Ford Thunderbird vs KIA Soul

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 Thunderbird	KIA Soul
Complaints on file	3,081	7,523
Model years covered	1960–2005	2010–2025
Worst model year	1994	2015
Best model year	2005	2024
Crashes reported	175	409
Fires reported	172	479
Injuries reported	128	284
Deaths reported	11	15
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	15.8%	15.8%

Ford Thunderbird by year

1 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 33 16 32 73 116 147 179 130 234 559 426 353 295 228 4 2 116 50 40 35

60 65 70 77 78 79 80 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 02 03 04 05

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 609 19.8%

Brakes 499 16.2%

Electrical System 329 10.7%

Lights 277 9.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 252 8.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 180 5.8%

Seat Belts 175 5.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 139 4.5%

KIA Soul by year

193 270 673 866 1,223 1,222 1,142 355 292 196 499 310 133 86 42 21

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 3,505 46.6%

Other & Unspecified 629 8.4%

Electrical System 523 7.0%

Steering 517 6.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 424 5.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 363 4.8%

Brakes 357 4.7%

Lights 258 3.4%