PulsCar analysis of NHTSA public data, September 2026 Squeaks, squeals, chirps and screeches: 3,445 owner complaints, 2,190 manufacturer bulletins, 2 recall campaigns Licensed CC BY 4.0. Queries run 18 September 2026. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE FILES -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NHTSA ODI complaint flat files COMPLAINTS_RECEIVED_2015-2019, _2020-2024, _2025-2026 -- https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/ffdd/cmpl/ (dictionary CMPL.txt) 777,040 distinct vehicle complaints (ODINO, product type V) received 1 January 2015 to 8 September 2026. NHTSA recall flat file FLAT_RCL.zip. NHTSA manufacturer communication files TSBS_RECEIVED_2015-2019, _2020-2024, _2025-2026 -- https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/ffdd/tsbs/ (dictionary TSBS.txt) Loaded into SQLite and queried with Python 3 and the sqlite3 module. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CASE SENSITIVITY -- READ THIS BEFORE REUSING THE QUERIES -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NHTSA complaint narratives are ALL CAPITALS for complaints received through 2020 and mixed case from 2021 onward. A case-sensitive regex, or an upper-case SQLite GLOB, silently drops most of the post-2020 file while still returning thousands of rows, so it looks like it worked. That matters more here than on most topics, because a large share of the brake-squeal complaints in this set are 2021-2026 vehicles. Every query below is case-insensitive on purpose: - the SQL stage uses LIKE, which is case-insensitive for ASCII in SQLite; - every Python regular expression carries re.IGNORECASE; - no GLOB, and no upper()/lower() comparison against a cased literal. The word lists are printed in lower case for readability; they match in any case. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHICH COMPLAINTS COUNT (the squeak set: 3,445) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- STAGE 1 -- SQL pull, case-insensitive LIKE on the narrative: descr LIKE '%squeak%' OR '%squeal%' OR '%squeek%' OR '%chirp%' OR '%screech%' -> 4,173 candidates. STAGE 2 -- Python, per sentence. A complaint counts when at least ONE sentence contains a noise word and does NOT contain an exclusion. noise words (regex, IGNORECASE): squeak* | squeek* | squeal* | chirp* | screech* EXCLUSIONS, applied to the same sentence: the word "tire" or "tires" anywhere, and "wheels squeal/screech" -- tyre squeal under braking or cornering is a driver event, not a vehicle noise defect, and it was the largest single source of mis-sorts in the first sample we read; "screeching to a stop / halt", "and complete stop", "to a screech"; "horn", "alarm", "key fob" -- a chirping horn is a lock confirmation; "radio", "speaker", "stereo", "audio", "infotainment", "bluetooth" -- a squeal through the speakers is an electrical fault, not a squeak; "glass", "windshield"; denials and absences -- "no sound of", "without squealing", "did not squeak / squeal / screech"; "bird", "animal". Makes excluded: motorcycle, heavy-truck, bus, trailer and RV makers, and rows where make is UNKNOWN -- Harley-Davidson, Indian, Triumph, Ducati, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, Polaris, Can-Am, KTM, Vespa, Piaggio, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Arctic Cat, Royal Enfield, Husqvarna, Zero, Mack, Hino, Kenworth, Peterbilt, Paccar, International, IC Bus, Freightliner, Western Star, Blue Bird, Thomas Built, Navistar, Prevost, Workhorse, Spartan, Autocar, Forest River, Volvo Trucks, UD Trucks, Sterling, Gillig, U-Haul, Cummins, Winnebago, Grand Design, Jayco, Thor Motor Coach, Keystone, Heartland, Coachmen, Newmar, Tiffin, Entegra, Airstream, Lippert, Carson, PJ Trailers, Peach Cargo and a handful of one-off trailer and bus makers. NOTE ON THE SUZUKI EXCLUSION: Suzuki sold passenger cars in the United States until 2013, and the house exclusion list drops the make because its motorcycle complaints dominate. Recall 11V-055, quoted in the