The most complained-about cars, 2010-2025

The Q3 2026 edition, kept at this address for citation. The latest edition is always at oilandmiles.com/reports/most-complained-cars.

• 626,070complaints
• 4,091vehicles
• 2010-2025model years
• 2026-08-25file dated
• Q3 2026edition

Key findings

1. The 2010 Ford Fusion has the most complaints of any vehicle from model years 2010-2025: 5,126, with steering named most (1,640 of them). Copy
2. Ford holds 17 of the 25 most complained-about vehicles, and 45 of the top 100. Copy
3. Ford accounts for 20.8% of all 626,070 complaints in the file; Chevrolet is next at 9.3%. Copy
4. Power train is the component named most in 9 of the top 25 vehicles; steering in 6. Copy
5. The only vehicle from model year 2023 or newer in the top 100 is the 2023 Tesla Model Y, with 1,134 complaints. Copy

In numbers. 626,070 complaints across 4,091 vehicles, model years 2010-2025. The 2010 Ford Fusion leads with 5,126, steering named most (1,640), and 21 of every hundred complaints name a Ford.

Ford holds eight of the twelve most complained-about vehicles here, and two faults account for five of them: steering on the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Fusion, power train on the 2012 and 2014 Focus. One make with two well-documented problems, in the years it sold the most cars, is most of a table like this.

These are counts of reports, not rates of failure. A car that sold in huge numbers, or drew a recall and a news cycle, collects more filings than a rare car with a worse record.

The repeats matter more than the ranking. The Escape appears twice, 2013 and 2017, engine named most both times; the 2017 drew fewer complaints overall but more about the engine, 1,555 against 1,264, the opposite of a fault being fixed.

The Tesla Model Y repeats too, 2021 and 2023, and what its owners name is forward collision avoidance and adaptive cruise control, a category the oldest cars in this file didn't have. One bad year can be luck; the same model naming the same part two generations apart is the file telling you something.

The 25 vehicles with the most complaints

Complaints filed with NHTSA per vehicle, model years 2010-2025, and the component named in the most of them. "Again in" marks the same model returning in another model year, in the top 100, with the same component named most. Counts of reports, not rates.

