Buick Century vs Ford F-250

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	Buick Century	Ford F-250
Complaints on file	2,393	5,731
Model years covered	1981–2005	1979–2014
Worst model year	1999	1999
Best model year	2005	1998
Crashes reported	184	277
Fires reported	48	246
Injuries reported	128	149
Deaths reported	4	14
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	15.2%	12%

Buick Century by year

1 4 10 11 9 43 32 26 46 49 50 64 71 144 127 110 132 278 287 249 190 204 170 51 35

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 304 12.7%

Brakes 289 12.1%

Electrical System 231 9.7%

Lights 193 8.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 172 7.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 170 7.1%

Steering 168 7.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 120 5.0%

Ford F-250 by year

1 14 5 145 149 183 156 238 212 348 76 702 417 269 189 151 201 207 332 84 255 92 109 384 423 153 236

79 89 90 91 92 93 94 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

Steering 846 14.8%

Suspension 808 14.1%

Engine & Cooling 741 12.9%

Brakes 549 9.6%

Tires 516 9.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 427 7.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 425 7.4%

Electrical System 315 5.5%