Nissan Xterra 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	Nissan Xterra	Ford F-250 SD
Complaints on file	4,194	9,504
Model years covered	2000–2015	1991–2026
Worst model year	2006	2018
Best model year	2009	2012
Crashes reported	173	233
Fires reported	60	246
Injuries reported	111	162
Deaths reported	8	12
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	8.4%	6.9%

Nissan Xterra by year

258 197 214 97 110 1,175 1,034 770 174 26 58 27 17 7 15 15

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15

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

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 1,106 26.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,045 24.9%

Engine & Cooling 823 19.6%

Electrical System 209 5.0%

Airbags 179 4.3%

Other & Unspecified 121 2.9%

Brakes 114 2.7%

Steering 110 2.6%

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%