Ford E-150 vs Volkswagen Atlas

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 E-150	Volkswagen Atlas
Complaints on file	1,311	3,037
Model years covered	1989–2021	2018–2026
Worst model year	1999	2018
Best model year	2007	2026
Crashes reported	81	71
Fires reported	70	9
Injuries reported	54	70
Deaths reported	2	0
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	15.8%	4.9%

Ford E-150 by year

2 2 20 86 95 180 104 81 122 81 115 61 52 37 31 36 24 22 15 12 10 14 30 19 29 9 10 11 1

89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 21

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

What breaks

Brakes 209 15.9%

Engine & Cooling 163 12.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 147 11.2%

Electrical System 103 7.9%

Steering 99 7.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 88 6.7%

Suspension 87 6.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 83 6.3%

Volkswagen Atlas by year

671 711 51 762 289 194 265 79 15

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

Electrical System 479 15.8%

Engine & Cooling 376 12.4%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 375 12.3%

Airbags 374 12.3%

Brakes 360 11.9%

Other & Unspecified 303 10.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 151 5.0%

Lights 120 4.0%