FaultScore

Honda Civic vs Ford Focus

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 Honda Civic Ford Focus
Complaints on file 20,273 29,786
Model years covered 1979–2026 1999–2018
Worst model year 2001 2000
Best model year 1994 1999
Crashes reported 2,375 1,631
Fires reported 247 424
Injuries reported 1,473 979
Deaths reported 37 54
Most complained-about part Airbags Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm 20.4% 10.4%

Honda Civic by year

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

What breaks

Airbags 2,926 14.4%
Steering 2,536 12.5%
Engine & Cooling 1,881 9.3%
Electrical System 1,562 7.7%
Other & Unspecified 1,343 6.6%
Brakes 1,072 5.3%

Ford Focus by year

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

What breaks

Electrical System 4,474 15.0%
Engine & Cooling 3,622 12.2%
Fuel & Propulsion 2,723 9.1%
Steering 2,111 7.1%
Other & Unspecified 1,536 5.2%
Brakes 1,204 4.0%