Chevrolet Malibu vs Ford Fusion

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 Malibu	Ford Fusion
Complaints on file	29,455	28,788
Model years covered	1964–2025	2006–2020
Worst model year	2010	2010
Best model year	2022	2018
Crashes reported	1,225	1,138
Fires reported	234	255
Injuries reported	743	563
Deaths reported	38	14
Most complained-about part	Steering	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	7.6%	6.8%

Chevrolet Malibu by year

1 1 2 2 4 6 3 3 1 1 3 693 1,480 1,227 1,379 1,005 755 773 1,639 1,386 1,475 1,253 1,489 2,356 2,205 1,529 1,473 1,383 564 402 1,446 1,179 1,217 309 336 134 157 106 62 16

64 74 75 78 79 80 81 82 83 86 89 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

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

What breaks

Steering 5,717 19.4%

Electrical System 4,822 16.4%

Engine & Cooling 3,167 10.8%

Brakes 2,828 9.6%

Lights 2,060 7.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,687 5.7%

Stability & Traction Control 1,330 4.5%

Other & Unspecified 1,297 4.4%

Ford Fusion by year

920 1,277 1,533 1,169 7,026 3,656 3,058 2,375 1,766 1,281 2,085 1,392 578 410 262

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

Steering 5,788 20.1%

Engine & Cooling 4,053 14.1%

Airbags 3,537 12.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 3,145 10.9%

Brakes 2,724 9.5%

Electrical System 1,660 5.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 1,542 5.4%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,416 4.9%