Bentley owners have filed 7 complaints with NHTSA across 3 models. On average the car was 6.50 years old when the problem happened, and 33.3% of reports fall inside the first three years — while the factory warranty was still running.
What breaks on Bentley
The systems Bentley owners report most, and how often each failure ended in a crash.
| System | Complaints | Share of Bentley | Ended in a crash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel System, Gasoline | 28.6% | 0% | |
| Tires | 14.3% | 100% | |
| Air Bags,unknown Or Other,service Brakes | 14.3% | 0% | |
| Electrical System,air Bags,forward Collision Avoidance | 14.3% | 100% | |
| Service Brakes | 14.3% | 0% | |
| Electrical System,vehicle Speed Control | 14.3% | 0% |
When Bentley problems show up
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Average age at failure | 6.50 years | How old the car was when the problem happened |
| Reported inside 3 years | 33.3% | Share of complaints filed while the factory warranty was likely still running |
| Complaints describing a crash | 2 | Of 7 total |
| Complaints describing a fire | 0 | Of 7 total |
A low average age does not automatically mean a fragile car: a brand with a young fleet on the road will always skew early. Read it next to the share reported inside three years.
Which Bentley models draw the most complaints
Volume follows sales, so a bestseller will always top this list. The columns worth reading are age at failure and how many reports ended in a crash.
| Model | Complaints | Share of Bentley | Avg age at failure | Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BENTAYGA | 71.4% | 4.0 yrs | 1 | |
| ARNAGE | 14.3% | 22.0 yrs | 1 | |
| CONTINENTAL | 14.3% | 1.0 yrs | — |
Bentley complaints by model year
A bad generation shows up here as a block of years, not as a single spike. Recent years look quiet simply because those cars are young and still under warranty.
| Model year | Complaints | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | — | — | |
| 2019 | — | — | |
| 2018 | — | — | |
| 2017 | 1 | — | |
| 2001 | 1 | — |
What Bentley owners report
Grouped by the system owners named. Open any row for the full reports, in their own words — one per model so the same fault does not repeat.
Fuel System, Gasoline 2 Read
The contact owns a 2019 Bentley Bentayga. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and occupied, while attempting to start the vehicle, the contact smelled an abnormal fuel odor inside the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. An independent mechanic was contacted. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed, and determined that the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 23V592000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE) and 20V321000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE); however, the VIN was not included in the recalls. The contact had not noticed the fuel odor until the vehicle was serviced at the dealer. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 37,000
Tires 1 Read
Violate no hassle no claims warranty - gla / zr rated tyres no tyre chain of selling useless defective product. Of shrapnel and tetanus filled from now on. Of zinc or lithium grease push pin but metal rivets. Other [xxx] 2013 gmc all wheel drive is just bigger tyres of how do I rotate these? Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
Air Bags,unknown Or Other,service Brakes 1 Read
Easy cyber attack against new bentley - critical issue it is incredibly dangerous to connect this car to the internet using a sim card, as the car is littered with high impact vulnerabilities that can easily be exploited to shut down systems, this would deny service of systems, like steering or brakes, or airbags. There are nearly 100 connected devices in the car that is centrally managed using one computer systems that is very vulnerable. This is a fundamental problem at bentley hq, as one of the vulnerabilities was first identified in 1999, it was patched in 1999 and yet a 2017 car still has the vulnerability without any patch. This means not only is this car extremely vulnerable to cyber attack but the process to design the software in the factory had little to no regard to customer security. It is possible to electronically sweep all ip's in the usa searching for bentley bentagya's and then construct a cyber attack at all vehicles simultaneously. This is a very very serious issue. I notified bentley and provided the full cyber assessment report and had not reply whatsoever. They should immediately have every customer remove the sim card (this should be a critical recall) for the vehicle to prevent an attack from the other side of the world. Then they need to consider localised attacks as the car travels with a wifi bubble that is exploitable. This is how this report attached was prepared in the first instance
Electrical System,air Bags,forward Collision Avoidance 1 Read
The contact stated that she was a standing outside of a 2017 Bentley Bentayga while guiding a driver to park the vehicle in a residential garage when the anti-collision and anti-pedestrian feature failed. The contact stated that she was providing information from the electronic data recorder. The contact stated that the information provided was that the vehicle was traveling at 11 mph, when the accelerator pedal was depressed several times, the vehicle accelerated crashing into the contact and the garage wall. The contact stated that the air bags did not deploy. A police report was not filed. The contact sustained two fractured wrists and a spinal injury that required medical attention. The vehicle was not drivable and was towed to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer nor the manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 4,000
Service Brakes 1 Read
On July 19, 2019, with 8800 miles on my 2018 Bentley Bentayga, I took it into an authorized Bentley dealer repair shop for routine service. I was advised that the brakes, front, and back were dangerously low. There was no prior warning or indication of this problem. I had the front and back brakes replaced. In September 2022 with approximately 16,000 miles on the car, I noticed a squeaking noise coming from the front end of the car. On November 14, 2022, I took it back to the same authorized Bentley Repair shop. I was advised that the front brakes were dangerously low and needed to be replaced. The service man advised me that he had customers having their brakes go bad in this car in as little as 5,000 miles without notice
Electrical System,vehicle Speed Control 1
Detailed owner reports aren't available for this category.
Unverified owner reports filed with NHTSA. Percentages are shares of all 7 Bentley complaints.
Bentley against the rest
| Measure | Where Bentley sits | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| By complaint volume | #0 | 29 brands with 3,000+ complaints |
| By age at failure (later is better) | #0 | 29 brands |
| Complaints ending in a crash | 28.6% | across all 7 reports |
Ranking by volume says more about how many cars a brand sells than about how they hold up. Age at failure is the fairer of the two.
Compare Bentley with the rest
Bentley problems by model
3 Bentley models have owner complaints on file. Pick one for its worst years, failing systems and what owners actually wrote.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
How reliable is Bentley?
Owners have filed 7 complaints across 3 Bentley models. On its own that number reflects how many Bentley cars are on the road — compare the average age at failure (6.50 years) instead.
What breaks most often on a Bentley?
The most reported system is Fuel System, Gasoline with 2 complaints.
Do Bentley problems show up under warranty?
33.3% of Bentley complaints describe something that happened in the first three years, while the factory warranty was likely still running.
Which Bentley model has the most complaints?
See the model list above — each card shows its complaint count, and the model page breaks it down by year and by system.