article, is a Suzuki campaign and is taken from the recall file, which the make exclusion does not touch. RESULT: 3,445 complaints. SAMPLE READING (required before publishing any keyword count) Three samples of thirty were read in full as the query was tightened. - Version 1 (noise word anywhere in the narrative, no exclusions): SIX mis-sorts in thirty (20%) -- tyre squeal in a panic stop, a chirping horn, an RV floor squeak, a radio squeal. - Version 2 (sentence rule, first exclusion list): FOUR to FIVE mis-sorts in thirty. - Version 3, the query published here: THREE mis-sorts in thirty, ROUGHLY 10% -- a "squealing belt"-like sound that turned out to be an electronics reboot, a meta-complaint that pointed at other complaints rather than describing one, and a general hypothetical about cars that squeak. Read every count below as carrying roughly one mis-sort in ten. Counts under about 30 should be read as "a handful of owners". -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FIELDS AND RESULTS -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outcome flags (share answering Y, of 3,445): towed 3.19% (110), crash 2.21% (76), fire 0.87% (30), 47 injuries, 2 deaths. All-complaint baseline (777,040): towed 5.11%, crash 4.37%, fire 1.82%. Mileage: NHTSA MILES field, rows with 0 < miles < 400,000 (1,839 rows, 53.4% of the set). Median 50,000; quartiles 15,000 and 94,700; 40.9% at or under 36,000 miles; 22.8% at or under 12,000. All-complaint baseline median (392,935 usable rows): 70,000. WHAT SYSTEM THE NARRATIVE NAMES (categories overlap; a complaint that names no system matches none, so shares do not sum to 100) Brakes: pads, rotors, calipers 1,582 45.92% Steering: wheel, column, rack or pump 490 14.22% Body or interior: seats, doors, dash, trim 479 13.90% Suspension: bushings, joints, sway bar, struts 391 11.35% Transmission, clutch or torque converter 367 10.65% Belt, tensioner, pulley or an accessory 235 6.82% Engine internals: timing chain, lifters 90 2.61% Wheel bearing or hub 37 1.07% The belt row is the wide version, which matches the bare word "belt" (including seat belt). The narrow version -- serpentine, drive belt, tensioner, idler pulley -- returns 174 complaints. WHAT THE NARRATIVE SAYS ABOUT CIRCUMSTANCES Dealer or shop called it normal, or found nothing 241 7.00% Happens in reverse or backing up 316 9.17% Still there after a repair, or came back 269 7.81% Happens when turning 228 6.62% Happens when braking (explicit phrasing) 179 5.20% Happens over bumps or rough road 121 3.51% Happens on a cold start or first drive of the day 119 3.45% No-fault-found family, strict 189 5.49% The strict no-fault-found family is the same regex our other analyses use (no fault/problem/issue/code found; could not find, duplicate, replicate, reproduce; nothing found; operating as designed; within specification). Its all-complaint baseline, computed by scanning all 777,040 narratives with the identical regex, is 2.64%. "Called it normal" is a deliberately narrow regex -- it requires a copula or a reporting verb next to the word normal ("is normal", "told me it was normal", "normal characteristic") -- because the bare word "normal" appears in most narratives in phrases like "normal driving". THE BRAKE SUBSET (1,582 complaints) Median mileage 32,180 (805 rows report a usable figure); 31.3% at or under 12,000 miles; 53.0% at or under 36,000. 164 of the 1,582 (10.4%) say they were told the noise is normal. 