What breaks

Which Cars Have the Most Acceleration and Cruise Control Problems

Every complaint filed about this part since 1995, by model, by model year, and by the mileage it failed at.

3 min read · 302 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 hours ago

Owners have filed 84,656 complaints with NHTSA about the throttle and cruise control — 3.9% of every complaint in the file. This is where those complaints land.

The heaviest single model year is the 2010 Ford Fusion, with 794 complaints about this part alone, 11% of everything reported about that car.

Where owners recorded an odometer reading, the typical throttle and cruise control failure on this list happened at about 50,750 miles.

Worst model years

Vehicle	Complaints	Share of that year	Median failure	Crashes	Fires
B 2010 Ford Fusion	794	11%	53,000 mi	21	1
D 2006 Ford Freestyle	602	32%	75,000 mi	25	0
D 2005 Ford Freestyle	587	29%	79,100 mi	16	0
C 2010 Ford Escape	558	18%	52,000 mi	8	1
F 2005 Ford Taurus	541	54%	93,454 mi	18	1
F 2007 Toyota Camry	512	14%	35,000 mi	131	7
F 2007 Ford Freestyle	428	34%	65,000 mi	16	0
A 2018 RAM 2500	338	9%	50,750 mi	2	0
B 2013 Ford F-150	300	8%	69,073 mi	6	1
F 1998 Ford Explorer	287	12%	112,500 mi	31	49
C 2010 Toyota Prius	287	8%	4,300 mi	34	1
F 2002 Toyota Camry	282	24%	39,000 mi	153	3
B 2009 Ford Escape	281	12%	68,000 mi	7	0
F 2005 Toyota Camry	274	30%	39,100 mi	155	0
F 2009 Toyota Camry	268	17%	17,000 mi	85	2
F 2003 Toyota Camry	261	28%	37,309 mi	169	0
B 2011 Ford Fusion	257	7%	45,000 mi	13	0
B 2011 Ford Escape	245	13%	45,000 mi	5	0
F 2004 Toyota Camry	241	30%	45,000 mi	134	1
F 1997 Ford F-150	227	7%	120,000 mi	15	93
D 1997 Ford Explorer	213	10%	100,000 mi	29	10
B 2011 Ford F-150	212	7%	57,000 mi	12	0
F 2010 Toyota Corolla	199	13%	6,300 mi	58	1
F 2009 Toyota Corolla	198	11%	20,000 mi	67	1
A 2012 Ford F-150	194	8%	30,000 mi	4	0

By brand

Across whole ranges rather than single years. On Ford vehicles this part accounts for 5% of everything owners reported about the brand.

Ford 20,444 30.0%

5% of all Ford complaints, across 118 models

Toyota 11,079 16.3%

8% of all Toyota complaints, across 64 models

Chevrolet 6,683 9.8%

3% of all Chevrolet complaints, across 128 models

Dodge 3,927 5.8%

3% of all Dodge complaints, across 71 models

Jeep 3,844 5.6%

3% of all Jeep complaints, across 31 models

Honda 3,842 5.6%

3% of all Honda complaints, across 58 models

Nissan 3,417 5.0%

4% of all Nissan complaints, across 41 models

Hyundai 2,893 4.2%

4% of all Hyundai complaints, across 46 models

Mercury 2,285 3.4%

8% of all Mercury complaints, across 20 models

Chrysler 1,999 2.9%

3% of all Chrysler complaints, across 34 models

KIA 1,849 2.7%

3% of all KIA complaints, across 38 models

Tesla 1,610 2.4%

7% of all Tesla complaints, across 7 models

Subaru 1,531 2.2%

4% of all Subaru complaints, across 19 models

Lexus 1,426 2.1%

9% of all Lexus complaints, across 65 models

GMC 1,315 1.9%

2% of all GMC complaints, across 59 models

Complaints about this part, by make.

Where this sits in the whole record

Engine & Cooling 288,020 13.4%

Electrical System 246,872 11.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 216,960 10.1%

Brakes 196,407 9.1%

Airbags 155,546 7.2%

Steering 143,306 6.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 127,175 5.9%

Other & Unspecified 115,162 5.4%

Body & Structure 103,108 4.8%

Suspension 88,852 4.1%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 84,656 3.9%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 76,576 3.6%

Every complaint in the file, by part.

Source — NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaint file.

How this was made. Nobody wrote this article and left it to age. It is generated by a query against the complaint database, and rebuilt every time the data is — so the numbers in the sentences above are the numbers as they stand today, not as they stood when somebody last had time to update them. How the grading works.