We counted every owner complaint filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for model-year 2015–2025 vehicles: 374,946 complaints across 2,609 makes and models. This page ranks the vehicles and the systems owners report most, and links each problem to what it costs to repair.
What fails most: problem areas across all vehicles
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | 81,105 | 21.6% | Engine repair cost |
| Electrical system | 69,523 | 18.5% | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Transmission / powertrain | 59,644 | 15.9% | Transmission repair cost |
| Brakes | 32,233 | 8.6% | Brake repair cost |
| Steering | 31,052 | 8.3% | Power steering repair cost |
| Fuel system | 24,505 | 6.5% | Fuel pump repair cost |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 20,613 | 5.5% | — |
| Body structure | 19,199 | 5.1% | — |
| Air bags | 17,155 | 4.6% | — |
| Speed control / acceleration | 16,622 | 4.4% | — |
| Wipers / visibility | 13,131 | 3.5% | Wiper replacement cost |
| Suspension | 12,730 | 3.4% | Shock / strut replacement cost |
| Exterior lights | 11,921 | 3.2% | Headlight replacement cost |
| Engine and cooling | 8,781 | 2.3% | Engine repair cost |
| Backup camera / rear sensors | 6,996 | 1.9% | — |
The 60 most-complained-about vehicles
| # | Vehicle (2015–2025) | Complaints | Worst year | Top problem | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford F-150 | 11,842 | 2018 | Transmission / powertrain (36%) | |
| 2 | Ford Escape | 9,632 | 2017 | Engine (38%) | |
| 3 | Ford Explorer | 9,079 | 2016 | Body structure (24%) | |
| 4 | RAM 1500 | 8,527 | 2016 | Engine (23%) | |
| 5 | Honda Cr-V | 8,154 | 2018 | Engine (21%) | |
| 6 | Jeep Cherokee | 7,347 | 2015 | Transmission / powertrain (50%) | |
| 7 | Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 7,160 | 2015 | Engine (28%) | |
| 8 | Jeep Wrangler | 6,869 | 2018 | Steering (34%) | |
| 9 | Subaru Outback | 5,835 | 2019 | Electrical system (32%) | |
| 10 | Honda Pilot | 5,597 | 2016 | Engine (35%) | |
| 11 | Honda Accord | 5,446 | 2018 | Electrical system (23%) | |
| 12 | Ford Edge | 5,190 | 2017 | Engine (36%) | |
| 13 | Honda Civic | 4,916 | 2016 | Steering (44%) | |
| 14 | GMC Sierra 1500 | 4,913 | 2015 | Engine (36%) | |
| 15 | Jeep Grand Cherokee | 4,849 | 2015 | Electrical system (28%) | |
| 16 | Hyundai Tucson | 4,848 | 2016 | Engine (38%) | |
| 17 | Ford Fusion | 4,656 | 2016 | Engine (33%) | |
| 18 | RAM 2500 | 4,548 | 2018 | Brakes (52%) | |
| 19 | Nissan Rogue | 4,457 | 2023 | Engine (18%) | |
| 20 | Tesla Model 3 | 4,295 | 2018 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (40%) | |
| 21 | Kia Sorento | 4,270 | 2016 | Engine (45%) | |
| 22 | Subaru Forester | 4,033 | 2019 | Wipers / visibility (26%) | |
| 23 | Ford F-250 Sd | 3,942 | 2019 | Steering (52%) | |
| 24 | Ford Focus | 3,929 | 2016 | Transmission / powertrain (51%) | |
| 25 | Tesla Model Y | 3,783 | 2023 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (48%) | |
| 26 | Honda Odyssey | 3,774 | 2018 | Electrical system (28%) | |
| 27 | Hyundai Sonata | 3,717 | 2015 | Engine (50%) | |
| 28 | Chrysler Pacifica | 3,672 | 2017 | Engine (35%) | |
| 29 | Toyota RAV4 | 3,633 | 2019 | Electrical system (21%) | |
| 30 | Chevrolet Malibu | 3,192 | 2016 | Engine (34%) | |
