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: May 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Volvo S80. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle jerked and stalled with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact pulled over safely to the side of the roadway and restarted the vehicle. The contact also stated whenever the fuel tank was below half tank, the vehicle would stall inadvertently. The vehicle was taken to the local dea... Read more
Incident date: Jun 27, 2022
Blind Spot monitoring indicates a vehicle is in the blind spot area when no other vehicle is actually present. It has also failed to warn that a vehicle is actually in the blind spot when one was. On some occasions it just starts blinking erratically. I believe this is happening primarily on the driver side but I an not sure that it is not an issue on the passenger side as well. The date prov... Read more
Incident date: Jun 27, 2022
Lug bolts 19 MM are rusted into the 330 MM Brembo Disk brakes, They take over 220 ft lb of force to break lose, and you can not do that safety on the side of the road to change a flat tire
Incident date: Apr 28, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Volvo XC40. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V288000 (Vehicle Speed Control) 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 manufact... Read more
Incident date: Jun 27, 2022
Windshield leaking for about 2 tears got worse and was found to be "loose windshield and mobile" and "hazardous" by technician.
Incident date: Feb 8, 2022
Check engine light came on and has stayed on. Stalled out in traffic, turned the car off and it restarted and I continued. Happens two more times. Initial start up has a delay in the engine turning over. Gas pedal is slow to respond to acceleration. Verified at a garage with code reader. Suspect faulty wiring (corrosion) to fuel pump needing PEM replacement. No warning prior to first incident arou... Read more
Incident date: Jun 2, 2022
At night, when a direct strong light (headlight) from behind shines on the car, the BLIS system stop working. The only way to reset the system is to stop and restart the car, instead of turning the system button OFF and then back ON. This is unsafe since when you are on the highway, it is unsafe to do so. A simple fix is a software update that will RESET the system when you turn it OFF and the... Read more
Incident date: Jun 16, 2022
Message board throttle body position sensor controls the speed of the car is having issues having a problem accelerating
Incident date: Apr 5, 2021
It is unknown what caused this issue but ever since I bought my vehicle on April 5, 2021, I have been experiencing vibration issues when driving between 65-75 MPH. I have had my vehicle inspected at multiple Volvo Service Centers across Texas and no one can seem to figure out what is causing the vibration issues. My front rotors have been replaced 3 TIMES, my rear rotors have been replaced once, I... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2021
It is unknown what caused this issue but ever since I bought my vehicle on April 5, 2021, I have been experiencing vibration issues when driving between 65-75 MPH. I have had my vehicle inspected at multiple Volvo Service Centers across Texas and no one can seem to figure out what is causing the vibration issues. My front rotors have been replaced 3 TIMES, my rear rotors have been replaced once, I... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2021
It is unknown what caused this issue but ever since I bought my vehicle on April 5, 2021, I have been experiencing vibration issues when driving between 65-75 MPH. I have had my vehicle inspected at multiple Volvo Service Centers across Texas and no one can seem to figure out what is causing the vibration issues. My front rotors have been replaced 3 TIMES, my rear rotors have been replaced once, I... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
When rear seats are folded to make more room for cargo, the seat belts retract more inwards due to the retractable hardware that retracts the belts. The button clips that are clamped into the belt that stops them from happening break apart easily due to the retracting force of the belt and when trying to fold back the seats the belts get locked and are unable to fold back to the original position,... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
In approximately 2016 we noticed a strong smell of gasoline around our new car. There was a puddle of gasoline under the car in our garage. We had the car towed to the Volvo dealership and they replaced some fuel-line components under the hood. Two days ago we started to notice a strong smell of gasoline in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. I lifted the hood and and removed the engin... Read more
Incident date: Jun 20, 2022
Fuel line was recalled in 2010. Volvo repaired it now it has the same problem. And is leaking fuel. Same line that they replaced in 2010. Please recall.
