Volkswagen Volkswagen vs Ford Club Wagon

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 Volkswagen	Ford Club Wagon
Complaints on file	89	220
Model years covered	1965–2003	1985–2001
Worst model year	2001	1997
Best model year	1997	1993
Crashes reported	5	16
Fires reported	1	14
Injuries reported	2	8
Deaths reported	0	1
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	9%	17.7%

Volkswagen Volkswagen by year

2 1 1 4 1 1 5 4 4 9 10 2 5 17 11 7 5

65 71 78 87 90 91 92 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 18 20.2%

Electrical System 16 18.0%

Brakes 10 11.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 9 10.1%

Tires 6 6.7%

Equipment & Accessories 5 5.6%

Airbags 3 3.4%

Suspension 3 3.4%

Ford Club Wagon by year

1 2 1 1 9 5 5 18 15 24 23 24 40 35 9 6 2

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

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

What breaks

Brakes 59 26.8%

Engine & Cooling 29 13.2%

Tires 18 8.2%

Electrical System 17 7.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 13 5.9%

Steering 12 5.5%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 12 5.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 10 4.5%