Chevrolet Impala vs Ford Focus

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	Chevrolet Impala	Ford Focus
Complaints on file	15,232	29,786
Model years covered	1963–2020	1999–2018
Worst model year	2000	2000
Best model year	1994	1999
Crashes reported	932	1,631
Fires reported	477	424
Injuries reported	631	979
Deaths reported	7	54
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	13.4%	10.4%

Chevrolet Impala by year

1 4 2 5 1 2 2 2 3 1 1 6 19 64 120 2 4 4 1,128 959 1,077 935 1,375 811 803 932 1,203 1,368 737 844 422 467 1,021 436 178 138 88 41 26

63 66 67 69 77 79 81 82 83 85 87 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

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

What breaks

Electrical System 3,503 23.0%

Engine & Cooling 1,960 12.9%

Steering 1,227 8.1%

Brakes 975 6.4%

Stability & Traction Control 971 6.4%

Airbags 963 6.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 945 6.2%

Lights 737 4.8%

Ford Focus by year

15 5,152 2,361 1,198 1,224 499 600 270 524 336 323 409 157 4,981 2,919 3,628 1,327 1,568 1,183 1,112

99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 6,857 23.0%

Electrical System 4,474 15.0%

Engine & Cooling 3,622 12.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 2,723 9.1%

Steering 2,111 7.1%

Other & Unspecified 1,536 5.2%

Brakes 1,204 4.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,082 3.6%