Worst Used Car Years to Avoid (2015–2025), Ranked by NHTSA Complaints

Shopping for a used car? Some model years drew far more complaints than the years before and after them. The worst in our data is the 2018 RAM 2500, with 2,576 complaints, 14.4× that model's typical year. Below are all 156 spike years among the 60 most-complained-about vehicles.

How we pick a "spike" year

We compare each model year to the same vehicle's median year. Comparing a vehicle to itself takes sales volume out of the picture, so a popular truck doesn't look worse just because more of them were sold. A year counts as a spike when it has at least 1.5× the typical year's complaints and at least 100 complaints in total.

Every spike year, worst first

Before you buy

• A spike year isn't automatically a bad car. Recalls often fixed the problem, so check whether the one you're looking at had its recall work done (enter the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls).
• Newer years (2024–2025) rarely show as spikes because owners haven't had time to report problems yet.
• Budget for the problem the year is known for. The repair cost calculators linked from each vehicle page estimate what it costs to fix.

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation owner complaints, model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Methodology. Free to cite with a link.