Owners have filed 3 complaints on the Peugeot 505, covering 1982–1989. The system named most often is Electrical System (1 reports). Worst years by volume: 1989, 1985, 1982; cleanest: 1982, 1985, 1989. 0 reports describe a crash, 1 a fire. On average the car was 9.7 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Peugeot 505
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 3 505 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 1 Read
While parked, wiring under the hood ignited, resultin gin an electrical fire
Fuel System 1 Read
Gas tank bolt rusted out, resulting in gas tank disconneted and fell down. Tt
Power Train 1 Read
Fan axle hub sheared off with fan falling off into other engine components, causing vehicle to lock up. Tt
505 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Fuel System, Gasoline | — | — | |
| 1985 | Electrical System | — | 1 | |
| 1982 | Power Train | — | — |
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 | 3 |
| Average complaints per series | 1 |
| Worst single series | 1 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 9.7 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
- 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
What are the worst years for the 505?
By complaint volume, 1989, 1985, 1982 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 505 years are the cleanest?
1982, 1985, 1989 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Peugeot 505 have?
3 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1982–1989. 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.