Total Complaints
1 filings
FORD THUNDERBIRD · model year
1 NHTSA complaints. A VIN lookup is required to determine whether a specific vehicle has an unrepaired recall.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1977FORDTHUNDERBIRD 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.
The most frequently selected component label in reports for the 1977 THUNDERBIRD is tires:tread/belt with 1 filings. Complaint categories reflect owner reports and intake categorization; they do not establish a defect pattern or cause.
NHTSA currently has 179 investigation files overlapping the 1977 THUNDERBIRD, and 6 remain open. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should read the complaint-by-year trend as report volume, not a causal diagnosis. Use the related-complaint feed and the official recall lookup when researching a specific vehicle.
Total Complaints
1 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| TIRES:TREAD/BELT | 1 |
VEHICLE WAS PURCHASED NEW WITH FIRESTONE 500 TIRES, AT LESS THAN 4000 MILES A RECALL WAS MADE AND THE TIRES WERE REPLACED WITH NEW FIRESTONE 721'S. CONSUMER PURCHASED VEHICLE FROM PARENTS WITH LESS THAN 15000 MILES, THE CAR IS STORED AND ONLY DRIVEN ONCE EVERY 3 MONTHS. ON A RETURN TRIP THE TREAD CAME OFF THE LEFT REAR TIRE, CONSUMER LOST TEMPORARY CONTROL UNTIL PULLING ONTO THE SHOULDER. THE TREAD SEPARATION CAUSED DAMAGE TO THE LEFT REAR QUARTER PANEL AND SCRATCHED THE DRIVERS SIDE DOOR. NLM
Timing Belt Failure
Anti-lock brake system (ABS) Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) illuminated
Unintended Transmission Downshift and Rear Wheel Lock-up
Timing Belt Failure
Underbody shields detachment
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. This year-specific record is rendered from NHTSA ODI, recall, and NCAP rows for the 1977 FORD THUNDERBIRD; 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.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.