Volvo XC90 vs Ford Escort

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 XC90	Ford Escort
Complaints on file	2,252	5,050
Model years covered	2003–2025	1981–2003
Worst model year	2016	1997
Best model year	2010	2002
Crashes reported	69	629
Fires reported	76	610
Injuries reported	52	456
Deaths reported	0	24
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	8.7%	34%

Volvo XC90 by year

149 669 304 73 59 44 11 16 30 6 13 7 311 118 68 58 48 56 49 69 57 37

03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 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

Electrical System 434 19.3%

Engine & Cooling 320 14.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 313 13.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 190 8.4%

Other & Unspecified 156 6.9%

Brakes 109 4.8%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 89 4.0%

Body & Structure 80 3.6%

Ford Escort by year

2 5 7 27 31 53 65 206 199 128 413 222 480 351 725 257 729 470 413 128 85 41 13

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 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

Electrical System 872 17.3%

Seat Belts 660 13.1%

Engine & Cooling 557 11.0%

Airbags 493 9.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 433 8.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 324 6.4%

Suspension 310 6.1%

Brakes 291 5.8%