Incident date: Jun 15, 2022
I've been waiting for a recall repair (Recall R10136: Driver Airbag) for 5 months and a local Volvo dealer said that they haven't received necessary parts for months. This is a matter of safety and Volvo should prioritize safety. First appointment with the local dealer was Jan 14 that was canceled by the dealer due to part shortage. Second appointment was on June 15 and it was canceled again by t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2022
Rear tires tread started shredding off particularly on the outside edge. The passenger rear tire is bald on outside edge the driver side is bad but not as extreme.This only took 1,500 miles I don’t know the cause but with 150 miles to get home I switched the drive mode from comfort to eco and that might have slowed or stopped the issue.Pic1passenger rear pic2 drivers rear pic3 drivers front pic4... Read more
Incident date: May 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2018 Volvo S90. The contact stated that upon the depression of the brake pedal, the steering wheel would violently shake without warning. The contact has had two sets of brake rotors replaced on the vehicle due to the failure. Since owning the vehicle, the contact stated that the failure would occur approximately every 8,000-10,000 miles. After the third failure, the contact was... Read more
Incident date: Jun 2, 2022
The adhesive and seal on the entire top of my windshield has failed. The glass is shaking while driving and rattles severely if a small bump is driven over on the road. This is a huge safety concern since my window could break or fall off at any given moment.
Incident date: Jun 9, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Volvo XC60. The contact stated while driving at various speeds or while the vehicle was idling, the Lane Departure, cross-traffic, and several other functions failed to operate as designed. The contact stated that a Cooling Environmental Failure message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was awaiting diagnostic and repair. The manufacturer was made ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Volvo XC60. The contact stated while driving at various speeds or while the vehicle was idling, the Lane Departure, cross-traffic, and several other functions failed to operate as designed. The contact stated that a Cooling Environmental Failure message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was awaiting diagnostic and repair. The manufacturer was made ... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2022
Water is leaking inside my 2015 Volvo V60 from the windshield creating a distraction while driving. The Service Rep. from my Volvo dealer said they do no repair windshield seals, only windshield replacement. I brought my car to an auto glass repair shop. After 45 minutes of diagnosis, the mechanic confirmed there is a leak in the windshield seal. The windshield on my vehicle is the original ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 3, 2021
InJanuary 3, 2021, I received a recall for the front driver airbag but replacement parts were not available. OnApril 19, 2021I received a letter the parts were available were and for me to contact a Volvo dealer to replace the front driver's airbag.free of charge. I called Volvo Cars to let me know the dealers in Nashville. They recommended Volvo of Cool Springs. I finally got an appointment on N... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2022
4 months old 2022 Volvo XC60 software bug that drained all batteries on board caused the vehicle to not to start, stuck in park, it was impossible disengage parking brake or put the car in neutral. Without any warning or battery low or battery empty indicator, the vehicle failed to start. We were put at risk by a car that can fail without warning and not start at all as we were stranded at a remot... Read more
Incident date: May 31, 2022
4 months old 2022 Volvo XC60 software bug that drained all batteries on board caused the vehicle to not to start, stuck in park, it was impossible disengage parking brake or put the car in neutral. Without any warning or battery low or battery empty indicator, the vehicle failed to start. We were put at risk by a car that can fail without warning and not start at all as we were stranded at a remot... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2022
Continuous problems associated with the computer of the car that are affecting its ability to drive safely. While in reverse and in motion, the car's camera will often, an unpredictably, shut off. Additionally, the car's forward collision warning system will initiate when there are no cars in front of; rather, it sometimes engages when oncoming traffic going the opposite direction. Lastly, the car... Read more
Incident date: Jun 9, 2022
Continuous problems associated with the computer of the car that are affecting its ability to drive safely. While in reverse and in motion, the car's camera will often, an unpredictably, shut off. Additionally, the car's forward collision warning system will initiate when there are no cars in front of; rather, it sometimes engages when oncoming traffic going the opposite direction. Lastly, the car... Read more
Incident date: Jun 14, 2022
SRS Airbag Service Urgent Drive to workshop light has come on twice. I was told by dealership it is a faulty wire harness where the airbags could possibly deploy if I was in an accident. Volvo does have a recall for the exact issue yet my VIN does not fall in this recall.
