Ford Ford Truck vs Mercedes Benz C230

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 Ford Truck	Mercedes Benz C230
Complaints on file	365	883
Model years covered	1968–2003	1997–2007
Worst model year	1997	2007
Best model year	1996	1998
Crashes reported	27	53
Fires reported	21	29
Injuries reported	29	41
Deaths reported	1	0
Most complained-about part	Tires	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	21.4%	13.9%

Ford Ford Truck by year

1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 7 6 8 9 11 8 21 28 22 47 29 37 30 22 54 14

68 74 77 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03

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

What breaks

Tires 66 18.1%

Engine & Cooling 53 14.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 49 13.4%

Electrical System 26 7.1%

Brakes 21 5.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 18 4.9%

Suspension 17 4.7%

Steering 16 4.4%

Mercedes Benz C230 by year

7 54 35 44 4 73 76 44 120 154 272

97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 164 18.6%

Airbags 144 16.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 119 13.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 101 11.4%

Electrical System 83 9.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 37 4.2%

Brakes 31 3.5%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 31 3.5%