Western Star · vehicle model
Western Star 4900
26 NHTSA complaints and 107 safety recalls across model years 1998–2020.
- Complaints
- 26
- Recalls
- 107
- Model years
- 12
The verdict
The Western Star 4900 pairs below-average complaint volume with 107 recalls (heavily recalled).
- Top 50%
- fewest complaints, US models
- 107
- recall campaigns
Western Star 4900 vs. all tracked models
Total NHTSA ODI complaints across models with substantive safety data
26 Around the middle lower than 49% 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 Western Star4900 appears in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database with 26 consumer safety complaints and 107 recall campaigns across 12 model years (1998–2020). That averages roughly 2 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 no investigation files tied specifically to this model in the current dataset. 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
Complaint Filing Trend
NHTSA complaint volume by year filed (not model year).
Year filed (bar labels show the complaint count).
Compare Western Star4900 to Similar Vehicles
Frequently Asked Questions
How reliable is the Western Star 4900?▼
What years of Western Star 4900 are available?▼
Does the Western Star 4900 have safety ratings?▼
What are the most common Western Star 4900 complaints?▼
How do I check if my Western Star 4900 has been recalled?▼
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. Western Star 4900 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.