PlainCars

State profile

New Mexico vehicle complaints

4,936 NHTSA complaints filed by New Mexico drivers across 50 vehicle models, the models your neighbors flag most.

Complaints
4,936
Crashes
343
Models
50

Volume is not severity

According to NHTSA ODI filings attributed to New Mexico drivers, the Ford F-150 leads complaint volume at 277 (#1 of 50 tracked models) but the Jeep Grand Cherokee leads crash-linked reports at 20 (#1); the Ford Explorer leads reported fatalities at 7 (#1).

277
Ford F-150 complaints #1
20
Jeep Grand Cherokee crashes #1
7
Ford Explorer 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.

ODI volume LIGHT Crash-flag FLAG (6.9%)

Crash-flagged vs other filings

New Mexico filings in this extract split 6.9% crash-flagged (FLAG) versus other ODI rows, orthogonal to the make/model top-N bars below.

New Mexico vs all jurisdictions by NHTSA complaint volume

Where this state's owner-attributed ODI complaint count sits among every state and DC on PlainCars

10,743 38th of 51 higher than 13 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

New Mexico has more filings than 13 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 New Mexico drivers. See our methodology.

New Mexico ODI volume reading

The standout signal in New Mexico is filing volume: 10,743 owner-attributed NHTSA ODI complaints (#38 of 51, thin-book tercile). Crash-flag share sits at 6.9% (FLAG).

As a thinner-book state, a handful of models can swing the ranking; open the table rows rather than reading the headline alone.

Inside this extract the Ford F-150 leads New Mexico with 277 filings (19 crash-flagged).

Severe outcomes reported in New Mexico

343
Crash reports
108
Fire incidents
14
Reported fatalities
Most complained make in New Mexico
Ford (1,488 complaints)

Most-complained vehicles in New Mexico

Ranked by NHTSA complaints filed by in-state owners

complaints

What this shows The Ford F-150 draws the most NHTSA complaints from New Mexico drivers. State-level volume reflects how common a model is locally as much as its defect rate.

Source NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation As of 2026

Full ranking: top 50 most-complained vehicles in New Mexico

# Vehicle Complaints
1 Ford F-150 277
2 Ford Explorer 243
3 Jeep Grand Cherokee 201
4 Ford Focus 198
5 Jeep Wrangler 149
6 Chevrolet Malibu 146
7 Ford Escape 143
8 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 137
9 Jeep Cherokee 135
10 Ford Fusion 130
11 Toyota Tacoma 129
12 Ford F-250 129
13 Honda CR-V 110
14 Subaru Outback 104
15 Hyundai Sonata 103
16 RAM 1500 97
17 Dodge RAM 2500 97
18 GMC Sierra 1500 95
19 Honda Accord 94
20 Ford Taurus 89
21 Volkswagen Jetta 87
22 Dodge RAM 1500 85
23 Toyota Camry 83
24 Honda Civic 82
25 Dodge Durango 79
26 Chrysler Town AND Country 79
27 Toyota Tundra 78
28 Ford Mustang 76
29 Ford Edge 76
30 Nissan Altima 74
31 KIA Optima 74
32 Dodge RAM 74
33 Tesla Model 3 73
34 Tesla Model Y 72
35 Toyota Prius 71
36 Chevrolet Silverado 71
37 Jeep Liberty 69
38 Dodge Grand Caravan 69
39 Chevrolet Cobalt 68
40 Pontiac G6 67
41 Hyundai Santa FE 67
42 Ford Ranger 67
43 Toyota Rav4 63
44 Hyundai Elantra 63
45 Dodge Dakota 62
46 Chevrolet Impala 62
47 Nissan Pathfinder 61
48 Ford Windstar 60
49 Toyota Corolla 59
50 RAM 2500 59

Nearest ODI volume peers

Closest owner-attributed complaint totals to New Mexico's 10,743 filings (LIGHT band) - NHTSA ODI volume stamps, not an alphabetical state strip.

Maine

10,324 · LIGHT · Δ419

New Hampshire

11,840 · LIGHT · Δ1,097

Nebraska

8,698 · LIGHT · Δ2,045

Utah

12,879 · LIGHT · Δ2,136
Compare Ford F-150 vs Ford Explorer →

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. New Mexico totals: 4,936 filings across 50 models (LIGHT/FLAG; vintage August 2026).

How New Mexico compares to the national picture

New Mexico sits #38 of 51 jurisdictions (LIGHT; thinner third of the book). Absolute counts are small enough that one popular nameplate moves the ranking - open the model pages linked above rather than reading the state headline alone. Inside this extract the Ford F-150 leads New Mexico 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 New Mexico. A a New Mexico resident reporting a purchase made elsewhere still tags here. NHTSA does not deduplicate by VIN across years. Treat New Mexico's LIGHT ranking as directional and open the model pages linked above.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.