232 of the 316 reverse-or- backing complaints are in this subset. For comparison, the belt subset (narrow regex, 174 complaints) has a median of 72,598 miles, and the body-and-interior subset (479) a median of 47,500. MANUFACTURER BULLETINS (2,190 distinct documents) Rows whose Summary contains squeak, squeal, chirp or screech, case-insensitive, collapsed from one row per make/model/year to distinct NHTSA document IDs, after the heavy-truck and engine-maker exclusions. Of the 2,190, by full summary text: names brakes, pads, rotors, calipers or a disc 799 36.5% names a seat, door, dash, trim, panel or the body 418 19.1% names suspension: bushings, joints, sway bar, struts 261 11.9% names steering, a column or an intermediate shaft 218 10.0% remedy mentions grease, lubricant, paste or silicone 281 12.8% names a belt, tensioner, pulley or accessory 85 3.9% mentions software, reprogramming or a calibration 43 2.0% names a wheel bearing or hub 18 0.8% Counts by make (top): Acura 212, Audi 188, Chevrolet 177, Mazda 165, Jeep 142, Land Rover 117, Honda 99, Toyota 99, Mercedes-Benz 92, Lexus 73, Subaru 70, Cadillac 69, GMC 64, Ram 62. Bulletin counts are counts of documents, not of vehicles or repairs; a manufacturer that publishes many short bulletins out-counts one that publishes few long ones, and revisions of the same bulletin carry separate document IDs. RECALL CAMPAIGNS (2) Campaigns whose defect, consequence or remedy text contains squeak, squeal or chirp, case-insensitive: exactly two in eleven years, covering 37,666 vehicles by the manufacturers' own potentially-affected counts. 11V-055 (Suzuki, 32,291) -- drive belt separation; if the belt comes off, increased steering effort or an engine stall. 10V-110 (Braun Corporation conversions of GM minivans, 5,375) -- "a squeaking or clunking noise may develop", trailing arm may fracture or separate. A squeak is almost never a recall subject. It is a bulletin subject. PRIMARY DOCUMENTS OPENED FOR THE ARTICLE (PDFs fetched from static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/, all HTTP 200 on 18 September 2026) Stellantis 05-001-21, 14 January 2021 (10187112) Hyundai 21-BR-001H, March 2021 (10189987) Acura 22-002 version 3, 20 June 2022 (10215505) Mazda 04-002/22a, 6 July 2022 (10215301) Toyota T-SB-0007-20, 23 January 2020 (10171456) Mercedes-Benz LI42.10-P-078875 version 5, 28 October 2025 (11024533) Infiniti ITB23-003, 4 February 2023 (10231089) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LIMITATIONS -- READ BEFORE QUOTING ANY NUMBER -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Complaints are self-reported, unverified and voluntary. They are not failure rates and cannot be converted into one: NHTSA publishes no denominator, so nobody knows how many of each model are on the road. 2. Counts favour high-volume models and models whose problem has been publicized. Nothing here ranks reliability, and no honest reading of complaint counts can. 3. THE SET IS SELECTION-BIASED TOWARDS DISPUTES. People file a federal safety complaint when a noise is expensive, repeated or dismissed -- not when a $30 can of brake grease fixed it. The system shares are a map of which squeaks become arguments, not of which squeaks happen. 4. The keyword method carries roughly one mis-sort in ten (see SAMPLE READING). 5. Mileage, towed, crash and fire are the owner's own entries. Mileage is blank or unusable in 46.6% of this set. 6. The crash share (2.21%) is below the all-complaint baseline (4.37%) because the baseline is dominated by airbag and seat-belt complaints filed BECAUSE of a crash. It is not evidence that a squeak is harmless. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FILES -------------------------------------------------------------------------- squeak-by-system.csv system named in the narrative, complaints, share of the 3,445. squeak-by-context.csv what the narrative says about circumstances, complaints, share of the 3,445. squeak-complaints-by-make.csv make, complaints, median miles, miles reported, share at or under 12,000 miles, share naming brakes, share told it is normal. squeak-top-models.csv same columns plus top model year, for the 60 most-reported models. squeak-bulletins.csv 2,190 rows: NHTSA document ID, bulletin number, date, make, model years covered, component, flags for brakes / body / suspension / belt / a grease-or-lubricant remedy, and the first 200 characters of the summary. No personal data is published: no VIN, no city, no dealer name, no owner free text beyond short quoted snippets in the article itself.