Ford Explorer Sport Trac vs Audi A6

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 Explorer Sport Trac	Audi A6
Complaints on file	931	2,214
Model years covered	1997–2010	1994–2026
Worst model year	2001	2001
Best model year	2008	2025
Crashes reported	81	94
Fires reported	32	87
Injuries reported	62	76
Deaths reported	1	2
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	18.9%	11.7%

Ford Explorer Sport Trac by year

6 8 3 229 190 93 108 85 6 122 34 7 40

97 98 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 142 15.3%

Engine & Cooling 107 11.5%

Electrical System 89 9.6%

Body & Structure 83 8.9%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 73 7.8%

Brakes 72 7.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 64 6.9%

Suspension 54 5.8%

Audi A6 by year

2 22 71 26 158 276 201 148 113 85 44 119 83 63 79 22 24 26 86 79 48 29 77 24 16 196 40 22 4 2 2 11 16

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

Electrical System 402 18.2%

Airbags 322 14.5%

Engine & Cooling 248 11.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 229 10.3%

Brakes 171 7.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 118 5.3%

Steering 113 5.1%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 84 3.8%