Ford Crown Victoria vs Dodge Dakota

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 Crown Victoria	Dodge Dakota
Complaints on file	3,978	9,236
Model years covered	1980–2011	1985–2011
Worst model year	1996	2002
Best model year	2010	2009
Crashes reported	280	691
Fires reported	259	178
Injuries reported	178	356
Deaths reported	27	24
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Suspension
Share of complaints involving harm	18.7%	13.5%

Ford Crown Victoria by year

2 2 4 8 8 24 35 48 49 86 58 70 482 247 252 318 358 340 138 174 103 70 71 303 175 240 68 76 64 59 14 32

80 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 06 07 08 09 10 11

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 469 11.8%

Steering 440 11.1%

Lights 400 10.1%

Electrical System 393 9.9%

Brakes 376 9.5%

Suspension 320 8.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 291 7.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 267 6.7%

Dodge Dakota by year

3 1 21 65 88 88 161 314 159 240 294 250 650 793 1,011 1,096 945 946 419 287 598 385 167 131 23 48 53

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

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

What breaks

Suspension 2,348 25.4%

Brakes 1,449 15.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,060 11.5%

Steering 723 7.8%

Airbags 691 7.5%

Engine & Cooling 597 6.5%

Electrical System 465 5.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 238 2.6%