Ford F-450 SD vs GMC Safari

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 F-450 SD	GMC Safari
Complaints on file	630	1,537
Model years covered	1991–2026	1985–2005
Worst model year	2008	1995
Best model year	2002	2003
Crashes reported	18	158
Fires reported	29	30
Injuries reported	21	68
Deaths reported	0	1
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	10.8%	16.7%

Ford F-450 SD by year

19 3 5 3 2 5 9 1 76 59 28 15 18 43 47 44 19 105 5 4 11 5 2 2 2 1 1 5 26 37 9 16 2 1

91 92 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 19 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

Fuel & Propulsion 146 23.2%

Engine & Cooling 134 21.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 63 10.0%

Brakes 55 8.7%

Tires 46 7.3%

Electrical System 45 7.1%

Steering 33 5.2%

Body & Structure 14 2.2%

GMC Safari by year

2 11 22 8 25 44 60 66 79 142 256 199 200 111 92 95 55 35 19 8 8

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

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

What breaks

Brakes 359 23.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 176 11.5%

Suspension 124 8.1%

Engine & Cooling 104 6.8%

Electrical System 98 6.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 91 5.9%

Steering 91 5.9%

Body & Structure 69 4.5%