Acura TL vs Ford F-250 SD

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Acura TL	Ford F-250 SD
Complaints on file	4,055	9,504
Model years covered	1995–2014	1991–2026
Worst model year	2003	2018
Best model year	2014	2012
Crashes reported	223	233
Fires reported	62	246
Injuries reported	136	162
Deaths reported	8	12
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	10.6%	6.9%

Acura TL by year

3 33 29 22 197 325 163 403 466 766 553 345 167 181 51 75 23 162 74 17

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 921 22.7%

Airbags 834 20.6%

Body & Structure 549 13.5%

Electrical System 263 6.5%

Other & Unspecified 244 6.0%

Steering 213 5.3%

Engine & Cooling 174 4.3%

Brakes 125 3.1%

Ford F-250 SD by year

1 3 4 2 12 11 52 1 304 277 331 282 229 345 381 353 85 175 33 48 189 97 32 37 459 448 1,837 639 1,938 360 213 161 76 57 19 13

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Steering 2,487 26.2%

Suspension 2,238 23.5%

Engine & Cooling 1,053 11.1%

Electrical System 511 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 509 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 462 4.9%

Other & Unspecified 443 4.7%

Brakes 296 3.1%