How to File a Safety Complaint with NHTSA

If your car has a problem that affects safety, such as brakes that fail, an engine that stalls in traffic, an airbag light that will not go off, or a fire, you can report it to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It takes about 15 minutes and is free. Complaints are how NHTSA spots patterns that can lead to investigations and recalls.

This guide covers what counts as a safety problem, what to have ready, how to write a complaint that is useful, and what to expect afterward.

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation reviews consumer complaints to identify possible safety defects across many vehicles. A complaint is a piece of evidence in that process.

For a dispute about repairs, warranty or money, contact the manufacturer, your state attorney general's consumer protection office, or a lawyer. File with NHTSA as well if the issue is about safety. The FTC's consumer advice on car warranties and repairs (opens in a new tab) explains your options for non-safety disputes.

Report problems that create a risk of a crash or injury, or that make injury worse in a crash. Examples:

• Brakes that lose function, pull hard, or engage on their own
• Steering that locks, loosens or loses power assist suddenly
• Engine stalling or loss of power at speed
• Unexpected acceleration
• Airbags that deploy without a crash, fail to deploy, or show a persistent warning light
• Seat belts that do not latch or retract
• Fires, smoke, fuel leaks or electrical melting
• Wheels, suspension or axles separating
• Lights or wipers failing in a way that affects visibility
• Driver assistance systems braking or steering unexpectedly

You can also report problems with tires, child car seats and vehicle equipment.

Problems like a noisy radio, peeling paint or poor fuel economy are generally not safety defects. They may still be warranty issues.

1. 1Check your VIN for open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls (opens in a new tab). If there is an open recall for your problem, get the free repair. See how to check recalls by VIN.
2. 2Look up the model year's complaints. Our research pages group NHTSA complaints by component, for example /cars/ford/escape/2020, so you can see whether other owners report the same thing.
3. 3File anyway. Even if many owners have reported it, every new complaint adds data.

• VIN. It is on the driver's side of the windshield, the door jamb sticker and your registration. Our VIN decoder confirms you have it right.
• Mileage when the problem happened.
• Date and location (city and state) of the incident.
• Speed and driving conditions: highway or city, weather, road surface.
• Which component you think is involved, even if you are not sure.
• What happened, step by step.
• Injuries, crash or fire, and any police report number.
• Repair history: dealer visits, what they found, what was replaced, invoices.
• Photos or video if you have them.

Online

1. 1Go to nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem (opens in a new tab).
2. 2Choose the type: vehicle, tire, car seat or equipment.
3. 3Enter the VIN. This fills in year, make and model.
4. 4Select the components involved. You can choose more than one.
5. 5Describe what happened. See the tips below.
6. 6Add your contact information. NHTSA uses it if investigators want to follow up.
7. 7Review and submit. Save the confirmation or reference number.

By phone

Call NHTSA's Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236. The hotline can take reports and answer recall questions.

Investigators read many complaints. The most useful ones are specific, factual and in order.

Include:

• What you were doing just before: speed, braking, turning, accelerating, parked
• What the car did, and for how long
• Warning lights or messages that appeared
• Whether it has happened before, and how often
• What the dealer or shop found, and whether the repair fixed it

Avoid:

• Guessing about causes you cannot know
• Long background unrelated to the defect
• Personal information about other people in the description

The same detail is useful when you talk to the dealer or manufacturer. Keeping a running log of dates, mileage and what happened in your free CarManager garage makes it easy to copy into a complaint later.

• Your complaint is reviewed by NHTSA staff and added to its database.
• It becomes public, with your personal identifying information removed. Anyone can search complaints by vehicle on NHTSA's site, and complaint data appears on research pages like ours.
• The manufacturer may see it. NHTSA shares complaint information with manufacturers, without your name and contact details unless you agreed to share them.
• NHTSA may contact you if investigators need more detail. Most complainants are not contacted.
• If a pattern emerges, NHTSA can open a preliminary evaluation, then an engineering analysis, and can push for a recall. Many recalls are also started by manufacturers themselves after reviewing their own data.

There is no fixed timeline. Investigations can take months or longer.

• Defect petition. Anyone can formally petition NHTSA to open a defect investigation. It is a more formal process than a complaint, and NHTSA must grant or deny it. The process is described on NHTSA's website.
• Manufacturer customer service. Open a case and get a case number. Some manufacturers resolve repeated failures with goodwill repairs.
• State lemon laws. If a new vehicle has a defect that the dealer cannot fix after repeated attempts, your state's lemon law may apply. Your state attorney general's office explains the rules.