Owners have filed 5 complaints on the Ferrari Testarossa, covering 1987–1990. The system named most often is Seat Belts (4 reports). Worst years by volume: 1988, 1987, 1990; cleanest: 1990, 1987, 1988. 0 reports describe a crash, 1 a fire. On average the car was 15.0 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Ferrari Testarossa
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 5 Testarossa complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Seat Belts 4 Read
The passive seat belt on passenger side broke down came apart on it's own, like dangling snake just hanging loosely. This was first fixed by ferrari recall on jun 9, 2003. It failed again. Ferrari refuses to warranty/pay for this. This happened when car was stationary at the ferrari dealer/shop in las vegas nv
The contact's son owns a 1988 Ferrari Testarossa. The contact stated that vehicle was manufactured with an electrical seat belt that would recline once an occupant was seated in either the driver’s or passenger’s side seat. The contact stated that the track for the passenger side seat belt was defective and would not…
Motorized seat belts failed prior to recall, consumer not notified of recall (88V-186)
Engine And Engine Cooling 1 Read
Spontaneous engine fire occurred while cruising at highway speed
Testarossa 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Seat Belts | — | — | |
| 1988 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | 1 | |
| 1987 | Seat Belts | — | — |
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 | 5 |
| Average complaints per series | 1 |
| Worst single series | 1 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 15.0 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
- 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
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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 Testarossa?
By complaint volume, 1988, 1987, 1990 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 Testarossa years are the cleanest?
1990, 1987, 1988 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Ferrari Testarossa have?
5 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1987–1990. Of those, 0 describe a crash and 1 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.