What breaks

Which Cars Have the Most Transmission Problems

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

3 min read · 306 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 hours ago

Owners have filed 216,960 complaints with NHTSA about the transmission — 10.1% of every complaint in the file. This is where those complaints land.

The heaviest single model year is the 2014 Ford Focus, with 1,585 complaints about this part alone, 44% of everything reported about that car.

Where owners recorded an odometer reading, the typical transmission failure on this list happened at about 66,750 miles.

Worst model years

Vehicle	Complaints	Share of that year	Median failure	Crashes	Fires
F 2014 Ford Focus	1,585	44%	40,500 mi	23	4
F 2002 Ford Explorer	1,584	39%	80,000 mi	26	3
F 2014 Jeep Cherokee	1,465	37%	33,914 mi	19	7
D 2012 Ford Focus	1,457	29%	55,000 mi	31	3
F 2013 Ford F-150	1,346	34%	94,350 mi	25	4
F 2013 Ford Focus	1,108	38%	39,000 mi	17	1
F 2015 Jeep Cherokee	1,001	38%	24,000 mi	13	1
D 2018 Ford F-150	990	35%	60,000 mi	12	2
F 2004 Nissan Maxima	942	55%	84,000 mi	15	2
F 2003 Honda Accord	933	39%	98,063 mi	20	3
C 1995 Ford Windstar	924	19%	93,586 mi	22	5
B 2010 Ford Fusion	898	13%	51,000 mi	8	1
F 2004 Ford Freestar	873	55%	85,000 mi	6	7
D 2011 Ford F-150	826	28%	96,267 mi	7	3
D 2019 Jeep Cherokee	783	32%	49,050 mi	8	1
F 2005 Nissan Maxima	782	68%	85,424 mi	8	2
F 2019 Ford F-150	722	43%	66,750 mi	4	0
C 2015 Chrysler 200	696	20%	37,311 mi	23	0
F 2005 Ford Freestar	690	63%	81,000 mi	3	0
D 2012 Ford F-150	679	28%	90,000 mi	12	1
F 2016 Ford Focus	676	43%	64,500 mi	8	0
D 2017 Jeep Cherokee	647	34%	46,319 mi	5	0
D 2016 Jeep Cherokee	630	31%	48,157 mi	7	3
F 2002 Honda Odyssey	613	55%	85,000 mi	4	4
F 2005 Dodge RAM 1500	597	37%	110,967 mi	26	4

By brand

Across whole ranges rather than single years. On Ford vehicles this part accounts for 14% of everything owners reported about the brand.

Ford 52,970 29.4%

14% of all Ford complaints, across 137 models

Chevrolet 18,401 10.2%

7% of all Chevrolet complaints, across 166 models

Nissan 16,432 9.1%

17% of all Nissan complaints, across 51 models

Jeep 15,912 8.8%

13% of all Jeep complaints, across 35 models

Dodge 15,629 8.7%

10% of all Dodge complaints, across 79 models

Honda 12,735 7.1%

10% of all Honda complaints, across 94 models

Toyota 9,786 5.4%

7% of all Toyota complaints, across 76 models

Chrysler 6,809 3.8%

10% of all Chrysler complaints, across 44 models

Hyundai 6,002 3.3%

8% of all Hyundai complaints, across 48 models

GMC 5,911 3.3%

9% of all GMC complaints, across 89 models

Volkswagen 4,353 2.4%

9% of all Volkswagen complaints, across 37 models

Mazda 4,353 2.4%

15% of all Mazda complaints, across 37 models

KIA 4,195 2.3%

7% of all KIA complaints, across 40 models

BMW 3,537 2.0%

9% of all BMW complaints, across 220 models

Subaru 3,140 1.7%

9% of all Subaru complaints, across 26 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.