Ford Tempo vs Mazda MAZDA3

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 Tempo	Mazda MAZDA3
Complaints on file	1,649	4,006
Model years covered	1981–2000	2004–2026
Worst model year	—	2008
Best model year	—	2020
Crashes reported	110	322
Fires reported	191	42
Injuries reported	86	171
Deaths reported	5	4
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	23.8%	13.5%

Ford Tempo by year

2 19 40 42 79 176 168 174 143 264 316 212 6 2 3 1 1 1

81 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00

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

What breaks

Electrical System 369 22.4%

Engine & Cooling 326 19.8%

Seat Belts 232 14.1%

Brakes 153 9.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 87 5.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 72 4.4%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 71 4.3%

Steering 66 4.0%

Mazda MAZDA3 by year

185 127 224 301 387 140 920 181 328 176 181 154 137 105 139 118 51 66 34 20 23 8 1

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

Steering 399 10.0%

Electrical System 368 9.2%

Other & Unspecified 367 9.2%

Engine & Cooling 301 7.5%

Brakes 288 7.2%

Body & Structure 283 7.1%

Airbags 269 6.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 251 6.3%