What is the worst year for a Ford Aspire?

The 1994 Ford Aspire has the worst FaultScore of any year of this model, with 67 complaints filed with NHTSA, most of them about the airbags.

What is the best year for a Ford Aspire?

The 1996 Ford Aspire has the cleanest record of the graded years, with 41 complaints on file.

What breaks most often on a Ford Aspire?

Airbags accounts for more complaints than any other part on the Ford Aspire.

Worst years for a Ford Aspire

Owners have filed 289 complaints about the Ford Aspire with NHTSA across model years 1987 to 1997. More of them are about the airbags than anything else.

Avoid

1994 Ford Aspire

67 complaints — the highest FaultScore of any year, mostly airbags.

Cleanest on record

1996 Ford Aspire

41 complaints — the lowest FaultScore of the graded years.

Every Ford Aspire year, graded

The grade compares each year against the rest of this model's own run — never against another car. Click any bar or row to open that year's report.

1 67 92 41 88

87 94 95 96 97

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

Year	Grade	Complaints	Crashes	Fires	Median miles	Most reported
1997	D	88	12	2	96,500	Electrical System
1996	C	41	5	2	—	Brakes
1995	D	92	25	2	101,847	Airbags
1994	D	67	18	2	—	Airbags
1987	—	1	0	0	—	Airbags

What breaks on a Ford Aspire

Across every model year on file. Follow a row for that part's complaints and the year it was worst.

Airbags 60 20.8%

Worst in 1995

Electrical System 35 12.1%

Worst in 1997

Transmission & Drivetrain 30 10.4%

Worst in 1995

Engine & Cooling 26 9.0%

Worst in 1997

Fuel & Propulsion 20 6.9%

Worst in 1997

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 19 6.6%

Worst in 1994

Brakes 18 6.2%

Worst in 1996

Steering 14 4.8%

Worst in 1994

Lights 12 4.2%

Worst in 1994

Suspension 10 3.5%

Worst in 1995

Body & Structure 8 2.8%

Worst in 1995

Wheels 7 2.4%

Worst in 1997

Other & Unspecified 7 2.4%

Worst in 1997

Tires 6 2.1%

Worst in 1994

Exactly what failed on a Ford Aspire

The named sub-assemblies behind those complaints, across every model year.

Frontal 41 35.7%

Ignition 14 12.2%

Windshield 11 9.6%

Automatic Transmission 10 8.7%

Gasoline 9 7.8%

Headlights 7 6.1%

Front Underhood 6 5.2%

Steering Wheel/Handle BAR 6 5.2%

Manual Transmission 6 5.2%

Cooling System 5 4.3%

Complaints filed over time

Every complaint about every Ford Aspire, by the month it reached NHTSA.

Feb 1995 peak 19 Mar 2011

Compare the Ford Aspire

Side by side on complaint history. Remember that raw totals track how many were sold as much as how good they were.

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