Nissan Maxima vs Ford Windstar

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	Nissan Maxima	Ford Windstar
Complaints on file	8,853	19,460
Model years covered	1982–2023	1985–2005
Worst model year	2000	1995
Best model year	2013	2004
Crashes reported	466	712
Fires reported	398	561
Injuries reported	330	457
Deaths reported	16	12
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	13.7%	9%

Nissan Maxima by year

4 8 40 64 74 194 73 78 138 99 140 102 128 195 117 123 133 215 467 225 278 249 1,725 1,152 733 169 99 460 399 138 137 71 126 2 224 155 46 28 33 4 6 2

82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 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

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,465 27.8%

Engine & Cooling 957 10.8%

Electrical System 915 10.3%

Steering 528 6.0%

Airbags 517 5.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 503 5.7%

Brakes 441 5.0%

Body & Structure 355 4.0%

Ford Windstar by year

7 11 3 3 12 25 4,799 1,855 249 1,949 2,040 2,191 2,297 1,928 2,057 33 1

85 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 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

Brakes 3,678 18.9%

Engine & Cooling 3,104 16.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,729 14.0%

Suspension 2,092 10.8%

Electrical System 1,630 8.4%

Body & Structure 1,278 6.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 907 4.7%

Steering 742 3.8%