Rankings
The 25 Worst Model Years in the Federal Complaint Record
Every one of these drew far more complaints than the other years of its own model — and a higher share of them involved a crash, a fire or an injury.
3 min read · 216 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 hours ago
Of the 9,406 model years graded on this site, 539 carry an F. These are the twenty-five with the highest FaultScore of all of them — 14,566 complaints between them, 3,292 of which record a crash, a fire or an injury.
The worst of them is the 2009 Toyota Corolla, with 1,770 complaints and a FaultScore of 100 out of 100. Most of those complaints are about the airbags.
The twenty-five
| Vehicle | Score | Complaints | Crashes | Fires | Most reported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F 2009 Toyota Corolla | 100 | 1,770 | 276 | 16 | Airbags |
| F 2010 Toyota Corolla | 100 | 1,582 | 217 | 16 | Airbags |
| F 2016 Tesla Model S | 100 | 1,027 | 160 | 23 | Suspension |
| F 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 | 100 | 840 | 128 | 10 | Electrical System |
| F 2024 Tesla Cybertruck | 100 | 258 | 49 | 3 | Electrical System |
| F 2015 Subaru Legacy | 100 | 232 | 32 | 5 | Windows, Mirrors & Wipers |
| F 2015 Volkswagen Golf | 100 | 185 | 15 | 7 | Engine & Cooling |
| F 2013 Can-Am Spyder RT | 100 | 176 | 0 | 8 | Fuel & Propulsion |
| F 2024 Cadillac Lyriq | 100 | 153 | 32 | 3 | Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance |
| F 2016 Tesla Model X | 98 | 684 | 117 | 7 | Suspension |
| F 2007 Lexus ES350 | 98 | 529 | 72 | 5 | Airbags |
| F 2021 Toyota Venza Hybrid | 98 | 246 | 28 | 0 | Windows, Mirrors & Wipers |
| F 2002 Lexus ES300 | 98 | 194 | 50 | 6 | Transmission & Drivetrain |
| F 2023 Tesla Model Y | 97 | 1,987 | 323 | 6 | Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance |
| F 1999 KIA Sephia | 97 | 749 | 68 | 77 | Brakes |
| F 2009 Toyota Venza | 97 | 231 | 24 | 5 | Acceleration & Cruise Control |
| F 2002 KIA RIO | 97 | 171 | 34 | 7 | Engine & Cooling |
| F 2008 Lexus ES350 | 96 | 276 | 33 | 1 | Airbags |
| F 2014 Infiniti Q50 | 96 | 255 | 22 | 5 | Steering |
| F 2005 Scion TC | 96 | 203 | 34 | 4 | Windows, Mirrors & Wipers |
| F 2018 Tesla Model 3 | 95 | 1,693 | 204 | 7 | Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance |
| F 2016 Subaru Forester | 95 | 617 | 77 | 6 | Airbags |
| F 2008 Smart Fortwo | 95 | 177 | 7 | 33 | Engine & Cooling |
| F 2005 Lexus ES330 | 95 | 176 | 44 | 5 | Acceleration & Cruise Control |
| F 2010 Honda Insight | 95 | 155 | 40 | 0 | Airbags |
Ranked by FaultScore. Higher is worse.
What they have in common
The part named most often across this list is Airbags, Windows, Mirrors & Wipers and Engine & Cooling. That is not a coincidence of this ranking — those are also the three parts the whole complaint file is most about.
6 model year on this lists
3 model year on this lists
3 model year on this lists
3 model year on this lists
2 model year on this lists
2 model year on this lists
2 model year on this lists
1 model year on this list
How many of the twenty-five each part accounts for.
Source — NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaint file, current to 23 August 2026.
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.