Volkswagen Routan 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	Volkswagen Routan	Ford Thunderbird
Complaints on file	1,249	3,081
Model years covered	2008–2014	1960–2005
Worst model year	2009	1994
Best model year	2012	2005
Crashes reported	23	175
Fires reported	16	172
Injuries reported	35	128
Deaths reported	0	11
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	5.9%	15.8%

Volkswagen Routan by year

3 460 359 302 115 8 2

08 09 10 11 12 13 14

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

What breaks

Electrical System 456 36.5%

Engine & Cooling 207 16.6%

Brakes 106 8.5%

Steering 76 6.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 70 5.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 61 4.9%

Other & Unspecified 57 4.6%

Stability & Traction Control 36 2.9%

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%