KIA Sorento 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	KIA Sorento	Ford Focus
Complaints on file	14,049	29,823
Model years covered	2003–2026	1999–2018
Worst model year	2012	2000
Best model year	2009	1999
Crashes reported	481	1,631
Fires reported	655	424
Injuries reported	372	979
Deaths reported	11	54
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	10.8%	10.4%

KIA Sorento by year

421 341 457 382 224 319 79 3 2,077 1,209 1,298 1,380 965 1,635 1,040 340 632 191 367 290 208 57 126 8

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 4,231 30.1%

Electrical System 1,391 9.9%

Other & Unspecified 1,284 9.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,172 8.3%

Body & Structure 940 6.7%

Lights 865 6.2%

Airbags 721 5.1%

Brakes 706 5.0%

Ford Focus by year

15 5,152 2,361 1,198 1,224 499 600 270 524 336 323 409 157 4,986 2,924 3,633 1,331 1,571 1,187 1,123

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 6,871 23.0%

Electrical System 4,477 15.0%

Engine & Cooling 3,630 12.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 2,729 9.2%

Steering 2,111 7.1%

Other & Unspecified 1,539 5.2%

Brakes 1,204 4.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,082 3.6%