Most complained-about vehicles
Ranked by distinct federal complaints filed per model year, to date. Not adjusted for sales volume or vehicle age. Bars scaled to the leader.
| Vehicle | Filed | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2010 Ford FusionSteering | 5,130 | |
| 2 | 2012 Ford FocusPower train | 3,769 | |
| 3 | 2000 Ford FocusElectrical system | 3,686 | |
| 4 | 2011 Hyundai SonataSteering | 3,377 | |
| 5 | 1995 Ford WindstarEngine & cooling | 3,326 | |
| 6 | 2002 Ford ExplorerPower train | 3,295 | |
| 7 | 2013 Ford F-150Power train | 2,987 | |
| 8 | 2007 Toyota CamryGlass & wipers | 2,887 | |
| 9 | 2010 Toyota PriusBrakes | 2,823 | |
| 10 | 2011 Ford FusionSteering | 2,788 |
Latest recall filings
From the federal recall register. Recall remedies are normally free; see the register for the age rules.
E-One Incorporated (E-One) is recalling certain 2024-2026 Typhoon N, 2025-2026 Cyclone N,...
E-ONE will provide a replacement wiring harness and busbar, free of charge.
Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2027 Surveyor recreational...
Dealers will rewire the exterior outlet, free of charge.
Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain 2026-2027 Sunseeker, Solera, and...
Dealers will replace the labels, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed...
Greenpower Motor Company Inc. (Greenpower) is recalling certain 2021 Nano Beast school...
Dealers will update the control module software, free of charge.
Most complained-about models, all years combined
Every model year of a nameplate added together. Each opens a year-by-year breakdown on an equal exposure window.
| Model | Filed | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford F-1501984-2027 | 37,976 | |
| 2 | Ford Explorer1984-2027 | 34,573 | |
| 3 | Jeep Grand Cherokee1989-2026 | 29,098 | |
| 4 | Ford Escape2000-2026 | 27,440 | |
| 5 | Honda Accord1981-2026 | 24,555 | |
| 6 | Ford Fusion2006-2020 | 22,411 | |
| 7 | Ford Focus1999-2018 | 22,099 | |
| 8 | Chevrolet Malibu1981-2025 | 19,353 | |
| 9 | Toyota Camry1983-2024 | 18,192 | |
| 10 | Ford Taurus1981-2019 | 18,160 |
Browse by make
From the file
Data journalism from the federal record.
The Harm Ledger: Which Parts of a Car Actually Hurt People, by the Numbers
Every federal complaint carries four harm fields, and across 2.17 million complaints nobody had read them together. The Harm Ledger audits the death column first, removing the 24 percent that turns out to be placeholder 99s and headline-copying, then ranks every component family by deaths per thousand complaints. Seat belts lead at 9.4, tires carry the Firestone era at 9.0, and the register's loudest families are its least lethal. The crash board, the fire board, the vehicles the ledger remembers, and a death rate that has fallen five-fold since the 1990s.
October 6, 2026Still Complaining After All These Years: What the Register Hears About Twenty-Year-Old Cars
Subtract model year from failure date and every complaint in the federal register becomes an age. The file turns out to be a young car's instrument, with a median failure age of four to six years, but the old-age ward is growing: the share of complaints about 15-plus-year-old vehicles has climbed from 0.1 percent in the 1990s to 4.3 percent in the 2020s. The immortals board, the Takata reach-back that dragged twenty-year-old Hondas back into the record, what actually breaks at twenty, and the 1989 Camry with a 35-year complaint span.
October 3, 2026Cases That Closed Empty: What Happened to the 2,262 Federal Defect Investigations That Found Nothing
The register has opened 3,525 defect investigations in its history, and two out of three closed with no recall ever linked to the docket. The empty rate ran 82.9% in the 1980s and about half that today, defect petitions were denied 97.4% of the time, and finding nothing took almost exactly as long as finding a defect. The complete ledger of the regulatory shrug, from the 8.8-year audit that ended empty to the fossil dockets nobody ever closed.
October 1, 2026The Airbag Biography: The Life Story of the Part That Was Supposed to Save Yours
The air bag entered the federal registers in February 1990 and proceeded to write the loudest file in the building: 1,064 recall campaigns, 150 million units, and one decade in which a single component family carried a third of all complaint-reported deaths. The full biography, from the miswired Buick sensor on page one to the Takata campaigns still being filed.
September 28, 2026The Parts Bin: 1966-2026. Sixty Years of What Breaks, One Drawer at a Time
Sixty years of recall and complaint component families, cut into decade shelves: the carburetor extinction, the seat belt arc, the Takata dent, the EQUIPMENT junk drawer, and software's rise from 0.26% of recall text in the 1990s to 42.91% in the 2020s.
September 27, 2026How Bad Is 500 Complaints? Where Any Number Falls on the Ladder
The median vehicle in the federal complaint register has 5 complaints. 500 puts a vehicle in the top 3.4% of everything ever filed. The full percentile ladder, the landmark counts, the ageless median, and the 20 most complained-about vehicles in American history.
September 26, 2026The Recall of the Recall: How Often the Fix Is the Defect
847 federal recall campaigns cite an earlier campaign in their own text, and the rate has risen from 0.5% of recalls in the 1980s to 8.6% today. The five ways a safety fix fails, and the most re-recalled campaigns in America, identified.
September 23, 2026The First-Year Curse: 'Never Buy the First Model Year,' Graded Against 64 Vehicle Launches
Is the first model year really worse? 64 generation launches compared against years two and three of the same design: the curse is real at 1.80x, engines and powertrains lead it, and the 14 exceptions rewrite the rule.
September 15, 2026The Odometer of Failure: The Mileage at Which Cars Actually Break, According to a Million Federal Complaints
993,743 federal complaints record the exact odometer reading at failure. Ranked by component: tires die at 31,906 miles, engines at 73,000, and half of everything that ever goes wrong has gone wrong by 66,000 miles. With the failure curves.
September 15, 2026Same Car, Different Badge: What America's Twin Vehicles Reveal About Complaint Data
Mercury Villager vs Nissan Quest, Toyota Matrix vs Pontiac Vibe, Explorer vs Mountaineer: identical badge-engineered twins with separate federal complaint files. The machines break identically. The paperwork doesn't.
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