Owners have filed 4 complaints on the Ferrari California, covering 2011–2014. The system named most often is Air Bags (3 reports). Worst years by volume: 2014, 2013, 2012; cleanest: 2011, 2012, 2013. On average the car was 6.0 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Ferrari California
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 4 California complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Air Bags 3 Read
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2014 ferrari california. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 19V006000 (air bags); however, the parts for the recall remedy were not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time to repair the vehicle. Ferrari of…
Long island ferrari dealer keeps telling me the part is not available
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2011 ferrari california. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 16V341000 (air bags). The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact called ferrari of washington (located at 45235 towlern pl,…
Service Brakes 1 Read
I was in my ferrari california coming to pick up my friend (a date). I pulled the little lever on the left of the steering wheel to put the car into park. I pulled it twice to make sure that the car was in park...that was my mistake since the second pull took the car out of park. I did not realize that the car was now…
California years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2013 | Service Brakes | — | — | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 4 |
| Average complaints per series | 1 |
| Worst single series | 1 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.0 years |
A model average of 1 hides a worst series at 1. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
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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
What are the worst years for the California?
By complaint volume, 2014, 2013, 2012 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which California years are the cleanest?
2011, 2012, 2013 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Ferrari California have?
4 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2011–2014. Of those, 0 describe a crash and 0 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.