How to File a Vehicle Safety Complaint With NHTSA
Owner complaints are one of the main ways NHTSA finds out about safety defects that have not been recalled. Filing one takes about ten minutes, is free, and does not require a lawyer or proof of anything — just an accurate description of what happened.
Why it matters
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation reviews incoming complaints and looks for patterns: many owners of the same model reporting the same failure under similar conditions. A pattern can lead to a formal investigation and, eventually, a recall. One complaint rarely does that alone, but each one adds to the count. Many manufacturers also monitor the public complaint database.
The complaint counts you see on the used-car pages (reachable from each model page) and the watchlist on this site come from this same database. When complaints in one area pile up without a recall, that is worth knowing about.
What counts as a safety problem
Report problems that affect safe operation of the vehicle or its equipment, such as:
- loss of power or stalling while driving;
- brakes that fail, grab or feel different without warning;
- steering that locks, pulls hard or loses assist;
- air bags that deploy unexpectedly or warning lights for the air bag system;
- fires, smoke, fuel leaks or burning smells;
- seat belts, seats, doors or latches that fail;
- driver-assistance features, like automatic emergency braking, that activate with nothing in the way or fail to act;
- problems with tires, child seats or other equipment.
Comfort and quality issues (noise, paint, infotainment glitches that do not affect safety) are better raised with the dealer or manufacturer.
How to file
- Go to nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem, or call the Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236.
- Choose the type of product (vehicle, tire, car seat or equipment).
- Enter your VIN. It is optional but strongly recommended, because it lets NHTSA match the report to the exact build of your vehicle.
- Describe what happened: when, at what speed, what you were doing, what warning lights or messages appeared, and what happened afterwards. Plain language is fine.
- Note whether there was a crash, fire, injury or death, and the mileage at the time.
- Add your contact details so an investigator can follow up if needed.
Writing a useful description
Investigators read thousands of reports. The most useful ones are specific and factual. Compare:
- Less useful: "Car is dangerous, brakes are terrible."
- More useful: "At about 35 mph, braking for a stop light, the brake pedal went close to the floor and the car took much longer to stop. ABS warning light came on. Happened twice in one week. Dealer replaced the brake booster at 41,200 miles."
Include repair details if you have them — which part was replaced, the date and the mileage. Keep the invoice; it may also matter for reimbursement if a recall comes later.
What happens to your report
NHTSA publishes complaints in its public database without your personal contact information, and may share the report with the manufacturer. You will not normally get an individual response unless an investigator needs more detail. NHTSA can contact you, and in some cases may ask to inspect the vehicle or the failed part.
If an investigation opens, it is listed publicly on nhtsa.gov under the vehicle. Investigations move through stages — a preliminary evaluation, then possibly an engineering analysis — and can end with a recall, or with no action if the data does not show a safety defect.
Other things you can do
- Tell the manufacturer. A report to the brand's customer care line creates a record with them too. Numbers for each brand are on our make pages.
- Check for an existing recall first. Your problem may already be covered. Search your model on this site or run your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
- Petition for an investigation. Anyone can formally petition NHTSA to open a defect investigation. This is a more formal step and is usually used when there is already a body of complaints.