| 31 | Kia Soul | 3,124 | 2015 | Engine (65%) | |
| 32 | Chevrolet Equinox | 3,023 | 2015 | Engine (32%) | |
| 33 | Hyundai Santa Fe | 2,823 | 2017 | Engine (46%) | |
| 34 | Nissan Altima | 2,684 | 2015 | Transmission / powertrain (22%) | |
| 35 | Chevrolet Traverse | 2,644 | 2018 | Air bags (23%) | |
| 36 | Toyota Highlander | 2,616 | 2021 | Transmission / powertrain (29%) | |
| 37 | Kia Optima | 2,598 | 2015 | Engine (59%) | |
| 38 | Ford Expedition | 2,537 | 2019 | Transmission / powertrain (35%) | |
| 39 | Hyundai Elantra | 2,503 | 2017 | Engine (37%) | |
| 40 | Tesla Model S | 2,502 | 2015 | Electrical system (25%) | |
| 41 | Jeep Compass | 2,469 | 2018 | Engine (41%) | |
| 42 | GMC Acadia | 2,423 | 2017 | Transmission / powertrain (27%) | |
| 43 | Chrysler 200 | 2,361 | 2015 | Electrical system (37%) | |
| 44 | Toyota Camry | 2,338 | 2018 | Transmission / powertrain (18%) | |
| 45 | Chevrolet Tahoe | 2,306 | 2015 | Engine (24%) | |
| 46 | Hyundai Palisade | 2,302 | 2020 | Brakes (18%) | |
| 47 | Chevrolet Colorado | 2,241 | 2016 | Steering (41%) | |
| 48 | Dodge Grand Caravan | 2,225 | 2016 | Electrical system (29%) | |
| 49 | Jeep Renegade | 2,200 | 2017 | Engine (39%) | |
| 50 | Ford F-350 Sd | 2,147 | 2017 | Steering (40%) | |
| 51 | GMC Yukon | 2,040 | 2015 | Engine (35%) | |
| 52 | RAM 3500 | 1,984 | 2018 | Brakes (37%) | |
| 53 | Kia Telluride | 1,977 | 2020 | Wipers / visibility (18%) | |
| 54 | Volkswagen Atlas | 1,967 | 2019 | Electrical system (24%) | |
| 55 | Ford Ecosport | 1,850 | 2018 | Engine and cooling (45%) | |
| 56 | Mazda Cx-5 | 1,846 | 2016 | Engine (28%) | |
| 57 | Honda Hr-V | 1,821 | 2023 | Wipers / visibility (19%) | |
| 58 | Toyota Tundra | 1,778 | 2022 | Engine (31%) | |
| 59 | Nissan Sentra | 1,762 | 2015 | Transmission / powertrain (29%) | |
| 60 | Ford Mustang | 1,750 | 2015 | Electrical system (18%) |
More from this data
- Worst model years to buy used: years that drew far more complaints than the rest of that model's run.
- Phantom braking index: which cars owners say brake or warn for no reason.
- Fire and crash complaints by vehicle.
- Mileage at failure: how many miles were on the car when owners reported each problem.
- Look up your car by VIN.
Methodology
We downloaded NHTSA's complete consumer complaint files (received 2015-2019, 2020-2024, 2025-2026) and kept complaints for model years 2015 through 2025. NHTSA records one row per problem area, so a single complaint that names both the engine and the transmission appears twice; we count it once as a complaint and once under each problem area. "Median mileage" is the middle odometer reading owners gave, ignoring blanks and readings above 400,000 miles. Vehicle rankings on the fire, crash and phantom-braking pages include models with at least 300 complaints.
Limits. Complaints are unverified owner reports, not confirmed defects. Counts are not adjusted for how many of each vehicle were sold, so high-volume vehicles like the F-150 rank high partly because there are millions of them. Newer model years have had less time to accumulate complaints. NHTSA's public API returns only recent complaints, which is why we used the bulk files.
Source: NHTSA datasets and APIs, data retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite or republish with a link to this page.