PlainCars

Leaderboards

Vehicle safety rankings

Vehicles ranked from NHTSA's consumer-complaint, defect-investigation, recall, and NCAP crash-test datasets — rebuilt against the latest federal release.

Vehicles ranked from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) consumer-complaint, defect-investigation, recall, and NCAP crash-test datasets. According to NHTSA, over 1,400,000 consumer safety complaints have been filed since 1995 across all U.S. vehicles, and PlainCars rebuilds each leaderboard against the latest monthly NHTSA release. See our methodology for how each metric is sourced and weighted.

Complaint Trends → Recall Rankings → Safety Ratings →

Which vehicles draw the most complaints?

Models ranked by total NHTSA consumer-safety complaints on record.

  1. 1 FORD F-150 45,624
  2. 2 FORD EXPLORER 42,132
  3. 3 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE 39,285
  4. 4 FORD ESCAPE 34,642
  5. 5 HONDA ACCORD 30,820
  6. 6 FORD FOCUS 29,538
  7. 7 CHEVROLET MALIBU 28,985
  8. 8 FORD FUSION 28,242
  9. 9 FORD TAURUS 23,867
  10. 10 TOYOTA CAMRY 23,201
  11. 11 CHEVROLET SILVERADO 1500 22,161
  12. 12 JEEP WRANGLER 21,786
  13. 13 HYUNDAI SONATA 21,712
  14. 14 JEEP CHEROKEE 20,437
  15. 15 HONDA CR-V 20,090
  16. 16 NISSAN ALTIMA 20,032
  17. 17 HONDA CIVIC 19,764
  18. 18 FORD WINDSTAR 19,456
  19. 19 DODGE DURANGO 19,139
  20. 20 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY 18,994
  21. 21 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN 18,729
  22. 22 FORD EDGE 17,239
  23. 23 RAM 1500 15,767
  24. 24 HONDA ODYSSEY 15,581
  25. 25 DODGE RAM 1500 15,420

Most Dangerous (Deaths & Crashes)

Model-years ranked by complaint-reported deaths, with crash counts alongside.

  1. 1 2022 TESLA MODEL Y 303 · 141
  2. 2 2010 HONDA CIVIC 137 · 48
  3. 3 1987 FORD BRONCO 120 · 3
  4. 4 1999 DODGE DURANGO 100 · 153
  5. 5 1996 MAZDA 626 99 · 43
  6. 6 2006 HONDA PILOT 99 · 31
  7. 7 2006 HONDA RIDGELINE 99 · 27
  8. 8 2001 BENTLEY ARNAGE 99 · 1
  9. 9 2016 LEXUS CT 99 · 0
  10. 10 1996 FORD EXPLORER 89 · 248
  11. 11 2017 TESLA MODEL X 56 · 38
  12. 12 2000 FORD FOCUS 50 · 358
  13. 13 2010 FORD EXPLORER 50 · 13
  14. 14 2002 NISSAN XTERRA 48 · 33
  15. 15 2004 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER 47 · 42
  16. 16 1997 FORD EXPLORER 41 · 180
  17. 17 2011 LINCOLN MKS 40 · 3
  18. 18 2001 DODGE NEON 38 · 50
  19. 19 2015 FORD TRANSIT 36 · 8
  20. 20 1998 CHEVROLET BLAZER 33 · 58
  21. 21 1998 MAZDA B-SERIES TRUCK 32 · 11
  22. 22 1995 CHEVROLET C30 30 · 5
  23. 23 1997 CHEVROLET C/K PICKUPS 30 · 1
  24. 24 2009 CADILLAC ESCALADE 30 · 1
  25. 25 1998 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE 27 · 194

Most-complained-about models

Highest-volume nameplates in the NHTSA complaint database, all model-years combined

complaints

What this shows These nameplates draw the most NHTSA complaints of any vehicle. Volume reflects how many were sold as much as defect rate — drill into a model for its component and per-year breakdown.

Source NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation As of 2026

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) — Complaints, Recalls, Investigations + NHTSA NCAP/IIHS safety ratings NHTSA ODI complaints (1979-2026), recalls, deaths, crashes, fires + safety ratings · 2026 NHTSA ODI data updated continuously as complaints, recalls, and investigations are filed; not all complaints are confirmed defects. Safety ratings from NHTSA NCAP / IIHS where available.