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How to File a Safety Complaint with NHTSA

When you have a safety problem with your vehicle that involves components such as the airbags, brakes, speed control or suspension, who can you turn to? The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). The national organization also accepts complaints about tires, child safety seats and equipment.

At Fix Auto Downtown San Diego, we're all about car safety and that's why we enjoy sharing blogs like these with our customers and friends in San Diego, CA.

NHTSA says it only takes five minutes to file a complaint online. Make sure you have the following information on hand:

• An email address: If you don’t have one, call the Vehicle Safety Hotline (888) 327-4236. For those who are hearing impaired (TTY), call (800) 424-9153.
• Vehicle Identification Number (VIN): Every car has this unique number that can be found on the dashboard on the driver’s side, the inside driver’s door, your insurance information and the car’s title and registration.
• The make, model and year your vehicle was manufactured as well as other information pertinent to your complaint—for example a police report or photos.

When filling out the form, you’ll have the option to choose what part of the car you’re addressing and then explain what happened. If you’re attaching photos, the website allows the following formats: JPG, JPEG, GIF, TIF, TIFF, PNG, BMP or PDF. Up to five files (5 MB maximum) can accompany the complaint.

For issues related to Takata inflators, NHTSA asks drivers to include “Takata Recall” as part of the description.

NHSTA wants to know if there was a crash, fire or injury/fatality associated with the safety problem as well as the speed you were traveling and the number of miles on the car when the incident occurred.

You can also file a safety complaint by requesting a PDF version of a portable form. Once it’s completed, it can easily be uploaded online. NHTSA asks that you complete a separate form for every complaint. For those involving tires, child safety seats or equipment, the online form must be filled out: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/Complaint.cfm.

A Temporary Complaint Number (TCN) will be provided, which will allow you to check on the status of your complaint.

The NHTSA may include some of the information about your circumstance in a public database and advises not to include your personal information in the description provided.

All complaints are reviewed and depending on the findings, some may lead to investigations and potential recalls. NHTSA also warns, “The review and investigation process may take a long time, but don’t worry—you will be notified if there is a recall.”

For more information, visit: www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchSafetyIssues.

Sources: NHTSA, CNN and Fox News