Toyota Prius vs Ford Focus

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 Prius	Ford Focus
Complaints on file	15,583	29,786
Model years covered	2000–2026	1999–2018
Worst model year	2010	2000
Best model year	2025	1999
Crashes reported	1,469	1,631
Fires reported	101	424
Injuries reported	602	979
Deaths reported	18	54
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	14.1%	10.4%

Toyota Prius by year

4 215 201 123 737 1,298 1,690 2,451 1,894 644 3,482 664 544 544 281 215 215 127 46 53 23 11 31 26 31 28 5

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

Brakes 4,567 29.3%

Lights 3,536 22.7%

Electrical System 1,607 10.3%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,048 6.7%

Engine & Cooling 784 5.0%

Other & Unspecified 557 3.6%

Airbags 436 2.8%

Body & Structure 430 2.8%

Ford Focus by year

15 5,152 2,361 1,198 1,224 499 600 270 524 336 323 409 157 4,981 2,919 3,628 1,327 1,568 1,183 1,112

99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 6,857 23.0%

Electrical System 4,474 15.0%

Engine & Cooling 3,622 12.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 2,723 9.1%

Steering 2,111 7.1%

Other & Unspecified 1,536 5.2%

Brakes 1,204 4.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,082 3.6%