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	4,342	10,385
Model years covered	1988–2019	2001–2026
Worst model year	2011	2013
Best model year	2018	2026
Crashes reported	206	540
Fires reported	43	313
Injuries reported	131	349
Deaths reported	13	10
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	9.1%	11.7%

Ford Fiesta by year

1 1 3 1 1 1,040 833 917 653 368 253 105 46 120

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 34.8%

Engine & Cooling 550 12.7%

Body & Structure 411 9.5%

Other & Unspecified 394 9.1%

Electrical System 339 7.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 198 4.6%

Doors, Latches & Locks 184 4.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 161 3.7%

Hyundai Santa FE by year

293 219 390 386 300 143 983 718 507 333 268 475 807 680 332 288 1,266 143 272 288 240 302 316 201 187 48

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 2,613 25.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 956 9.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 906 8.7%

Electrical System 849 8.2%

Brakes 728 7.0%

Other & Unspecified 714 6.9%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 583 5.6%

Airbags 512 4.9%