Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...By Amy Stillman and Max Rivera, Bloomberg
A Tesla Model 3 hit a cement pole after the rearview camera failed. The driver of a Ford pickup scraped a light post in reverse. A Toyota minivan’s backup display showed old images instead of live ones.
These are among the roughly 2,000 complaints consumers have lodged with US auto safety regulators describing problems with glitchy rearview camera systems, a figure that’s surged recently.
Recalls over faulty backup cameras have similarly soared since the US mandated the safety systems eight years ago. Automakers have recalled approximately 21 million vehicles in that span, including almost 6 million just last year, according to a Bloomberg analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.
That number balloons to nearly 28 million when including other vehicle types that are subject to the backup camera mandate, such as recreational vehicles and small buses, according to NHTSA.
The stark figures make clear: Backup camera systems are one of the most error-prone features of modern automobiles.
“The more complicated this technology becomes, the more failure points that potentially can occur,” said Chris Harvey, senior vice president for Sedgwick, a third-party claims administrator that works with companies on product recalls.
Once an optional feature on high-end cars, cameras are now standard on new vehicles at every price. The mandate stemmed from a 2008 law signed by President George W. Bush directing regulators to help prevent pedestrian deaths and injuries caused by backup collisions — particularly, those involving children. The cameras can also help drivers parallel park or ensure a kid’s bike wasn’t left carelessly in the driveway.
Yet for many car owners, faulty cameras have proven a major nuisance. The systems ranked in the top 10 most-troublesome vehicle features in every year since 2022, according to researcher JD Power.
The buggy systems are emblematic of persistent struggles carmakers have experienced while adding tech-forward features ranging from touchscreens to parking sensors.
Problems often stem from how displays, processors and wiring interact with one another, Harvey said.
Vehicle infotainment systems — often presented to the driver as a touchscreen that contains both vehicle information and cabin entertainment — ranked among the top reasons for consumer complaints in JD Power’s latest Initial Quality Study. Infotainment systems were also the only category experiencing an increase in reported problems in the researcher’s 2026 study.
Although complaints about rearview cameras are categorized separately by JD Power, buggy infotainment systems can sometimes prevent the rearview image from being displayed on the main infotainment screen in the center of the dashboard.
“It’s not necessarily the backup camera itself that is failing. The issue is that there are problems with that big computer in the middle of every car,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports.
Malfunctions can stem from a variety of underlying faults, including software issues and manufacturing missteps.
In March, Ford Motor Co. recalled about 1.7 million vehicles in two separate campaigns over issues affecting rearview cameras. In one callback, the rearview camera images appeared reversed. In the other, an overheating component could cause the infotainment screen to go blank.
In May, Honda Motor Co. recalled nearly 60,000 electric vehicles over a manufacturing flaw that could allow water or debris to enter the camera.
As vehicles become more connected, with Wi-Fi and digital services, defects are increasingly becoming tied to software, said Harvey of Sedgwick.
“That’s only going to continue,” he said.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.