Ford F150 vs Buick Century

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 F150	Buick Century
Complaints on file	988	2,393
Model years covered	1966–1990	1981–2005
Worst model year	—	1999
Best model year	—	2005
Crashes reported	22	184
Fires reported	216	48
Injuries reported	23	128
Deaths reported	3	4
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	26.7%	15.2%

Ford F150 by year

1 1 1 3 13 2 3 2 5 12 14 45 78 107 170 241 290

66 68 75 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

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

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 305 30.9%

Electrical System 244 24.7%

Engine & Cooling 83 8.4%

Brakes 68 6.9%

Tires 55 5.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 38 3.8%

Body & Structure 37 3.7%

Steering 30 3.0%

Buick Century by year

1 4 10 11 9 43 32 26 46 49 50 64 71 144 127 110 132 278 287 249 190 204 170 51 35

81 82 83 84 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

Engine & Cooling 304 12.7%

Brakes 289 12.1%

Electrical System 231 9.7%

Lights 193 8.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 172 7.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 170 7.1%

Steering 168 7.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 120 5.0%