Honda Prelude vs Ford Econoline

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 Prelude	Ford Econoline
Complaints on file	463	1,154
Model years covered	1981–2001	1979–2019
Worst model year	1997	1994
Best model year	2000	2001
Crashes reported	52	87
Fires reported	15	102
Injuries reported	29	63
Deaths reported	2	5
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	21.2%	22.3%

Honda Prelude by year

3 1 5 11 12 17 40 34 4 18 26 14 12 9 4 88 86 40 14 25

81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 106 22.9%

Engine & Cooling 53 11.4%

Electrical System 49 10.6%

Seat Belts 35 7.6%

Steering 33 7.1%

Airbags 26 5.6%

Suspension 25 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 25 5.4%

Ford Econoline by year

1 1 1 2 10 15 7 19 33 41 38 37 113 71 164 98 96 100 61 102 46 31 25 27 1 1 2 3 7 1

79 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 09 10 12 16 17 19

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

What breaks

Brakes 211 18.3%

Engine & Cooling 139 12.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 123 10.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 103 8.9%

Electrical System 96 8.3%

Tires 81 7.0%

Suspension 55 4.8%

Steering 54 4.7%