Ford Thunderbird vs Tesla Model 3

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	Tesla Model 3
Complaints on file	3,081	7,584
Model years covered	1960–2005	2017–2026
Worst model year	1994	2018
Best model year	2005	2017
Crashes reported	175	859
Fires reported	172	40
Injuries reported	128	331
Deaths reported	11	25
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance
Share of complaints involving harm	15.8%	16.5%

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%

Tesla Model 3 by year

56 1,693 1,050 767 1,225 1,497 726 330 209 31

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

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 2,922 38.5%

Other & Unspecified 681 9.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 629 8.3%

Brakes 564 7.4%

Electrical System 555 7.3%

Steering 387 5.1%

Suspension 359 4.7%

Airbags 310 4.1%