Ford Fiesta vs Hyundai Santa FE

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 Fiesta	Hyundai Santa FE
Complaints on file	4,348	10,463
Model years covered	1988–2019	2001–2026
Worst model year	2011	2013
Best model year	2018	2026
Crashes reported	206	543
Fires reported	43	317
Injuries reported	131	352
Deaths reported	13	10
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	9%	11.7%

Ford Fiesta by year

1 1 3 1 1 1,040 834 917 653 368 253 107 46 123

88 89 91 01 02 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,509 34.7%

Engine & Cooling 551 12.7%

Body & Structure 411 9.5%

Other & Unspecified 395 9.1%

Electrical System 339 7.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 198 4.6%

Doors, Latches & Locks 185 4.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 162 3.7%

Hyundai Santa FE by year

293 219 390 386 300 143 983 718 507 333 268 475 807 680 332 290 1,281 143 283 297 242 310 321 214 195 53

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

Engine & Cooling 2,633 25.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 963 9.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 924 8.8%

Electrical System 856 8.2%

Brakes 730 7.0%

Other & Unspecified 721 6.9%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 587 5.6%

Airbags 512 4.9%