Lexus RX vs Ford Thunderbird

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	Lexus RX	Ford Thunderbird
Complaints on file	1,271	3,081
Model years covered	1999–2026	1960–2005
Worst model year	2021	1994
Best model year	2012	2005
Crashes reported	155	175
Fires reported	22	172
Injuries reported	81	128
Deaths reported	1	11
Most complained-about part	Other & Unspecified	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	20.4%	15.8%

Lexus RX by year

41 30 25 13 4 56 39 52 79 89 42 107 36 18 25 13 27 33 62 34 63 57 87 46 79 77 30 7

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

Other & Unspecified 171 13.5%

Engine & Cooling 153 12.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 134 10.5%

Airbags 129 10.1%

Brakes 125 9.8%

Electrical System 110 8.7%

Body & Structure 82 6.5%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 82 6.5%

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%