2015 Ford Mustang
This year drew an ordinary 436 complaints for a Ford Mustang — the model's median is 260. What they were about is the unusual part: 19.5% of them mention switch, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Ford Mustang was redesigned for 2015. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 436 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 260 |
| Involving a crash | 26 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 11 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- switch — 19.5% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: switch, brake lights, brake light, pad.
- brake pedal — 10.6% of this year's complaints, against 3.6% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: brake pedal, assembly, pedal assembly.
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
VEHICLE WAS SITTING IN DRIVEWAY. MY HUSBAND RETURNED FROM AN ERRAND AND NOTICED MY VEHICLES BRAKE LIGHTS WERE ON WOULD NOT TURN OFF, EVEN WITH THE VEHICLE POWER OFF. I FOUND BROKEN PLASTIC PIECES ON THE DRIVER SIDE FLOORBOARD. WHEN I RESEARCHED THE PROBLEM, RE…
THE PLASTIC BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH PAD LOCATED ON THE BRAKE PEDAL ARM DETERIORATED AND FELL APART. AFTER THE PAD WAS GONE, THE BRAKE LIGHTS WOULD NOT GO OUT. IT MAY ALSO AFFECT THE TRACTION CONTROL WHEN THE BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH STOPS WORKING.THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V779000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V643000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 14V774000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V339000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V649000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V832000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 22V011000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 20V331000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 11. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2015 Ford Mustang? What happened to yours?
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