Total Complaints
1 filings
FORD FIESTA · model year
1 NHTSA complaints for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2002FORDFIESTA carries 1 consumer safety complaint in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2002 FIESTA is power train with 1 filings. Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability.
NHTSA currently has 2 investigation files overlapping the 2002 FIESTA, and 1 remain open. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.
Total Complaints
1 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | 1 |
I HAVE A DPS6 TRANSMISSION IN MY 2012 FORD FIESTA SES THAT IS MALFUNCTIONING AS DESCRIBED BY THE MANUFACTURER. THERE IS A SEVERE SHUDDER AND SLIPPAGE IN THE TRANSMISSION, AS WELL AS A RACING OF THE ENGINE WHEN MY FOOT IS ON THE BRAKE AND OFF THE GAS PEDDLE. THE RPM'S RACE TO OVER 1800 RPM'S WHILE AT A LIGHT OR IN HEAVY TRAFFIC. WHEN I RELEASE THE BRAKE AND ACCELERATE THE TRANSMISSION RE-ENGAGES AND SLIPS SO BADLY, THAT ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS OTHER DRIVERS HAVE ALMOST DRIVEN INTO THE BACK OF MY CAR. ONCE MY CAR GETS PAST THIRD GEAR, IT DRIVES AND APPEARS TO SHIFT AND DRIVE BETTER UNTIL LETTING OFF THE GAS AGAIN. I GET PEOPLE SCREAMING AT ME AND GETTING VERY UPSET DURING RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC. I COULD SEE SO MANY WAYS THAT THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE, EVEN WORSE THAN THE DOOR LOCK RECALL. I AM FORCED TO DRIVE THIS CAR, AS FOR NO OTHER CHOICE. A CAR CRASH WOULD BE HORRIBLE FOR ME AND MY CHILDREN; BUT, ALSO ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED. THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE AND I WOULD BEG YOU TO CONSIDER THIS A SA
Mileage: 64,250
Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.