How many vehicle complaints have been filed in South Dakota?

Vehicle owners in South Dakota have filed 1,890 complaints with NHTSA (THIN ODI volume band, #49 of 51). 80 of those filings are crash-flagged (4.2% · FLAG).

What are the most complained-about vehicles in South Dakota?

In South Dakota the FORD F-150 leads with 140 filings (7 crash-flagged). The table ranks the top models with crash, fire, and death columns.

Where does the state vehicle complaint data come from?

All data comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints database. Vehicle owners self-report their state when filing a complaint, and PlainCars aggregates this data to show state-level safety trends.

Can I file a vehicle complaint for my state?

Yes. You can file a vehicle safety complaint directly with NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem. Filing a complaint helps NHTSA identify safety defects and can lead to recalls that protect other drivers.

State profile

South Dakota vehicle complaints

1,890 NHTSA complaints filed by South Dakota drivers across 50 vehicle models, the models your neighbors flag most.

Complaints: 1,890
Crashes: 80
Models: 50

Volume is not severity

According to NHTSA ODI filings attributed to South Dakota drivers, the FORD F-150 leads complaint volume at 140 (#1 of 50 tracked models) but the FORD EXPLORER leads crash-linked reports at 9 (#1); the HYUNDAI SONATA leads reported fatalities at 3 (#1).

140
FORD F-150 complaints #1: 9
FORD EXPLORER crashes #1: 3
HYUNDAI SONATA 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 THIN Crash-flag FLAG (4.2%)

Crash-flagged vs other filings

South Dakota filings in this extract split 4.2% crash-flagged (FLAG) versus other ODI rows, orthogonal to the make/model top-N bars below.

Crash-flagged filings 80 complaints (4%) Other filings 1,810 complaints (96%)

Compiled by PlainCars

South Dakota vs all jurisdictions by NHTSA complaint volume

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

3,445 49th of 51 higher than 2 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

South Dakota has more filings than 2 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), more than 2,000,000 owner filings sit in the national ODI file; this page counts the subset attributed to South Dakota drivers. See our methodology.

South Dakota drivers have submitted 1,890 safety complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration across 50 distinct vehicle models. Those filings include 80 crash reports , 36 fire incidents , and 7 reported fatalities , each self-reported through NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation intake form.

State is geocoded from the owner's self-reported ZIP. The table below ranks models by complaint count; crash, fire, and death columns isolate filings that reported a serious outcome.

Severe outcomes reported in South Dakota

Crash reports

Fire incidents

Reported fatalities

Most complained make in South Dakota

FORD (616 complaints)

FORD F-150

140
FORD EXPLORER

86
JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE

79
CHEVROLET MALIBU

74
FORD FUSION

63
DODGE DURANGO

63
FORD ESCAPE

60
JEEP CHEROKEE

59
CHEVROLET IMPALA

52
FORD EDGE

49

What this shows The FORD F-150 draws the most NHTSA complaints from South Dakota 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 South Dakota

#	Vehicle	Complaints	Years	Crashes	Fires	Deaths
1	FORD F-150	140	1989–2024	7	5	0
2	FORD EXPLORER	86	1993–2025	9	0	2
3	JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE	79	1993–2024	6	3	0
4	CHEVROLET MALIBU	74	1997–2016	2	0	0
5	FORD FUSION	63	2006–2019	0	0	0
6	DODGE DURANGO	63	1998–2025	2	4	0
7	FORD ESCAPE	60	2001–2021	1	1	0
8	JEEP CHEROKEE	59	1990–2021	0	1	0
9	CHEVROLET IMPALA	52	2000–2015	7	3	0
10	FORD EDGE	49	2007–2022	0	0	0
11	RAM 1500	47	2010–2025	3	0	0
12	CHEVROLET BLAZER	47	1992–2019	5	1	2
13	CHEVROLET SILVERADO 1500	45	1997–2024	1	1	0
14	FORD EXPEDITION	44	1997–2025	2	0	0
15	FORD F-250	40	1994–2019	3	3	0
16	HONDA PILOT	39	2004–2025	0	0	0
17	GMC SIERRA 1500	39	2004–2025	0	0	0
18	CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY	39	1996–2016	1	0	0
19	FORD TAURUS	38	1989–2015	0	0	0
20	FORD F-350	38	2000–2019	0	1	0
21	JEEP WRANGLER	36	1993–2023	0	0	0
22	HONDA CR-V	36	2002–2025	2	0	0
23	CHEVROLET EQUINOX	33	2005–2022	2	2	0
24	CHEVROLET SILVERADO	32	1996–2013	1	0	0
25	SUBARU OUTBACK	31	2000–2024	3	0	0
26	FORD FOCUS	30	2000–2018	2	0	0
27	FORD WINDSTAR	28	1995–2003	0	1	0
28	RAM 2500	27	2010–2022	1	1	0
29	DODGE CARAVAN	27	1986–2012	2	0	0
30	NISSAN ROGUE	26	2010–2024	1	0	0
31	HYUNDAI SONATA	26	1999–2018	3	2	3
32	PONTIAC GRAND PRIX	25	1992–2006	0	2	0
33	GMC ACADIA	25	2007–2025	0	0	0
34	CHRYSLER PACIFICA	25	2004–2023	1	0	0
35	TOYOTA SIENNA	24	2001–2018	0	0	0
36	GMC TERRAIN	24	2010–2020	2	2	0
37	DODGE GRAND CARAVAN	24	1992–2016	0	0	0
38	CHEVROLET TAHOE	24	1994–2023	2	0	0
39	RAM 3500	23	2013–2022	0	0	0
40	JEEP LIBERTY	22	2002–2012	1	0	0
41	DODGE DAKOTA	22	1992–2006	1	1	0
42	CHEVROLET TRAVERSE	22	2009–2020	0	0	0
43	TOYOTA PRIUS	21	2004–2015	4	0	0
44	PONTIAC G6	21	2005–2010	0	0	0
45	TOYOTA CAMRY	20	1997–2021	2	0	0
46	HONDA RIDGELINE	20	2006–2023	0	0	0
47	CHEVROLET SUBURBAN	20	1990–2019	1	1	0
48	VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT	19	1998–2018	0	1	0
49	DODGE RAM 2500	19	1995–2011	0	0	0
50	TESLA MODEL Y	17	2020–2023	0	0	0

Nearest ODI volume peers

Closest owner-attributed complaint totals to South Dakota's 3,445 filings (THIN band) - NHTSA ODI volume stamps, not an alphabetical state strip.

North Dakota

2,845 · THIN · Δ600

Wyoming

2,638 · THIN · Δ807

Alaska

4,406 · THIN · Δ961

Montana

5,088 · LIGHT · Δ1,643

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.

How South Dakota compares to the national picture

South Dakota sits #49 of 51 jurisdictions on owner-attributed ODI volume (THIN; 2 jurisdictions file fewer). Absolute counts track population and reporting culture more than per-vehicle defect rates, pair South Dakota's FLAG crash-flag share (4.2%) with model-level national rankings before treating a local leaderboard as a reliability verdict. Inside this extract the FORD F-150 leads South Dakota 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 South Dakota. A a South Dakota resident reporting a purchase made elsewhere still tags here; a visitor who filed from another home state will not. NHTSA does not deduplicate by VIN across years, so multi-year filings from the same vehicle accumulate. Treat South Dakota's THIN ranking as directional and open the model pages linked above.

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

Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. State totals sum NHTSA ODI complaints attributed to South Dakota drivers (1,890 filings across 50 models; vintage August 2026; THIN/FLAG). See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.