Volvo S40 vs Ford Tempo

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	Volvo S40	Ford Tempo
Complaints on file	677	1,649
Model years covered	2000–2011	1981–2000
Worst model year	2001	—
Best model year	2010	—
Crashes reported	65	110
Fires reported	18	191
Injuries reported	34	86
Deaths reported	0	5
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	17.3%	23.8%

Volvo S40 by year

166 112 34 23 75 91 81 36 27 14 11 7

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

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

What breaks

Brakes 119 17.6%

Electrical System 103 15.2%

Engine & Cooling 79 11.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 51 7.5%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 42 6.2%

Airbags 39 5.8%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 37 5.5%

Lights 27 4.0%

Ford Tempo by year

2 19 40 42 79 176 168 174 143 264 316 212 6 2 3 1 1 1

81 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00

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

What breaks

Electrical System 369 22.4%

Engine & Cooling 326 19.8%

Seat Belts 232 14.1%

Brakes 153 9.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 87 5.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 72 4.4%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 71 4.3%

Steering 66 4.0%