Guides by Denis
341 articles
1,569 Complaints Describe a Death Wobble. Two Thirds Are Wranglers.
The violent front-end shake has a reputation as an old Jeep's problem. The complaint record says it's concentrated in the current generation, arrives at low mileage and has not gone away.
NHTSA Has 74 Open Defect Investigations. These Cover Cars You Can Buy Used.
Before a defect becomes a recall it sits in an investigation file, sometimes for years. Here are the ones open right now that cover cars on the used market, and what they mean for a buyer.
Six in Ten CVT Complaints Are About a Nissan. The Newest Wave Is a Toyota.
Owners who name the transmission in their complaints point overwhelmingly at Nissan, at one model year in particular, and at mileages well below the folklore. Since 2025 the biggest source has been a Toyota.
The Same Used Car Is Worth 4.3% Less Than It Was in July
The average asking price barely moved, which hid what was happening underneath. Compared like for like, every kind of used car has been getting cheaper since summer, pickups slowest and minivans fastest.
14,027 Complaints Say the Driver Pulled Over. Their Crash Rate Is 1.2%.
Most advice about vehicle failure is written by people imagining it. This is drawn from fourteen thousand accounts by people it actually happened to, almost all of whom were fine.
Only 21 Vehicles Ever Scored Poor for Roof Strength. The Test Worked.
A rollover puts the entire weight of the vehicle on its roof pillars. Two decades ago that was a real gamble; today it is the most consistently passed test in the set.
The Ford Escape Generated 4,215 Complaints Across Four Model Years. That Is Mostly About Volume.
The models with the most complaints are the models there are most of. That sounds obvious and is routinely ignored by anyone publishing a reliability list.
Dodge Failed 84% of Small Overlap Tests. Volvo and Subaru Failed None.
When a new test arrives, some manufacturers already meet it and others need a redesign. The small overlap results show both groups clearly, and how fast the gap closed.
Models With 500+ Complaints Sell for $13,292. Models With Under 50 Sell for $23,599.
Two datasets that never meet: what owners report to a regulator, and what the same models sell for today. Putting them side by side gives a consistent answer and a caveat worth understanding.
Lighting Is on 4,039 Recall Records. A Third of Rated Cars Also Score Poor for Headlights.
Recalls and crash-test ratings measure different things and rarely agree. On headlights they agree completely, which makes lighting the most consistently deficient system on the modern car.
33,234 Recall Records Specify Owner Notification. The Letter Goes to Whoever Owned It Then.
The entire recall system depends on a letter arriving. For a used car bought three owners later, there is no mechanism that makes it arrive at all.
Fuel Pumps Are the Fifth Most Recalled Component. They Fail Hot, Not Cold.
The component that most often leaves people at the roadside behaves in a way that hides it from the workshop. Knowing the pattern is most of the diagnosis.