2021 Ford Mustang
This year drew an ordinary 110 complaints for a Ford Mustang — the model's median is 264. What they were about is the unusual part: 25.5% of them mention fuel, against 3.2% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Ford Mustang, which began in 2015 and ran to 2023. 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 | 110 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 264 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- fuel — 25.5% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the other years of this generation (7.9×).
- check — 18.2% of this year's complaints, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation (2.7×).
- stalled — 9.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the other years of this generation (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: stalled, vehicle stalled, apartment, stalled pulling.
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
At highway speed (60-65mph), in 6th gear, cruise control activated, the car began to surge and stall and loose power. Applying more throttle to maintain speed did not help. Pulled to roadside and engine stalled. No check engine light at that time. Re-started w…
while driving at various speeds, the vehicle started losing automotive power. The vehicle had stalled several times. The vehicle was able to restart, and the loss of automotive power was intermittent. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number:…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V980000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 22V083000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 23V727000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 25V442000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 25V455000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 25V689000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
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 2021 Ford Mustang? What happened to yours?
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