Toyota 4 Runner 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	Toyota 4 Runner	Ford Thunderbird
Complaints on file	1,234	3,081
Model years covered	1994–2005	1960–2005
Worst model year	1997	1994
Best model year	2005	2005
Crashes reported	153	175
Fires reported	9	172
Injuries reported	105	128
Deaths reported	12	11
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	22.6%	15.8%

Toyota 4 Runner by year

61 149 111 163 135 134 118 34 45 188 76 20

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

Engine & Cooling 290 23.5%

Brakes 144 11.7%

Tires 139 11.3%

Suspension 100 8.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 97 7.9%

Airbags 50 4.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 49 4.0%

Electrical System 41 3.3%

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%