Ford Mustang GT vs Volkswagen Golf

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 Mustang GT	Volkswagen Golf
Complaints on file	836	2,009
Model years covered	1996–2006	1985–2023
Worst model year	2006	2015
Best model year	1996	2021
Crashes reported	74	77
Fires reported	13	44
Injuries reported	53	74
Deaths reported	4	1
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	17.2%	9.8%

Ford Mustang GT by year

33 25 58 41 71 78 59 59 21 213 178

96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 205 24.5%

Airbags 130 15.6%

Electrical System 94 11.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 64 7.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 53 6.3%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 50 6.0%

Brakes 48 5.7%

Body & Structure 40 4.8%

Volkswagen Golf by year

15 20 4 9 41 10 11 6 11 57 84 4 7 28 76 118 152 98 32 33 27 16 2 1 5 97 151 68 67 14 185 115 145 38 88 8 12 132 22

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 312 15.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 309 15.4%

Electrical System 212 10.6%

Airbags 195 9.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 158 7.9%

Other & Unspecified 111 5.5%

Brakes 100 5.0%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 97 4.8%