH system in it. The instructions were followed in the cars manual for placement but none were found. There are indications on the seat where you should place the latch buckle but the latch welded hooks are not there. I took the vehicle to the dealership Buick Gee in Liberty Lake WA where it is leased and was also told there... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2023
We have two infants in car seats. The car does not have the car seat LATCH system in it. The instructions were followed in the cars manual for placement but none were found. There are indications on the seat where you should place the latch buckle but the latch welded hooks are not there. I took the vehicle to the dealership Buick Gee in Liberty Lake WA where it is leased and was also told there... Read more
Incident date: Feb 27, 2023
I was driving down the interstate and unexpectedly the sun roof exploded. There was no debris from the cars distantly on front of me that could've damaged the sunroof like this. There were no temperatures fluctuations that coud've caused this. Luckily, I had the screen shut which kept the glass from reigning me, my husband, and my daughter. After stopping the vehicle, my husband took a photograph... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2023
Engine caught fire , oil consumption, miss firing, knocking brought to dealer they found nothing wrong with it back in December 2022. Car stopped working on March 11,2023 had fire underneath police had vehicle towed to the house. Insurance company will be here Monday. Will also be contacting Kia dealer in alliance Ohio on Monday. The engine light was on and checked missing firing cylinder one
Fire
Incident date: Mar 7, 2023
Sudden acceleration accident
Crash
Incident date: Mar 7, 2023
I've had 3 manufacturing defects on my 2021 VW Jetta, with 18,000 miles currently, the first issue was my sunglasses compartment on the ceiling of the car, the plastic latches broke by itself, The second issue my car had, multiple sensor lights went off simultaneously, shortly after my breaks started braking by themselves randomly, The dealership were I purchased the car, Payne Mission Mitsubishi ... Read more
Incident date: Mar 12, 2023
The adaptive distance assist system shuts down if no vehicle is sensed for approximately 1.5 hours. The system typically will not re-engage until the vehicle is restarted with an object in front of the vehicle enabling the system to self confirm that the sensors are functioning properly. This is a defect as the system should never turn off due to lack of vehicle detection. A typical drive across w... Read more
Incident date: Mar 12, 2023
WHEN I BOGHT THE CAR WAS WITH OUT AIRBAGS
Crash
Incident date: Mar 11, 2023
Dashboard is melting which is making it extremely sticky but the worst part is that it is causing a visibility issues while driving. The glare is really bad.
Incident date: Mar 11, 2023
Driving on Interstate and suddenly traction control light, brake Light, and ABS light came on. After this the brakes were not as affective at stopping the vehicle and felt sluggish. Found a lot of reports online about similar issue and even some when the vehicle brakes failed. My brakes allowed me to get home without incident.
Incident date: Mar 10, 2023
Three power window regulators have failed over the course of a year. Without warning the window suddenly drops down and cannot be let up. On each occasion, the regulator gears appear to have just desecrated. The car windows are rarely let down. The passenger side rear was the first to fail. The driver's side rear failed 4 months later. The passenger side front was the third to fail 3 months later.... Read more
Incident date: Dec 27, 2022
The engine throttles while accelerating and leaks oil and a burning smell comes from under the hood. the smell passes through the air vents and fills the car. I am afraid it might catch fire under the hood. The suspension makes noise and can also feel on the steering wheel. I will appreciate the company if they take safety measures in fixing this issue.
Incident date: Mar 8, 2023
Tire sizes: 245/70r17. Three tires went bad between November 2022 and March 9th 2023. First tire, the front right, replaced because its outside tread was going bad really quickly. I could see the metal sticking out of it. Two tires need replacing because they are bulging. The back left tire bulged so bad my car was shaking up and down until I took it off. Thought everything was fine but the bac... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2023
Tire sizes: 245/70r17. Three tires went bad between November 2022 and March 9th 2023. First tire, the front right, replaced because its outside tread was going bad really quickly. I could see the metal sticking out of it. Two tires need replacing because they are bulging. The back left tire bulged so bad my car was shaking up and down until I took it off. Thought everything was fine but the bac... Read more
Incident date: Mar 8, 2023
Both low beam headlights are very dim. Replacing the bulb does not increase brightness. Reports from internet are saying it’s because the reflective material oxidizes and no longer reflects. Extremely dangerous to drive at night.
Incident date: Mar 7, 2023
The contact owns a 2020 Ford F-150. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V250000 (Visibility) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. 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 had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disco... Read more
Incident date: Aug 11, 2021
Right rear brake hose ruptured.