Mini Cooper S vs Ford Freestyle

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	Mini Cooper S	Ford Freestyle
Complaints on file	2,181	5,155
Model years covered	2002–2025	2002–2007
Worst model year	2003	2005
Best model year	2012	2004
Crashes reported	57	153
Fires reported	152	21
Injuries reported	54	39
Deaths reported	4	0
Most complained-about part	Steering	Acceleration & Cruise Control
Share of complaints involving harm	12.2%	4.1%

Mini Cooper S by year

105 258 279 383 243 300 197 151 78 46 30 32 17 20 10 8 7 8 1 2 6

02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 22 24 25

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

What breaks

Steering 682 31.3%

Engine & Cooling 528 24.2%

Airbags 281 12.9%

Electrical System 174 8.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 114 5.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 70 3.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 55 2.5%

Other & Unspecified 52 2.4%

Ford Freestyle by year

1 14 2,018 1,872 1,250

02 04 05 06 07

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

What breaks

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,617 31.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,308 25.4%

Engine & Cooling 681 13.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 397 7.7%

Electrical System 269 5.2%

Brakes 227 4.4%

Other & Unspecified 190 3.7%

Body & Structure 102 2.0%