Toyota RAV4 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 RAV4	Ford Focus
Complaints on file	12,220	29,823
Model years covered	1994–2025	1999–2018
Worst model year	2021	2000
Best model year	1997	1999
Crashes reported	1,195	1,631
Fires reported	441	424
Injuries reported	602	979
Deaths reported	14	54
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	18.4%	10.4%

Toyota RAV4 by year

4 1 54 61 92 75 34 418 682 392 183 168 880 1,241 708 397 498 403 357 333 279 400 299 419 444 1,183 806 526 226 263 269 125

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 1,644 13.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,404 11.5%

Electrical System 1,379 11.3%

Other & Unspecified 1,083 8.9%

Steering 949 7.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 904 7.4%

Airbags 853 7.0%

Brakes 677 5.5%

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%