What breaks

Which Cars Have the Most Seat Problems

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

4 min read · 296 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 hours ago

Owners have filed 28,521 complaints with NHTSA about the seats — 1.3% of every complaint in the file. This is where those complaints land.

The heaviest single model year is the 2005 Nissan Murano, with 457 complaints about this part alone, 39% of everything reported about that car.

Where owners recorded an odometer reading, the typical seats failure on this list happened at about 70,000 miles.

Worst model years

Vehicle	Complaints	Share of that year	Median failure	Crashes	Fires
F 2005 Nissan Murano	457	39%	66,000 mi	3	0
F 2006 Nissan Murano	402	44%	68,000 mi	2	0
C 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee	339	10%	74,500 mi	2	2
D 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee	312	18%	69,000 mi	0	0
C 2007 Nissan Murano	221	25%	70,000 mi	1	1
F 2025 Toyota Sienna Hybrid	212	72%	7,750 mi	0	0
C 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee	180	10%	116,250 mi	7	2
F 2014 Dodge Durango	164	16%	70,000 mi	0	0
D 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee	149	9%	85,000 mi	2	13
C 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee	131	12%	100,000 mi	5	8
A 2003 Nissan Murano	111	11%	70,678 mi	0	0
B 2010 Mazda MAZDA3	106	12%	68,000 mi	1	0
F 2003 Volkswagen Jetta	103	19%	55,000 mi	2	56
F 2002 Volkswagen Jetta	102	12%	45,450 mi	1	57
F 2003 Volkswagen Passat	98	12%	46,200 mi	2	51
D 2014 Chrysler Town AND Country	96	11%	78,500 mi	1	1
A 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee	94	4%	110,000 mi	0	0
B 2004 Nissan Murano	94	11%	83,904 mi	0	0
B 2004 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx	94	16%	95,000 mi	1	0
D 2015 Dodge Durango	92	14%	70,000 mi	0	1
D 1995 Chevrolet Suburban	91	16%	100,833 mi	4	5
C 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee	91	5%	98,411 mi	2	8
B 2001 Ford F-150	89	6%	59,975 mi	2	0
D 2015 Dodge Journey	89	10%	68,000 mi	1	1
F 2004 Honda Pilot	87	14%	123,000 mi	0	13

By brand

Across whole ranges rather than single years. On Chevrolet vehicles this part accounts for 1% of everything owners reported about the brand.

Chevrolet 3,691 16.1%

1% of all Chevrolet complaints, across 116 models

Ford 3,098 13.6%

1% of all Ford complaints, across 86 models

Dodge 2,368 10.4%

2% of all Dodge complaints, across 50 models

Jeep 2,292 10.0%

2% of all Jeep complaints, across 25 models

Nissan 2,164 9.5%

2% of all Nissan complaints, across 30 models

Honda 1,678 7.3%

1% of all Honda complaints, across 29 models

Toyota 1,405 6.1%

1% of all Toyota complaints, across 47 models

Chrysler 1,162 5.1%

2% of all Chrysler complaints, across 28 models

BMW 990 4.3%

2% of all BMW complaints, across 94 models

GMC 947 4.1%

1% of all GMC complaints, across 63 models

Volkswagen 843 3.7%

2% of all Volkswagen complaints, across 26 models

Hyundai 588 2.6%

1% of all Hyundai complaints, across 30 models

Saturn 581 2.5%

3% of all Saturn complaints, across 19 models

Mercedes Benz 537 2.3%

2% of all Mercedes Benz complaints, across 96 models

Mazda 513 2.2%

2% of all Mazda complaints, across 30 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.