What breaks

Which Cars Have the Most Wheel Problems

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

3 min read · 304 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 hours ago

Owners have filed 24,127 complaints with NHTSA about the wheels — 1.1% of every complaint in the file. This is where those complaints land.

The heaviest single model year is the 2017 Chevrolet Corvette, with 223 complaints about this part alone, 82% of everything reported about that car.

Where owners recorded an odometer reading, the typical wheels failure on this list happened at about 43,173 miles.

Worst model years

Vehicle	Complaints	Share of that year	Median failure	Crashes	Fires
F 2017 Chevrolet Corvette	223	82%	15,000 mi	1	0
A 2010 Ford Fusion	148	2%	52,150 mi	6	0
D 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse	129	34%	40,500 mi	2	0
F 2019 Chevrolet Corvette	124	82%	8,505 mi	0	0
B 1997 Ford F-150	118	4%	40,000 mi	7	0
B 2000 Ford Focus	118	2%	72,386 mi	5	2
A 2005 Ford Escape	99	5%	121,000 mi	3	0
A 2019 Ford F-250 SD	87	4%	20,000 mi	1	0
B 1998 Ford Windstar	84	4%	96,429 mi	6	0
A 2017 Ford Escape	81	2%	43,173 mi	0	0
A 2002 Ford Explorer	78	2%	84,100 mi	1	1
C 2013 Hyundai Elantra	76	4%	10,500 mi	7	1
C 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse	75	26%	27,330 mi	1	0
A 2017 Ford F-250 SD	69	4%	27,833 mi	1	0
F 2003 Ford Cvpi	63	74%	84,100 mi	1	0
B 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser	62	8%	44,155 mi	3	0
A 2018 Jeep Wrangler	61	2%	7,200 mi	2	0
A 2017 Ford Explorer	60	3%	20,000 mi	1	0
A 2003 Ford Explorer	59	4%	90,000 mi	2	0
F 2016 Chevrolet Corvette	59	52%	17,363 mi	0	0
A 2017 Ford F-350 SD	59	7%	15,000 mi	1	0
A 2006 Toyota Sienna	55	4%	60,000 mi	0	0
A 2007 Honda Civic	55	4%	51,510 mi	1	0
A 2016 Ford F-150	55	2%	52,314 mi	0	0
A 2010 Mazda MAZDA3	54	6%	53,000 mi	0	0

By brand

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

Ford 5,260 28.8%

1% of all Ford complaints, across 95 models

Chevrolet 2,454 13.4%

1% of all Chevrolet complaints, across 86 models

Toyota 1,514 8.3%

1% of all Toyota complaints, across 51 models

Dodge 1,506 8.2%

1% of all Dodge complaints, across 62 models

Honda 1,221 6.7%

1% of all Honda complaints, across 54 models

Jeep 1,089 6.0%

1% of all Jeep complaints, across 29 models

Nissan 906 5.0%

1% of all Nissan complaints, across 33 models

Hyundai 771 4.2%

1% of all Hyundai complaints, across 33 models

Chrysler 766 4.2%

1% of all Chrysler complaints, across 34 models

KIA 515 2.8%

1% of all KIA complaints, across 32 models

Mitsubishi 487 2.7%

3% of all Mitsubishi complaints, across 18 models

Mercedes Benz 477 2.6%

1% of all Mercedes Benz complaints, across 123 models

Mazda 443 2.4%

1% of all Mazda complaints, across 30 models

BMW 429 2.3%

1% of all BMW complaints, across 113 models

GMC 428 2.3%

1% of all GMC complaints, across 40 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.