Rankings

The Most Complained-About Cars in America

Which models have collected the most complaints since 1995 — and why that is not the same as which models are worst.

3 min read · 166 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 weeks ago

The Ford F-150 has drawn 48,021 complaints — more than any other vehicle in the federal record, and a little more the Ford Explorer in second place.

The twenty-five

Model	Run	Complaints	Worst year	Most reported
Ford F-150	1984–2026	48,021	1997	Transmission & Drivetrain
Ford Explorer	1977–2026	43,316	1998	Transmission & Drivetrain
Jeep Grand Cherokee	1989–2026	40,071	2014	Electrical System
Ford Escape	2000–2026	36,407	2013	Engine & Cooling
Honda Accord	1979–2026	32,167	2008	Electrical System
Ford Focus	1999–2018	29,823	2000	Transmission & Drivetrain
Chevrolet Malibu	1964–2025	29,455	2010	Steering
Ford Fusion	2006–2020	28,788	2010	Steering
Ford Taurus	1977–2019	23,982	2000	Engine & Cooling
Chevrolet Silverado 1500	1994–2026	23,671	2019	Brakes
Toyota Camry	1983–2024	23,397	2009	Acceleration & Cruise Control
Jeep Wrangler	1986–2026	23,013	2021	Steering
Hyundai Sonata	1987–2026	22,302	2013	Engine & Cooling
Honda Cr-V	1997–2026	21,377	2019	Engine & Cooling
Jeep Cherokee	1973–2026	21,059	2015	Transmission & Drivetrain
Honda Civic	1979–2026	20,348	2001	Airbags
Nissan Altima	1993–2025	20,256	2014	Engine & Cooling
Ford Windstar	1985–2005	19,460	1995	Brakes
Dodge Durango	1997–2026	19,369	2000	Suspension
Chrysler Town AND Country	1967–2016	19,040	1996	Electrical System
Dodge Grand Caravan	1985–2020	18,897	2008	Electrical System
Ford Edge	2004–2024	18,092	2013	Engine & Cooling
Honda Odyssey	1990–2026	17,279	2007	Transmission & Drivetrain
RAM 1500	2009–2026	16,726	2019	Engine & Cooling
Dodge RAM 1500	1991–2014	16,094	2005	Transmission & Drivetrain

Complaints per model year, which is the fairer number

Dividing each model's complaints by the number of model years it has been on sale takes out one distortion — a car sold for thirty years has had thirty years to accumulate reports. It does not take out the sales distortion, which no public data can.

Ford Fusion 1,919 12.4%

28,788 across 15 model years

Ford Focus 1,491 9.7%

29,823 across 20 model years

Ford Escape 1,348 8.7%

36,407 across 27 model years

Ford F-150 1,201 7.8%

48,021 across 40 model years

Ford Windstar 1,145 7.4%

19,460 across 17 model years

RAM 1500 1,115 7.2%

16,726 across 15 model years

Jeep Grand Cherokee 1,055 6.8%

40,071 across 38 model years

Ford Explorer 984 6.4%

43,316 across 44 model years

Ford Edge 952 6.2%

18,092 across 19 model years

Chevrolet Malibu 736 4.8%

29,455 across 40 model years

Dodge RAM 1500 732 4.7%

16,094 across 22 model years

Chevrolet Silverado 1500 717 4.6%

23,671 across 33 model years

Honda Cr-V 713 4.6%

21,377 across 30 model years

Honda Accord 670 4.3%

32,167 across 48 model years

Dodge Durango 668 4.3%

19,369 across 29 model years

Average complaints per model year.

Source — Counted across 2,159,197 complaints filed with NHTSA since 1995.

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.