Ford Escort vs GMC Sierra 1500

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 Escort	GMC Sierra 1500
Complaints on file	5,050	11,357
Model years covered	1981–2003	1994–2026
Worst model year	1997	2019
Best model year	2002	1994
Crashes reported	629	361
Fires reported	610	142
Injuries reported	456	186
Deaths reported	24	3
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	34%	6.1%

Ford Escort by year

2 5 7 27 31 53 65 206 199 128 413 222 480 351 725 257 729 470 413 128 85 41 13

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03

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

What breaks

Electrical System 872 17.3%

Seat Belts 660 13.1%

Engine & Cooling 557 11.0%

Airbags 493 9.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 433 8.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 324 6.4%

Suspension 310 6.1%

Brakes 291 5.8%

GMC Sierra 1500 by year

15 3 7 100 68 182 215 171 192 210 253 218 182 313 440 280 216 364 149 147 1,031 928 445 473 420 892 661 741 729 582 461 151 118

94 95 96 97 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

Engine & Cooling 2,108 18.6%

Brakes 1,775 15.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,274 11.2%

Electrical System 1,178 10.4%

Airbags 947 8.3%

Other & Unspecified 859 7.6%

Steering 605 5.3%

Body & Structure 561 4.9%