What breaks

Which Cars Have the Most Headlight and Lighting Problems

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

3 min read · 298 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 hours ago

Owners have filed 64,754 complaints with NHTSA about the lighting — 3.0% of every complaint in the file. This is where those complaints land.

The heaviest single model year is the 2007 Toyota Prius, with 1,069 complaints about this part alone, 44% of everything reported about that car.

Where owners recorded an odometer reading, the typical lighting failure on this list happened at about 73,000 miles.

Worst model years

Vehicle	Complaints	Share of that year	Median failure	Crashes	Fires
F 2007 Toyota Prius	1,069	44%	50,000 mi	5	0
F 2006 Toyota Prius	948	56%	49,000 mi	5	0
D 2008 Toyota Prius	587	31%	56,451 mi	1	0
B 2013 Nissan Altima	443	15%	80,000 mi	9	0
C 2005 Toyota Prius	349	27%	100,500 mi	3	0
F 2015 Acura RDX	337	76%	75,000 mi	3	0
F 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis	306	48%	78,252 mi	2	0
F 2015 Cadillac SRX	303	56%	51,100 mi	2	0
C 2014 Nissan Altima	298	21%	80,000 mi	4	0
C 2000 Chevrolet Malibu	283	21%	65,000 mi	5	1
F 2015 GMC Yukon	269	39%	59,000 mi	0	0
C 2015 Nissan Altima	269	22%	68,000 mi	8	0
F 2014 Cadillac SRX	267	59%	58,000 mi	8	0
C 2014 Dodge Durango	260	25%	60,000 mi	0	2
A 2011 Hyundai Sonata	251	5%	73,000 mi	2	3
D 2008 Saturn Outlook	250	27%	45,000 mi	2	13
C 2008 Pontiac G6	246	15%	74,000 mi	2	12
B 2007 Pontiac G6	235	13%	77,200 mi	2	7
F 2012 Cadillac SRX	234	45%	75,500 mi	5	1
F 2010 Cadillac SRX	226	36%	79,000 mi	6	1
F 2013 Cadillac SRX	217	44%	65,000 mi	2	0
F 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis	216	51%	86,000 mi	2	0
F 2008 Toyota Avalon	214	51%	59,700 mi	0	1
F 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis	210	47%	96,000 mi	5	0
A 2006 Pontiac G6	208	8%	77,700 mi	2	0

By brand

Across whole ranges rather than single years. On Chevrolet vehicles this part accounts for 3% of everything owners reported about the brand.

Chevrolet 8,049 16.3%

3% of all Chevrolet complaints, across 115 models

Ford 6,318 12.8%

2% of all Ford complaints, across 101 models

Toyota 5,529 11.2%

4% of all Toyota complaints, across 55 models

Dodge 4,808 9.8%

3% of all Dodge complaints, across 62 models

Pontiac 2,923 5.9%

7% of all Pontiac complaints, across 21 models

GMC 2,742 5.6%

4% of all GMC complaints, across 57 models

Honda 2,485 5.0%

2% of all Honda complaints, across 42 models

KIA 2,466 5.0%

4% of all KIA complaints, across 34 models

Hyundai 2,399 4.9%

3% of all Hyundai complaints, across 37 models

Cadillac 2,225 4.5%

11% of all Cadillac complaints, across 29 models

Jeep 2,094 4.2%

2% of all Jeep complaints, across 29 models

Nissan 2,047 4.2%

2% of all Nissan complaints, across 36 models

Mercury 1,923 3.9%

6% of all Mercury complaints, across 18 models

Chrysler 1,639 3.3%

2% of all Chrysler complaints, across 37 models

Volkswagen 1,625 3.3%

3% of all Volkswagen complaints, across 29 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.