Ford Mustang GT vs Volkswagen GTI

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 GTI
Complaints on file	836	1,949
Model years covered	1996–2006	1985–2024
Worst model year	2006	2002
Best model year	1996	1999
Crashes reported	74	63
Fires reported	13	23
Injuries reported	53	76
Deaths reported	4	7
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	17.2%	8.7%

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 GTI by year

3 2 2 1 28 11 12 12 11 58 97 141 72 13 12 57 102 76 295 68 66 52 42 18 123 84 57 21 288 10 8 56 11 40

85 86 87 91 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 24

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 384 19.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 317 16.3%

Electrical System 223 11.4%

Brakes 160 8.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 147 7.5%

Other & Unspecified 126 6.5%

Airbags 124 6.4%

Stability & Traction Control 81 4.2%