Ford Crown Victoria vs Subaru Forester

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	Subaru Forester
Complaints on file	3,978	8,703
Model years covered	1980–2011	1998–2026
Worst model year	1996	2016
Best model year	2010	2026
Crashes reported	280	891
Fires reported	259	157
Injuries reported	178	376
Deaths reported	27	9
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Windows, Mirrors & Wipers
Share of complaints involving harm	18.7%	16.5%

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%

Subaru Forester by year

138 156 95 169 109 238 270 105 121 89 67 228 307 195 140 94 576 897 617 796 678 1,084 807 285 140 111 41 126 24

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 26

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

What breaks

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 1,265 14.5%

Engine & Cooling 1,014 11.7%

Airbags 908 10.4%

Other & Unspecified 814 9.4%

Electrical System 793 9.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 564 6.5%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 531 6.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 511 5.9%