Incident date: Jun 14, 2022
SRS Airbag Service Urgent Drive to workshop light has come on twice. I was told by dealership it is a faulty wire harness where the airbags could possibly deploy if I was in an accident. Volvo does have a recall for the exact issue yet my VIN does not fall in this recall.
Incident date: Jun 14, 2022
SRS Airbag Service Urgent Drive to workshop light has come on twice. I was told by dealership it is a faulty wire harness where the airbags could possibly deploy if I was in an accident. Volvo does have a recall for the exact issue yet my VIN does not fall in this recall.
Incident date: Jun 4, 2022
June 4, 2022, 2018 Volvo XC60 - Right rear door lock engaged and would not release from either inside or outside door handle with all doors electronically unlocked. No other doors were affected. The door remained locked until Volvo technician removed inside door panel and made temporary repair on June 6. Replacement lock assembly was not available until Friday, June 10 when it was replaced by t... Read more
Incident date: Jun 8, 2022
2013 VOLVO S60. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO ILLUMINATED NO OIL PRESSURE LIGHT.
Incident date: Mar 16, 2022
The engine was losing almost a quart of oil every thousand miles. It did not always notify me when it was low on oil. No one's safety was put at risk. I ended up refilling a total of 3 quarts before taking it to the dealer. The dealer said that the front crankshaft seal was leaking, and the oil was dripping down it and onto the side and bottom of the oil pan.
Incident date: Jun 7, 2022
I will followup once I have a report from a mechanic. My car stalled while driving in heavy traffic; a pedestrian ran in front of me and I braked. I didn't hit anything or anyone, not even a pothole. My car stalled and all the dashlights went off. I put the car in park and tried to restart, but it would not start. My emergency lights wouldn't work and because I was on a busy thoroughfare in D... Read more
Incident date: Jun 7, 2022
I will followup once I have a report from a mechanic. My car stalled while driving in heavy traffic; a pedestrian ran in front of me and I braked. I didn't hit anything or anyone, not even a pothole. My car stalled and all the dashlights went off. I put the car in park and tried to restart, but it would not start. My emergency lights wouldn't work and because I was on a busy thoroughfare in D... Read more
Incident date: Jun 7, 2022
I will followup once I have a report from a mechanic. My car stalled while driving in heavy traffic; a pedestrian ran in front of me and I braked. I didn't hit anything or anyone, not even a pothole. My car stalled and all the dashlights went off. I put the car in park and tried to restart, but it would not start. My emergency lights wouldn't work and because I was on a busy thoroughfare in D... Read more
Incident date: Jun 4, 2022
The contact owns a 2008 Volvo S40. The contact stated while his spouse was driving 70 MPH, the moon roof exploded. The vehicle was driven back to the residence. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 133,000.
Incident date: May 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Volvo C70. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the driver's and passenger's side front doors inadvertently opened. The dealer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the driver's and passenger's side front doors needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 15, 2022
The windshield was not sealed properly during manufacturing because of a problem with the sealant used. This has caused a leak from the windshield on both the driver and passenger side from the top of the windshield when it rains. This creates lowered visibility when driving with water on the inside of the car, and also causes driving distractions while operating the vehicle. This improperly insta... Read more
Incident date: May 26, 2022
On May 26, 2022, I was stuck in traffic for four hours, and the car's CEM (central electronic module) overheated causing the dashboard to shut down three times, meaning I lost all instrument readings. After each time the dashboard shut down, I had to pull over and reset fuse #27 to have the dashboard come back online temporarily. Because the CEM was already overheated due to its design flaw with... Read more
Incident date: Jun 1, 2022
2007 VOLVO S80. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO DRIVERS AIRBAG INFLATOR SAFETY RECALL. THE CONSUMER STATED THE MANUFACTURER EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME COMPLETING THE RECALL REPAIR.