Show the full top 100

Table 2. The 100 vehicles with the most complaints, model years 2010-2025

#	Vehicle	Complaints	Named most
1	2010 Ford Fusion	5,126	Steering (1,640)
2	2012 Ford Focus	3,763	Power train (1,385)
3	2011 Hyundai Sonata	3,374	Steering (1,164)
4	2013 Ford F-150	2,975	Power train (1,307)
5	2010 Toyota Prius	2,819	Service brakes, hydraulic (751)
6	2011 Ford Fusion	2,783	Steering (1,403)
7	2013 Ford Escape	2,744	Engine (1,264)
8	2017 Ford Escape	2,663	Engine (1,555)
9	2014 Jeep Cherokee	2,641	Power train (1,448)
10	2014 Ford Focus	2,596	Power train (1,491)
11	2018 Ram 2500	2,547	Service brakes (1,817)
12	2012 Ford Fusion	2,513	Steering (1,439)
13	2016 Ford Explorer	2,441	Steering (502)
14	2013 Ford Edge	2,439	Electrical system (851)
15	2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee	2,373	Power train (467)
16	2013 Nissan Altima	2,308	Air bags (512)
17	2018 Ford F-150	2,273	Power train (970)
18	2013 Ford Explorer	2,230	Steering (808)
19	2011 Ford F-150	2,186	Power train (810)
20	2018 Honda CR-V	2,122	Engine (524)
21	2013 Ford Focus	2,106	Power train (1,051)
22	2014 Ford Escape	2,075	Engine (719)
23	2010 Ford Escape	2,068	Vehicle speed control (557)
24	2016 Ford F-150	2,023	Power train (552)
25	2015 Chrysler 200	1,983	Electrical system (746)
26	2013 Hyundai Sonata	1,903	Engine (730)
27	2018 Honda Accord	1,853	Engine (537)
28	2018 Jeep Wrangler	1,806	Steering (1,112)
29	2011 Ford Edge	1,801	Electrical system (683)
30	2013 Ford Fusion	1,785	Engine (382)
31	2015 Jeep Cherokee	1,784	Power train (992)
32	2012 Ford F-150	1,777	Power train (669)
33	2018 Ford Escape	1,770	Engine (1,128)
34	2015 Ford Explorer	1,770	Steering (336)
35	2017 Honda CR-V	1,756	Engine (527)
36	2014 Ram 1500	1,750	Steering (487)
37	2016 Honda Pilot	1,685	Engine (758)
38	2015 Ford F-150	1,683	Power train (381)
39	2017 Ford Explorer	1,677	Structure (367)
40	2014 Ford Explorer	1,673	Steering (483)
41	2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee	1,639	Electrical system (760)
42	2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee	1,638	Electrical system (802)
43	2016 Hyundai Tucson	1,616	Power train (513)
44	2019 Jeep Cherokee	1,615	Power train (771)
45	2016 Ford Fusion	1,608	Engine (439)
46	2020 Ford Escape	1,582	Structure, body (493)
47	2010 Chrysler Town AND Country	1,556	Electrical system (960)
48	2012 Hyundai Sonata	1,556	Engine (567)
49	2016 Ram 1500	1,526	Steering (304)
50	2014 Ford F-150	1,520	Power train (410)
51	2011 Kia Sorento	1,517	Engine (284)
52	2017 Chrysler Pacifica	1,499	Engine (520)
53	2019 Ram 1500	1,463	Electrical system (366)
54	2015 Ram 1500	1,436	Steering (336)
55	2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500	1,433	Steering (400)
56	2013 Honda Accord	1,418	Steering (493)
57	2017 Ford F-150	1,414	Power train (519)
58	2016 Jeep Cherokee	1,403	Power train (617)
59	2013 Kia Optima	1,379	Engine (612)
60	2010 Chevrolet Malibu	1,359	Steering (449)
61	2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee	1,354	Power train (346)
62	2017 Jeep Cherokee	1,328	Power train (640)
63	2014 Ford Fusion	1,324	Steering (317)
64	2011 Ford Escape	1,316	Steering (406)
65	2017 Ford Edge	1,313	Engine (657)
66	2013 Hyundai Elantra	1,311	Steering (269)
67	2019 Ford F-150	1,309	Power train (707)
68	2013 Ram 1500	1,263	Steering (618)
69	2016 Kia Sorento	1,244	Engine (690)
70	2010 Toyota Corolla	1,244	Air bags (419)
71	2011 Ford Explorer	1,195	Steering (727)
72	2020 Ford Explorer	1,194	Power train (461)
73	2016 Ford Focus	1,178	Power train (622)
74	2019 Ford F-250 SD	1,161	Steering (771)
75	2017 Ford F-250 SD	1,155	Steering (715)
76	2015 Hyundai Sonata	1,139	Engine (618)
77	2023 Tesla Model Y	1,134	Forward collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control (299)
78	2012 Ford Edge	1,132	Electrical system (459)
79	2014 Nissan Altima	1,113	Exterior lighting (279)
80	2017 Ford Fusion	1,103	Engine (391)
81	2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500	1,098	Service brakes (349)
82	2016 Ford Escape	1,091	Power train (307)
83	2012 Dodge Dart	1,081	Power train (446)
84	2019 Honda CR-V	1,081	Forward collision avoidance, automatic emergency braking (255)
85	2017 Hyundai Tucson	1,081	Engine (591)
86	2016 Honda Civic	1,073	Steering (435)
87	2015 Ford Escape	1,068	Power train (268)
88	2021 Tesla Model Y	1,059	Forward collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control (406)
89	2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500	1,058	Engine (355)
90	2019 Subaru Outback	1,032	Electrical system (353)
91	2015 Ford Focus	1,015	Power train (517)
92	2015 Kia Optima	1,006	Engine (620)
93	2018 Tesla Model 3	1,005	Suspension (176)
94	2010 Mercury Milan	1,001	Steering (245)
95	2016 Dodge Grand Caravan	998	Electrical system (310)
96	2015 Ford Fusion	990	Engine (269)
97	2010 Dodge Journey	988	Electrical system (577)
98	2021 Ford F-150	985	Power train (296)
99	2014 Kia Sorento	982	Engine (385)
100	2013 Kia Sorento	980	Engine (496)

Source: NHTSA consumer complaints bulk file dated 2026-08-25, counted once per vehicle by Oil & Miles. Counts of reports, not rates.

