Hyundai Elantra 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	Hyundai Elantra	Ford Focus
Complaints on file	12,072	29,786
Model years covered	1992–2026	1999–2018
Worst model year	2013	2000
Best model year	1993	1999
Crashes reported	1,282	1,631
Fires reported	304	424
Injuries reported	748	979
Deaths reported	14	54
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	19.4%	10.4%

Hyundai Elantra by year

46 39 110 179 138 196 75 183 259 445 431 310 209 180 209 365 424 319 504 589 920 1,862 550 356 395 1,074 405 330 333 214 142 156 93 31 1

92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 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

Engine & Cooling 1,958 16.2%

Airbags 1,362 11.3%

Steering 1,145 9.5%

Electrical System 1,090 9.0%

Brakes 1,079 8.9%

Other & Unspecified 821 6.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 679 5.6%

Suspension 618 5.1%

Ford Focus by year

15 5,152 2,361 1,198 1,224 499 600 270 524 336 323 409 157 4,981 2,919 3,628 1,327 1,568 1,183 1,112

99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 6,857 23.0%

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%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,082 3.6%