FaultScore

Ford Festiva vs Smart Fortwo

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 Festiva Smart Fortwo
Complaints on file 198 475
Model years covered 1984–1994 2005–2019
Worst model year 2008
Best model year 2017
Crashes reported 14 28
Fires reported 17 68
Injuries reported 5 22
Deaths reported 0 1
Most complained-about part Seat Belts Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm 18.2% 25.1%

Ford Festiva by year

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

What breaks

Seat Belts 102 51.5%
Electrical System 23 11.6%
Suspension 11 5.6%
Engine & Cooling 10 5.1%
Transmission & Drivetrain 8 4.0%
Brakes 7 3.5%
Seats 7 3.5%
Tires 6 3.0%

Smart Fortwo by year

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 106 22.3%
Seat Belts 35 7.4%
Brakes 20 4.2%