775 Injuries Are Recorded in Complaints Mentioning Children
The back seat is where the smallest occupants sit and the least-inspected hardware lives. Complaints about it carry an injury rate that has nothing to do with how often the parts fail.
17,760 Complaints Describe the Steering Going Heavy Mid-Corner
Losing power steering does not mean losing steering. It means the effort required multiplies without warning, at whatever moment the system decides to stop helping.
1,244 Complaints Say the Seat Belt Came Undone by Itself
The seat belt is the single most effective safety device ever fitted to a car, and its buckle is a spring-loaded catch operated several thousand times a year. These are the reports of it letting go.
Turbo Complaints Arrive at 5.1 Years. Timing Chains Take 7.2.
The turbocharger used to be a performance part on cars bought by people who understood it. It is now standard equipment on family hatchbacks, and it fails earlier than the components it replaced.
Chevrolet Owners File 43% of All Brake Line Complaints
A brake line is a steel tube running the length of the car, under it, through everything the road throws up. When it rots through the pedal goes to the floor without any warning at all.
3,564 Drivers Report a Wheel Leaving the Car
A wheel separating from a moving car sounds like the result of somebody forgetting to tighten the nuts. In these reports the suspension joint holding the wheel is blamed four times more often than the fasteners.
One Overheating Complaint in 17 Ends With the Car on Fire
Overheating reads as an inconvenience: pull over, let it cool, top up the coolant. In one case in seventeen the sequence ends somewhere else entirely.
The Chain Was Supposed to Be the Maintenance-Free One
Manufacturers moved from belts to chains and told buyers the service interval had gone away. The complaint record suggests the interval did not disappear so much as stop being scheduled.
3,935 Owners Report a Sunroof That Exploded on Its Own
A roof panel that breaks with a bang while the car is doing seventy sounds like something hit it. In thousands of these reports nothing did, and the reason is in how the glass is made.
84,352 Complaints Describe an Engine Cutting Out in Traffic
An engine that stops while the car is moving takes the power steering and the brake servo with it. It is the most common serious complaint on file and the one drivers are least prepared for.
23% of Recalls Are Fixed by Somebody Looking at the Car
A recall letter promises a free repair. The remedy field says what that repair actually is, and for a substantial share of campaigns the answer is that somebody will check and probably do nothing.
14% of Parking Brake Complaints End in a Crash
The parking brake is the system people trust without thinking and check almost never. When it fails, the failure has a property no other brake fault has: the driver is not there.