Subaru WRX vs Ford Thunderbird

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 WRX	Ford Thunderbird
Complaints on file	1,235	3,081
Model years covered	2002–2025	1960–2005
Worst model year	2002	1994
Best model year	2024	2005
Crashes reported	81	175
Fires reported	20	172
Injuries reported	43	128
Deaths reported	1	11
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	11.7%	15.8%

Subaru WRX by year

461 65 46 24 14 119 72 3 5 4 11 9 73 40 73 63 44 23 21 36 10 15 4

02 03 04 05 06 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

Fuel & Propulsion 407 33.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 179 14.5%

Brakes 158 12.8%

Engine & Cooling 132 10.7%

Electrical System 70 5.7%

Other & Unspecified 66 5.3%

Body & Structure 54 4.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 31 2.5%

Ford Thunderbird by year

1 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 33 16 32 73 116 147 179 130 234 559 426 353 295 228 4 2 116 50 40 35

60 65 70 77 78 79 80 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 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

Engine & Cooling 609 19.8%

Brakes 499 16.2%

Electrical System 329 10.7%

Lights 277 9.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 252 8.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 180 5.8%

Seat Belts 175 5.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 139 4.5%