METHODOLOGY

Every verdict on this site is computed from NHTSA's public complaint, recall, and investigation data — never from sales figures, which aren't public, and never from raw cross-model comparisons, which are meaningless without knowing how many of each car were sold.

THE FIVE VERDICTS

Better than typical — at least 30% fewer complaints than this model's typical year.
Typical for this model — within 30% of this model's typical year, either direction.
Worse than typical — 30% to 100% more complaints than typical.
Significantly worse — known issue year — more than double the complaints of this model's typical year.
Not enough data — too few complaints on file, or too little history on this model, for a fair comparison.

THE SPIKE SCORE

For a given model year, we compare its distinct complaint count to the median of that same model's other eligible years — median, not average, so one unusually loud or quiet year can't drag the baseline around. An "eligible" comparison year is one that independently clears the 30-complaint floor below; we require at least 5 eligible comparison years before computing a verdict at all, so a model with thin history isn't scored against a baseline built from noise.

We never show the raw ratio (e.g. "14× worse") on a page — only the discrete verdict label above. The number exists internally to rank years against each other (sibling-year strips, years-to-avoid ordering); showing it directly would invite exactly the kind of alarmist headline this site is built to avoid.

SEVERITY WEIGHTING

Complaints flagged for a crash, fire, injury, or death nudge a borderline year's ratio up, capped at a maximum 15% boost. The cap is deliberate: a handful of severe-but-rare complaints can tip a close call, but can never manufacture a "significantly worse" verdict out of an otherwise flat year on their own.

MINIMUM SAMPLE SIZE

Model years with fewer than 30 complaints on file don't get a verdict — we still show every complaint, recall, and investigation on file, just without a ranking that a tiny sample can't support.

KNOWN PROBLEM AREAS

NHTSA leaves a meaningful share of complaints uncategorized ("unknown or other" and similar catch-all values). We exclude those from the ranked component list entirely — they're an absence of categorization, not a finding, and shouldn't occupy a "top problem" slot. Displayed percentages stay the share of this vehicle's total complaint count, not rebased over just the named components, so a year with heavy miscategorization doesn't show inflated percentages for the components that do have a name.

WHAT WE DON'T DO

We never use language like "will fail," "lemon," or "death trap." Severity badges come only from NHTSA's own crash/fire/injury/death flags.
We never scrape CarComplaints, Consumer Reports, or J.D. Power. Every number here traces back to a public NHTSA source row.
Complaints are unverified owner reports filed with NHTSA — not independently confirmed defects.

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE

Some pages may show sponsored VIN-check or warranty-quote links, clearly labeled "SPONSORED TOOL" and visually separated from computed content. We may earn a commission if you use one. Sponsorship never affects a verdict, a ranking, or any computed number on this site.