Subaru Legacy 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	Subaru Legacy	Ford F-250 SD
Complaints on file	4,171	9,519
Model years covered	1987–2025	1991–2026
Worst model year	2015	2018
Best model year	2024	2012
Crashes reported	394	233
Fires reported	75	247
Injuries reported	206	162
Deaths reported	6	12
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	16.3%	6.9%

Subaru Legacy by year

1 1 1 103 121 66 90 67 230 161 179 155 119 119 90 71 69 55 250 135 45 83 75 218 236 119 84 73 232 194 141 165 143 143 43 42 12 30 10

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 24 25

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 473 11.3%

Electrical System 439 10.5%

Airbags 407 9.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 378 9.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 369 8.8%

Brakes 336 8.1%

Other & Unspecified 290 7.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 222 5.3%

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 37 459 450 1,837 639 1,943 364 214 163 76 57 19 14

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 2,489 26.1%

Suspension 2,238 23.5%

Engine & Cooling 1,054 11.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 515 5.4%

Electrical System 512 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 464 4.9%

Other & Unspecified 445 4.7%

Brakes 296 3.1%