Ford Escort vs Toyota RAV4

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	Toyota RAV4
Complaints on file	5,050	12,161
Model years covered	1981–2003	1994–2025
Worst model year	1997	2021
Best model year	2002	1997
Crashes reported	629	1,192
Fires reported	610	437
Injuries reported	456	602
Deaths reported	24	14
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	34%	18.5%

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%

Toyota RAV4 by year

4 1 54 61 92 75 34 418 682 392 183 168 880 1,240 708 397 498 403 357 332 279 400 295 413 443 1,181 800 519 219 255 264 114

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

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 1,636 13.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,400 11.5%

Electrical System 1,369 11.3%

Other & Unspecified 1,077 8.9%

Steering 945 7.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 902 7.4%

Airbags 852 7.0%

Brakes 674 5.5%