Toyota RAV4 vs Ford Taurus

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 Taurus
Complaints on file	12,161	23,971
Model years covered	1994–2025	1977–2019
Worst model year	2021	2000
Best model year	1997	2019
Crashes reported	1,192	1,482
Fires reported	437	685
Injuries reported	602	926
Deaths reported	14	38
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	18.5%	13.1%

Toyota RAV4 by year

4 1 54 61 92 75 34 418 682 392 183 168 880 1,240 708 397 498 403 357 332 279 400 295 413 443 1,181 800 519 219 255 264 114

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 1,636 13.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,400 11.5%

Electrical System 1,369 11.3%

Other & Unspecified 1,077 8.9%

Steering 945 7.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 902 7.4%

Airbags 852 7.0%

Brakes 674 5.5%

Ford Taurus by year

2 2 1 4 2 150 355 462 762 542 946 1,009 2,206 1,284 1,597 1,132 1,003 680 1,100 1,497 1,264 1,759 1,524 482 1,005 415 196 240 77 280 251 100 755 296 353 103 53 65 17

77 81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 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

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 3,716 15.5%

Suspension 3,366 14.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 3,035 12.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 2,128 8.9%

Electrical System 1,721 7.2%

Brakes 1,501 6.3%

Steering 1,445 6.0%

Body & Structure 1,087 4.5%