Ford · vehicle model
Ford Mustang
11,532 NHTSA complaints and 181 safety recalls across model years 1976–2025.
- Complaints
- 11,532
- Recalls
- 181
- Model years
- 47
The verdict
The Ford Mustang pairs above-average complaint volume with 181 recalls (heavily recalled).
- 1st pctile
- complaint volume, US models
- 181
- recall campaigns
Ford Mustang vs. all tracked models
Total NHTSA ODI complaints across models with substantive safety data
11,532 Higher than most more complaints than 99% of 3,088 models
tracked vehicle models, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more models. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · August 2026
The Ford Mustang appears in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database with 11,532 consumer safety complaints and 181 recall campaigns across 47 model years (1976–2025). That averages roughly 245 complaints per model year. Report counts can differ between model years for many reasons; this dataset does not establish the cause of a difference.
Complaint volume on a nameplate alone is not a reliability verdict: a long-running bestseller can accumulate more filings than a low-volume niche model because more vehicles are on the road. The table below shows report counts and published NHTSA crash-test ratings side by side for each model year. The filing-year histogram shows the timing of submitted reports, not a causal trend.
NHTSA has 3 investigation files tied to this model, with 1 currently open. Investigation records, complaint reports, and recall campaigns each provide different context. Use the official NHTSA VIN lookup and the underlying notices to research a specific vehicle; PlainCars does not infer a vehicle-risk or pricing conclusion from these records.
Complaints by Year
| Year | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 |
| 2024 | 102 |
| 2023 | 25 |
| 2022 | 62 |
| 2021 | 59 |
| 2020 | 155 |
| 2019 | 173 |
| 2018 | 221 |
| 2017 | 322 |
| 2016 | 481 |
| 2015 | 583 |
| 2014 | 423 |
| 2013 | 323 |
| 2012 | 572 |
| 2011 | 582 |
| 2010 | 296 |
| 2009 | 215 |
| 2008 | 382 |
| 2007 | 727 |
| 2006 | 506 |
| 2005 | 893 |
| 2004 | 127 |
| 2003 | 177 |
| 2002 | 159 |
| 2001 | 219 |
| 2000 | 427 |
| 1999 | 281 |
| 1998 | 297 |
| 1997 | 231 |
| 1996 | 329 |
| 1995 | 829 |
| 1994 | 496 |
| 1993 | 132 |
| 1992 | 80 |
| 1991 | 98 |
| 1990 | 119 |
| 1989 | 127 |
| 1988 | 132 |
| 1987 | 44 |
| 1986 | 32 |
| 1985 | 22 |
| 1984 | 35 |
| 1983 | 5 |
| 1982 | 1 |
| 1980 | 8 |
| 1978 | 10 |
| 1976 | 2 |
Complaint Filing Trend
NHTSA complaint volume by year filed (not model year).
Filings moved from 2,479 in 2017-2021 to 1,500 in 2022-2026, a fall of 39.5% . That is the 47th percentile of change across the 763 nameplates with enough filings in both windows to compare, where 0 is the steepest fall and 100 the steepest rise.
Filing volume, not a reliability verdict: counts also move with how many vehicles are on the road, how old they are, and whether a recall drew attention. Computed from this portal's NHTSA filing-year records over the same two windows the trend rankings use.
Year filed (bar labels show the complaint count).
Compare Ford Mustang to Similar Vehicles
NHTSA Investigations 1 Open
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data sources
Data vintage: August 2026. 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.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. Ford Mustang totals are aggregated from the linked NHTSA model-year rows; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.