What breaks

Which Cars Have the Most Window, Mirror and Wiper Problems

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

3 min read · 299 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 hours ago

Owners have filed 76,576 complaints with NHTSA about the glass, mirrors and wipers — 3.6% of every complaint in the file. This is where those complaints land.

The heaviest single model year is the 2004 Ford F-150, with 872 complaints about this part alone, 36% of everything reported about that car.

Where owners recorded an odometer reading, the typical glass, mirrors and wipers failure on this list happened at about 50,000 miles.

Worst model years

Vehicle	Complaints	Share of that year	Median failure	Crashes	Fires
D 2004 Ford F-150	872	36%	64,261 mi	7	0
C 2007 Toyota Camry	541	15%	70,000 mi	4	13
C 2006 Jeep Liberty	442	24%	45,000 mi	1	1
D 2019 Subaru Forester	409	38%	8,375 mi	0	0
F 2023 Honda Hr-V	401	49%	13,000 mi	0	0
D 2019 Subaru Outback	390	30%	11,000 mi	0	0
D 2020 Subaru Outback	384	34%	6,000 mi	1	0
C 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee	350	20%	69,000 mi	3	2
D 2020 Subaru Forester	301	37%	5,962 mi	0	0
C 2008 Toyota Camry	290	25%	50,000 mi	3	2
D 2006 Chevrolet Equinox	284	30%	66,268 mi	1	0
F 2022 Subaru Outback	281	51%	6,750 mi	0	0
D 2015 Chevrolet Equinox	280	33%	77,000 mi	1	1
C 2005 Ford F-150	274	20%	50,690 mi	0	0
C 2018 Subaru Outback	274	28%	24,000 mi	1	0
C 1998 Chevrolet Blazer	268	26%	70,000 mi	0	0
C 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee	257	23%	75,000 mi	3	1
D 2000 Buick Lesabre	252	30%	57,692 mi	1	2
C 1994 Chevrolet S10	251	20%	72,621 mi	2	0
B 2006 Honda Civic	239	14%	45,000 mi	2	0
C 2007 Jeep Liberty	239	25%	46,000 mi	0	1
C 2017 Subaru Outback	235	21%	36,500 mi	2	0
F 2003 Honda Element	226	47%	9,440 mi	3	1
B 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee	226	14%	55,000 mi	1	1
B 1999 Ford Explorer	225	13%	80,300 mi	2	1

By brand

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

Ford 11,524 18.7%

3% of all Ford complaints, across 105 models

Chevrolet 11,086 18.0%

4% of all Chevrolet complaints, across 156 models

Toyota 4,793 7.8%

3% of all Toyota complaints, across 60 models

Subaru 4,678 7.6%

13% of all Subaru complaints, across 17 models

Jeep 4,229 6.8%

3% of all Jeep complaints, across 28 models

Dodge 4,121 6.7%

3% of all Dodge complaints, across 60 models

Honda 4,088 6.6%

3% of all Honda complaints, across 40 models

GMC 3,260 5.3%

5% of all GMC complaints, across 79 models

Nissan 2,867 4.6%

3% of all Nissan complaints, across 38 models

Hyundai 2,334 3.8%

3% of all Hyundai complaints, across 37 models

Volkswagen 2,031 3.3%

4% of all Volkswagen complaints, across 33 models

Chrysler 1,913 3.1%

3% of all Chrysler complaints, across 37 models

KIA 1,710 2.8%

3% of all KIA complaints, across 37 models

Pontiac 1,697 2.7%

4% of all Pontiac complaints, across 24 models

Buick 1,419 2.3%

5% of all Buick complaints, across 22 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.