State profile
California vehicle complaints
100,256 NHTSA complaints filed by California drivers across 50 vehicle models, the models your neighbors flag most.
- Complaints
- 100,256
- Crashes
- 7,872
- Models
- 50
Volume is not severity
According to NHTSA ODI filings attributed to California drivers, the HONDA ACCORD leads complaint volume at 5,388 (#1 of 50 tracked models) but the TOYOTA CAMRY leads crash-linked reports at 591 (#1); the TESLA MODEL S leads reported fatalities at 44 (#1).
- 5,388
- HONDA ACCORD complaints #1
- 591
- TOYOTA CAMRY crashes #1
- 44
- TESLA MODEL S deaths #1
Counts sum NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaints self-reported by owners in this state. Crash and fatality flags come from those filings, not a separate crash registry.
Crash-flagged vs other filings
California filings in this extract split 7.9% crash-flagged (CRASH-HEAVY) versus other ODI rows, orthogonal to the make/model top-N bars below.
California vs all jurisdictions by NHTSA complaint volume
Where this state's owner-attributed ODI complaint count sits among every state and DC on PlainCars
233,377 1st of 51 the highest of 51 jurisdictions
States and DC, banded by owner-attributed NHTSA ODI complaint count
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more jurisdictions. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source NHTSA ODI owner-reported state field · 2026-08-08
California has more filings than 50 of 51 jurisdictions in this extract. Absolute volume tracks population and reporting culture; it is not a per-vehicle defect rate.
Data updated August 2026. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 2,000,000 owner filings sit in the national ODI file; this page counts the subset attributed to California drivers. See our methodology.
California drivers have submitted 100,256 safety complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration across 50 distinct vehicle models. Those filings include 7,872 crash reports , 2,203 fire incidents , and 235 reported fatalities , each self-reported through NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation intake form.
State is geocoded from the owner's self-reported ZIP. The table below ranks models by complaint count; crash, fire, and death columns isolate filings that reported a serious outcome.
Severe outcomes reported in California
Most-complained vehicles in California
Ranked by NHTSA complaints filed by in-state owners
- HONDA ACCORD
HONDA ACCORD
5,388 complaints
- FORD EXPLORER
FORD EXPLORER
4,396 complaints
- HONDA CIVIC
HONDA CIVIC
3,980 complaints
- TOYOTA CAMRY
TOYOTA CAMRY
3,923 complaints
- TOYOTA PRIUS
TOYOTA PRIUS
3,787 complaints
- JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE
JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE
3,522 complaints
- FORD F-150
FORD F-150
3,197 complaints
- FORD FOCUS
FORD FOCUS
3,140 complaints
- TOYOTA COROLLA
TOYOTA COROLLA
2,767 complaints
- HONDA CR-V
HONDA CR-V
2,375 complaints
What this shows The HONDA ACCORD draws the most NHTSA complaints from California drivers. State-level volume reflects how common a model is locally as much as its defect rate.
Full ranking: top 50 most-complained vehicles in California
Nearest ODI volume peers
Closest owner-attributed complaint totals to California's 233,377 filings (DENSE band) - NHTSA ODI volume stamps, not an alphabetical state strip.
Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, with fatality-linked filings cross-checked against NHTSA FARS and crash-test ratings drawn from NHTSA NCAP. State is self-reported by the vehicle owner.
How California compares to the national picture
California sits #1 of 51 jurisdictions on owner-attributed ODI volume (DENSE; 50 jurisdictions file fewer). Absolute counts track population and reporting culture more than per-vehicle defect rates, pair California's CRASH-HEAVY crash-flag share (7.9%) with model-level national rankings before treating a local leaderboard as a reliability verdict. Inside this extract the HONDA ACCORD leads California volume; check whether that nameplate's local share exceeds its national share before calling a regional pattern.
A note on self-reported state data
The state field on each NHTSA complaint is supplied by the consumer at filing, there is no mandatory check that the owner filed from their registration state, nor that the incident occurred in California. A a California resident reporting a purchase made elsewhere still tags here; a visitor who filed from another home state will not. NHTSA does not deduplicate by VIN across years, so multi-year filings from the same vehicle accumulate. Treat California's DENSE ranking as directional and open the model pages linked above.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. State totals sum NHTSA ODI complaints attributed to California drivers (100,256 filings across 50 models; vintage August 2026; DENSE/CRASH-HEAVY). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.