Mazda MAZDA3 vs Ford F-250 SD

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	Mazda MAZDA3	Ford F-250 SD
Complaints on file	4,006	9,504
Model years covered	2004–2026	1991–2026
Worst model year	2008	2018
Best model year	2020	2012
Crashes reported	322	233
Fires reported	42	246
Injuries reported	171	162
Deaths reported	4	12
Most complained-about part	Steering	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	13.5%	6.9%

Mazda MAZDA3 by year

185 127 224 301 387 140 920 181 328 176 181 154 137 105 139 118 51 66 34 20 23 8 1

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

Steering 399 10.0%

Electrical System 368 9.2%

Other & Unspecified 367 9.2%

Engine & Cooling 301 7.5%

Brakes 288 7.2%

Body & Structure 283 7.1%

Airbags 269 6.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 251 6.3%

Ford F-250 SD by year

1 3 4 2 12 11 52 1 304 277 331 282 229 345 381 353 85 175 33 48 189 97 32 37 459 448 1,837 639 1,938 360 213 161 76 57 19 13

91 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

Steering 2,487 26.2%

Suspension 2,238 23.5%

Engine & Cooling 1,053 11.1%

Electrical System 511 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 509 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 462 4.9%

Other & Unspecified 443 4.7%

Brakes 296 3.1%