The full top 100 is also in the edition's data file. Look any vehicle up, with every component, in the complaints decoder.

Look up any car

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Every make, model and model year in the file, with each component and the recalls on record.

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Makes, by share of all complaints

Share of the 626,070 complaints in the file. A make that sells more cars files more complaints; this is volume as much as anything.

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What owners name most

Share of component mentions across the whole file. One complaint can name more than one component, so these are mentions, not complaints.

Complaints by model year

Older model years have had longer to accumulate filings, and the newest are still filling in; the shape says as much about time as about the cars.

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The newest model years with the most complaints

Model years 2023 to 2025 only. These vehicles have had the least time to accumulate reports, which is what makes a high count here worth a look.

Model years 2023 to 2025, ranked by complaints filed so far, with the component named most.

How this was counted

The source is the bulk file, not the API. NHTSA publishes every consumer complaint as a flat file, FLAT_CMPL, and that's what we read. The copy we counted is dated 2026-08-25. The summary API returns the same records with less detail and a page limit, so the file is the only way to count everything.

One complaint, one vehicle. Each complaint is counted once per make, model and model year, deduplicated on the complaint number. NHTSA files tire complaints twice by design, once against the tire and once against the vehicle, and the dedupe removes that double count.

Ten is the floor. Vehicles with fewer than 10 complaints are left out. Below that a single owner moves the ranking.

Components are mentions. A complaint that names an engine and a fuel system counts once under each, so component totals exceed complaint totals, and "unknown or other" is left out of the "named most" column because nobody can act on it.

What this data can't tell you

It's not a failure rate. The file doesn't know how many of each vehicle were sold, so a car that sold in huge numbers collects more filings than a rare car with a worse record. Divide by sales and the order changes; see the comparison below.

It's not verified. Filing is voluntary and NHTSA doesn't check a complaint before publishing it. A recall, a lawsuit or a news cycle sends owners to the form, and that shows up as a spike that is partly the news and partly the car.

It's not evenly aged. A 2010 model year has had fifteen years to accumulate reports, a 2025 model year one. Comparing counts across model years compares time as much as cars, which is why the newest years get their own table.

It's not a verdict on a part. "Named most" is the component owners mentioned most often, not a diagnosis; a complaint can name several parts, and "unknown or other" is left out of that pick.

It's not complete below ten. Vehicles with fewer than 10 complaints are left out of the ranking, so a rare model with a real problem can be absent here and present in the decoder.

How this compares with other rankings

Other rankings measure different things, so their leaders differ from ours. iSeeCars ranks complaints against vehicles sold, which favors low-volume cars with many filings. Edmunds publishes a monthly complaints report per 100,000 vehicles sold, by make rather than by model. Lemon Law Experts counted complaints per 100,000 sales for model years 2015 to 2026, which puts the Chrysler Town & Country first. CarComplaints.com sets NHTSA filings beside its own reader reports, one page per model year.

This page counts raw filings once per vehicle from the bulk file, model years 2010-2025, with a floor of 10. It says which vehicles owners wrote to the regulator about most, not which failed most often. A rate tells you the odds for one car; a count tells you where the reports pile up. Read the two side by side.

How to cite this

Everything on this page is free to quote and republish under CC BY 4.0: credit Oil & Miles and link here. The citation lines, the JSON, the CSV and the chart files are in Download the data near the top; the chart also carries an embed snippet under "Use this image". Questions about the method go to the contact page; we answer journalists the same day.

Editions and changes

This page always carries the latest edition. Each edition is also kept at its own address for citation: Q3 2026. Corrections are made in place and noted here with the date; none so far.

What changed since the previous edition

This is the first edition, so there's nothing to compare yet. From the next edition on, this section lists which vehicles entered or left the top 25 and which moved most, with the numbers behind each move.

4,091 vehicles and 626,070 complaints, model years 2010-2025. This page is general information about what owners reported, not advice about a specific car. Rebuilt each quarter; the edition is named in the title.