2008 Ford Mustang
This year drew an ordinary 347 complaints for a Ford Mustang — the model's median is 260. What they were about is the unusual part: 6.9% of them mention death, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Ford Mustang, which began in 2005 and ran to 2014. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 347 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 260 |
| Involving a crash | 21 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- death — 6.9% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: death, injury.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
TAKATA RECALL. I HAVE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM FORD ADVISING TO NOT ALLOW ANYONE IS SIT IN THE FIRST ROW PASSENGER SEAT CAUSING INJURY OR DEATH. WHAT GOOD IS A CAR IF YOU CANT USE THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT?
TAKATA RECALL RECEIVED RECALL NOTICE JULY 2016, HAS BEEN OVER A YEAR, FORD KEEPS SAYING THEY DO NOT HAVE PARTS TO FIX AND JUST TO WAIT, KNOWING THE AIRBAGS ARE DANGEROUS AND COULD CAUSE INJURY OR DEATH. NO DAMAGE OR DEATH YET HOWEVER AFRAID TO OPERATE VEHICLE.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21E013000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V081000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V024000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V319000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V384000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 08V082000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 09E025000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 09E012000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Mustang was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Ford Mustang? What happened to yours?
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