Car Problems by Component

16 component categories ranked by owner complaint volume — when each part fails, what the repair costs and which vehicles report the most problems.

Electrical, powertrain and engine problems generate the most owner complaints. Across 588,634 complaints filed with NHTSA, electrical failures lead (96,000+ reports, typically surfacing near 64,000 miles at a typical repair cost of $850), followed by powertrain and engine problems. Every number on this page is aggregated from real owner reports — unverified, but drawn from the full public NHTSA complaint database.

Component categories, ranked by complaints

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA, per component (highest first)
ComponentComplaintsModel linesMedian failure mileageTypical repair
Electrical 96,451 283 64,000 mi $850
Powertrain / Transmission 95,313 266 63,000 mi $2,500
Engine 90,259 266 72,000 mi $3,100
Steering 82,201 208 61,018 mi $700
Airbags 67,977 219 68,000 mi $1,100
Brakes 40,312 192 49,669 mi $450
Body 26,387 137 62,000 mi $1,500
Cruise Control 18,290 124 48,305 mi $600
Visibility 16,981 109 50,000 mi $350
Lighting 16,811 107 65,000 mi $250
Fuel System 16,036 125 64,778 mi $1,200
Suspension 15,357 136 66,000 mi $900
Tires 2,364 60 29,052 mi $150
Wheels 2,063 38 50,000 mi $400
Seatbelts 1,635 33 74,900 mi $500
Equipment 197 8 45,000 mi $500

How to read these numbers

  • Complaints are reports, not verdicts. An owner complaint filed with NHTSA is a first-person account — unverified. A high count signals a pattern worth investigating (open recalls, service bulletins, federal investigations), not proof of a defect.
  • Median failure mileage is the midpoint of the mileages owners reported when the problem occurred, across all vehicles in the category.
  • Typical repair is the median estimate across reported failures — actual quotes vary by shop, region and part availability.
  • Start specific. Open a category, find your vehicle in the worst-vehicles table, then check the model year page for recalls and the VIN decoder for the exact build of one particular car.

Checking a specific car? Decode its VIN to see the exact build, open safety recalls and crash-test ratings — free, no registration.

Source: ProblemsByVin (CC BY 4.0), aggregated from public NHTSA complaint and recall data. See Data Sources & Methodology. VinSpecs is an independent service, not affiliated with NHTSA or any manufacturer.