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	15,604	29,823
Model years covered	2000–2026	1999–2018
Worst model year	2010	2000
Best model year	2025	1999
Crashes reported	1,472	1,631
Fires reported	101	424
Injuries reported	604	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 3,486 665 544 550 283 217 215 127 46 54 23 11 31 26 35 29 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 4,578 29.3%

Lights 3,536 22.7%

Electrical System 1,608 10.3%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,049 6.7%

Engine & Cooling 785 5.0%

Other & Unspecified 559 3.6%

Airbags 436 2.8%

Body & Structure 432 2.8%

Ford Focus by year

15 5,152 2,361 1,198 1,224 499 600 270 524 336 323 409 157 4,986 2,924 3,633 1,331 1,571 1,187 1,123

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 6,871 23.0%

Electrical System 4,477 15.0%

Engine & Cooling 3,630 12.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 2,729 9.2%

Steering 2,111 7.1%

Other & Unspecified 1,539 5.2%

Brakes 1,204 4.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,082 3.6%