State profile
Michigan vehicle complaints
41,218 NHTSA complaints filed by Michigan drivers across 50 vehicle models, the models your neighbors flag most.
- Complaints
- 41,218
- Crashes
- 2,057
- Models
- 50
Volume is not severity
According to NHTSA ODI filings attributed to Michigan drivers, the Ford Escape leads complaint volume at 2,741 (#1 of 50 tracked models) but the Jeep Grand Cherokee leads crash-linked reports at 132 (#1); the Ford Focus leads reported fatalities at 50 (#1).
- 2,741
- Ford Escape complaints #1
- 132
- Jeep Grand Cherokee crashes #1
- 50
- Ford Focus deaths #1
Counts sum NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaints self-reported by owners in this state. Crash and fatality flags come from those filings, not a separate crash registry.
Crash-flagged vs other filings
Michigan filings in this extract split 5.0% crash-flagged (FLAG) versus other ODI rows, orthogonal to the make/model top-N bars below.
Michigan vs all jurisdictions by NHTSA complaint volume
Where this state's owner-attributed ODI complaint count sits among every state and DC on PlainCars
80,406 7th of 51 higher than 44 of 51 jurisdictions
States and DC, banded by owner-attributed NHTSA ODI complaint count
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more jurisdictions. 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 ODI owner-reported state field · 2026-08-08
Michigan has more filings than 44 of 51 jurisdictions in this extract. Absolute volume tracks population and reporting culture; it is not a per-vehicle defect rate.
Data updated August 2026. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation, more than 2,000,000 owner filings sit in the national ODI file; this page counts the subset attributed to Michigan drivers. See our methodology.
Michigan ODI volume reading
The standout signal in Michigan is filing volume: 80,406 owner-attributed NHTSA ODI complaints (#7 of 51, heavy-book tercile). Crash-flag share sits at 5.0% (FLAG).
As a heavy-book state, population and reporting culture inflate absolute counts - pair Michigan's local leaderboard with national model pages before treating volume as a defect rate.
Inside this extract the Ford Escape leads Michigan with 2,741 filings (91 crash-flagged).
Severe outcomes reported in Michigan
Most-complained vehicles in Michigan
Ranked by NHTSA complaints filed by in-state owners
- Ford Escape
Ford Escape
2,741 complaints
- Ford F-150
Ford F-150
2,239 complaints
- Chevrolet Malibu
Chevrolet Malibu
1,980 complaints
- Ford Fusion
Ford Fusion
1,791 complaints
- Ford Explorer
Ford Explorer
1,697 complaints
- Jeep Grand Cherokee
Jeep Grand Cherokee
1,665 complaints
- Ford Taurus
Ford Taurus
1,500 complaints
- Chrysler Town AND Country
Chrysler Town AND Country
1,480 complaints
- Ford Focus
Ford Focus
1,473 complaints
- Chevrolet Impala
Chevrolet Impala
1,158 complaints
What this shows The Ford Escape draws the most NHTSA complaints from Michigan drivers. State-level volume reflects how common a model is locally as much as its defect rate.
Full ranking: top 50 most-complained vehicles in Michigan
Nearest ODI volume peers
Closest owner-attributed complaint totals to Michigan's 80,406 filings (DENSE band) - NHTSA ODI volume stamps, not an alphabetical state strip.
Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, with fatality-linked filings cross-checked against NHTSA FARS and crash-test ratings drawn from NHTSA NCAP. State is self-reported by the vehicle owner. Michigan totals: 41,218 filings across 50 models (DENSE/FLAG; vintage August 2026).
How Michigan compares to the national picture
Michigan sits #7 of 51 jurisdictions on owner-attributed ODI volume (DENSE; 44 file fewer) - a heavy-book footprint that tracks population more than per-vehicle defect rates. Pair the FLAG crash-flag share (5.0%) with national model rankings before treating a local leaderboard as a reliability verdict. Inside this extract the Ford Escape leads Michigan volume; check whether that nameplate's local share exceeds its national share before calling a regional pattern.
A note on self-reported state data
The state field on each NHTSA complaint is supplied by the consumer at filing; there is no mandatory check that the owner filed from their registration state, nor that the incident occurred in Michigan. A a Michigan resident reporting a purchase made elsewhere still tags here. NHTSA does not deduplicate by VIN across years. Treat Michigan's DENSE ranking as directional and open the model pages linked above.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.