Ford F250 vs Oldsmobile 88

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 F250	Oldsmobile 88
Complaints on file	492	1,226
Model years covered	1968–1990	1972–1999
Worst model year	—	1998
Best model year	—	1994
Crashes reported	16	97
Fires reported	98	108
Injuries reported	8	65
Deaths reported	1	3
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	25%	22.3%

Ford F250 by year

1 1 2 3 3 1 1 2 11 33 42 51 85 127 129

68 70 74 77 78 79 81 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

Electrical System 98 19.9%

Brakes 97 19.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 91 18.5%

Engine & Cooling 42 8.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 41 8.3%

Tires 34 6.9%

Steering 20 4.1%

Body & Structure 18 3.7%

Oldsmobile 88 by year

1 2 1 2 4 13 9 7 33 22 46 32 28 16 109 99 91 150 113 129 213 106

72 76 77 79 81 82 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 276 22.5%

Brakes 180 14.7%

Electrical System 114 9.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 86 7.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 79 6.4%

Airbags 73 6.0%

Steering 65 5.3%

Seat Belts 57 4.6%