Ford Aspire vs Audi S4

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	Ford Aspire	Audi S4
Complaints on file	289	721
Model years covered	1987–1997	1992–2022
Worst model year	1994	2001
Best model year	1996	1993
Crashes reported	60	23
Fires reported	8	8
Injuries reported	39	10
Deaths reported	3	0
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	38.1%	5.7%

Ford Aspire by year

1 67 92 41 88

87 94 95 96 97

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

What breaks

Airbags 60 20.8%

Electrical System 35 12.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 30 10.4%

Engine & Cooling 26 9.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 20 6.9%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 19 6.6%

Brakes 18 6.2%

Steering 14 4.8%

Audi S4 by year

5 18 8 1 171 92 31 1 37 54 37 21 4 73 34 27 34 23 1 9 3 34 2 1

92 93 94 95 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 10 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22

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

What breaks

Electrical System 150 20.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 104 14.4%

Brakes 82 11.4%

Engine & Cooling 72 10.0%

Lights 66 9.2%

Tires 51 7.1%

Steering 37 5.1%

Airbags 33 4.6%