Built from NHTSA's own files
What goes wrong with your car, according to everyone who owns one
Every safety complaint, recall campaign and defect investigation the US government holds, joined together and put on one page per vehicle.
Start here
- Check your own car by VIN
The only way to know whether a recall covers your exact car.
- Look up a car you are thinking of buying
What breaks on it, how often, and at how many miles.
- See what was recalled this week
Updated as manufacturers file with NHTSA.
- Find out if your state will make them buy it back
What every state's lemon law asks for, read from the statutes.
21 recalls carry a do-not-drive or park-outside warning
NHTSA issues these where it considers the risk immediate. They stand until the repair is done, and a recall usually covers only part of a production run, so the answer for your own car is a VIN away.
What a vehicle page tells you
What actually breaks
Which part owners complain about most, how many of them, and the mileage the failure typically showed up at.
Whether it is getting worse
Complaints year by year, so you can see whether a problem is fading or still arriving. Some cars are under investigation and not yet recalled.
What owners said
Their own accounts of what the car did, in their words, alongside every recall and the free fix that goes with it.
Covering 4,189 model years across 624,908 complaints and 5,010 recall campaigns.
Most complaints on file
All vehicles →Not a reliability ranking. A model that sold half a million units collects more complaints than one that sold twenty thousand, and NHTSA does not publish sales, so nothing here divides by them.
2010 Ford Fusion
5,126Mostly the steering
9 fires 1 death 11 recalls
2012 Ford Focus
3,761Mostly the power train
15 fires 5 deaths 7 recalls
2011 Hyundai Sonata
3,373Mostly the steering
112 fires 3 deaths 14 recalls
2013 Ford F-150
2,972Mostly the power train
35 fires 4 deaths 3 recalls
2010 Toyota Prius
2,819Mostly the hydraulic brakes
13 fires 2 deaths 10 recalls
2011 Ford Fusion
2,783Mostly the steering
10 fires 1 death 7 recalls
2013 Ford Escape
2,744Mostly the engine
89 fires 18 recalls
2017 Ford Escape
2,658Mostly the engine
15 fires 4 recalls
What owners complain about
Across all 4,189 vehicles on the site.
127,754
ENGINE
111,594
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
96,537
POWER TRAIN
64,755
STEERING
51,031
AIR BAGS
49,872
SERVICE BRAKES
39,114
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
32,309
STRUCTURE
Just recalled
All recent recalls →BMW of North America, LLC
August 12, 2026
POWER TRAIN:DRIVELINE:DRIVESHAFT · up to 27,720 vehicles
BMW of North America, LLC
August 12, 2026
STEERING:LINKAGES:KNUCKLE:SPINDLE:ARM · up to 13 vehicles
Daimler Trucks North America, LLC
August 10, 2026
FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY · up to 160 vehicles
Daimler Trucks North America, LLC
August 10, 2026
FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY · up to 22,778 vehicles
Marion Body Works Inc.
August 10, 2026
EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:INFOTAINMENT · up to 2 vehicles
Blue Bird Body Company
August 10, 2026
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING · up to 92 vehicles
How current this is
- Complaint file published Thu, 20 Aug 2026 01:32:35 GMT.
- Most recent recall campaign filed August 12, 2026.
- Investigation file published Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:19:26 GMT.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes
Independent developer and analyst