Incident date: May 21, 2022
My vehicle is having an oil consumption issue. I recently purchased a vehicle and the document stated that it was a oil change completed. Called the dealership to verify that a oil change Was indeed completed. Oil light came on stating that there was no or low oil. Arrive to oil change location and there was no oil reported in vehicle. Oil change completed, and 1600 miles later I have no oil in my... Read more
Incident date: May 21, 2022
My vehicle is having an oil consumption issue. I recently purchased a vehicle and the document stated that it was a oil change completed. Called the dealership to verify that a oil change Was indeed completed. Oil light came on stating that there was no or low oil. Arrive to oil change location and there was no oil reported in vehicle. Oil change completed, and 1600 miles later I have no oil in my... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2022
I have been driving with a bubble on the side wall of the tire. According with tire place this is been for long time. My car does not have even 9000 miles tire in under warranty but not either pirelli or volvo of america is taking responsibility for this. I drive in the highway I am a woman single mother with my son ... And driving under this circumstances in not safe. But apparently Pirelli of Vo... Read more
Incident date: Dec 14, 2021
I REQUESTED VOLVO CARS OF SEATTLE AND CUSTOMER CARE/VOLO TO HAVE REPAIRS DONE AS PER THE RECALL NOTICE OF 1214/2021 AND WAS TOLD THE PARTS REQUIRED ARE ON BACK ORDER AND I WILL BE NOTIFIED WHEN THEY COME IN. TO DATE I HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY NOTICE FROM THE DEALER THAT THE PARTS ARE AVAILABLE. WHEN WILL PARTS BE AVAILABLE AND CAN THIS VEHICLE BE DRIVEN SAFELY BEFORE APPROPRIATE REPAIRS ARE MADE?
Incident date: May 16, 2022
While driving in the rain, water leaked in the through the top of the windshield, dripping on me and running down the inside of the windshield. This is a distraction for the driver to deal with the shock of getting wet while driving, as well as, and most importantly, a major visibility issue to have to deal with water on the inside of the windshield that impacts the driver's line of sight. I have ... Read more
Incident date: May 18, 2022
Oil consumption issue every 1500 miles engine requires top off oil 1 qt other wise piston rings can ignite damage engine result in loss of power.
Incident date: Apr 16, 2021
The issue began in April 2021, the engine burns oil and empties out every 1,500 or less. Contacted Volvo corp & dealership several times. Have gotten two things repaired by Volvo indicating those were the root issue of the oil consumption, not the case, continues to burn oil. Was told by the dealer that I have to continue to drive the vehicle until the low oil comes on for them to re-check the eng... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
Vehicle Odometer less than 7K Miles. vehicle was serviced with full synthetic oil in November 2022. March 2022, Vehicle had consumed all the synthetic lubricant and failed while driving. Report was made to both dealership and Volvo USA. only answer received as to why or how the lubricant evaporated was that ' it was a well known issue' and that since it's out of warrantee they could not assist any... Read more
Incident date: Apr 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Volvo S60. The contact stated that while attempting to park in a parking garage, and applying the brake, her vehicle accelerated and crashed into a concrete wall, causing the air bag to deploy. The contact stated that she did apply the brake to avoid the crash, however, the brakes did not engage. The contact stated that no warning light had been illuminated at the time. The... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Apr 24, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Volvo S60. The contact stated that while attempting to park in a parking garage, and applying the brake, her vehicle accelerated and crashed into a concrete wall, causing the air bag to deploy. The contact stated that she did apply the brake to avoid the crash, however, the brakes did not engage. The contact stated that no warning light had been illuminated at the time. The... Read more
Crash
1 injured