Buick Regal vs Ford Ranger

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 Regal	Ford Ranger
Complaints on file	4,456	10,502
Model years covered	1978–2020	1978–2026
Worst model year	1996	2000
Best model year	2004	2022
Crashes reported	227	977
Fires reported	335	386
Injuries reported	169	598
Deaths reported	5	35
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	16.5%	19%

Buick Regal by year

1 3 1 4 6 10 14 28 181 150 107 303 204 118 146 218 273 174 376 301 245 229 150 139 94 8 1 1 2 441 138 137 51 50 61 26 33 29 3

78 79 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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

What breaks

Brakes 867 19.5%

Engine & Cooling 811 18.2%

Electrical System 591 13.3%

Steering 325 7.3%

Lights 241 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 210 4.7%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 172 3.9%

Airbags 149 3.3%

Ford Ranger by year

1 1 13 12 33 50 58 117 88 141 145 231 272 531 451 533 536 744 966 849 687 449 310 462 353 316 286 344 179 171 260 1 1 1 350 156 158 52 21 109 58 6

78 79 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 14 16 17 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

Airbags 1,899 18.1%

Brakes 988 9.4%

Tires 900 8.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 898 8.6%

Body & Structure 753 7.2%

Electrical System 672 6.4%

Engine & Cooling 652 6.2%

Suspension 651 6.2%