Ford Econoline vs Mercedes Benz C300

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 Econoline	Mercedes Benz C300
Complaints on file	1,154	2,855
Model years covered	1979–2019	2010–2016
Worst model year	1994	2010
Best model year	2001	2012
Crashes reported	87	102
Fires reported	102	33
Injuries reported	63	72
Deaths reported	5	1
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	22.3%	7.3%

Ford Econoline by year

1 1 1 2 10 15 7 19 33 41 38 37 113 71 164 98 96 100 61 102 46 31 25 27 1 1 2 3 7 1

79 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 09 10 12 16 17 19

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

What breaks

Brakes 211 18.3%

Engine & Cooling 139 12.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 123 10.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 103 8.9%

Electrical System 96 8.3%

Tires 81 7.0%

Suspension 55 4.8%

Steering 54 4.7%

Mercedes Benz C300 by year

593 585 333 342 120 514 368

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

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

What breaks

Airbags 738 25.8%

Body & Structure 290 10.2%

Engine & Cooling 262 9.2%

Suspension 257 9.0%

Electrical System 249 8.7%

Other & Unspecified 237 8.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 222 7.8%

Steering 188 6.6%