Ford Expedition vs Chevrolet Malibu

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 Expedition	Chevrolet Malibu
Complaints on file	12,004	29,455
Model years covered	1991–2026	1964–2025
Worst model year	2003	2010
Best model year	2026	2022
Crashes reported	740	1,225
Fires reported	848	234
Injuries reported	610	743
Deaths reported	33	38
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	18.6%	7.6%

Ford Expedition by year

1 1 4 1 3 1,065 1,022 1,137 1,136 742 415 800 381 452 395 267 179 42 74 92 167 116 97 229 280 480 482 640 547 302 173 93 113 58 18

91 93 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 2,044 17.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,584 13.2%

Electrical System 1,414 11.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 838 7.0%

Brakes 770 6.4%

Tires 690 5.7%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 635 5.3%

Suspension 561 4.7%

Chevrolet Malibu by year

1 1 2 2 4 6 3 3 1 1 3 693 1,480 1,227 1,379 1,005 755 773 1,639 1,386 1,475 1,253 1,489 2,356 2,205 1,529 1,473 1,383 564 402 1,446 1,179 1,217 309 336 134 157 106 62 16

64 74 75 78 79 80 81 82 83 86 89 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

Steering 5,717 19.4%

Electrical System 4,822 16.4%

Engine & Cooling 3,167 10.8%

Brakes 2,828 9.6%

Lights 2,060 7.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,687 5.7%

Stability & Traction Control 1,330 4.5%

Other & Unspecified 1,297 4.4%