Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Ford Ranger

What it says about you

Opinion

A truck that fits in a normal parking space, bought by someone tired of being told that was a compromise. It is a compromise. It is the right one.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

18 model years on record, 2,707 complaints filed. No year stood out against this model's own history — which means it has not drawn unusual complaints, not that it is a good car.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • takata 2008, 2009 peak 68.9% of that year's complaints
  • frame 2005, 2006 peak 25.3% of that year's complaints
  • switch 2005, 2006 peak 24.9% of that year's complaints
  • july 2007, 2008, 2009 peak 15.7% of that year's complaints
  • become 2007, 2009 peak 12.5% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2026 6 recalls 4 complaints
  2. 2025 13 recalls 33 complaints
  3. 2024 13 recalls 68 complaints
  4. 2023 4 recalls 36 complaints
  5. 2022 5 recalls 74 complaints
  6. 2021 6 recalls 222 complaints
  7. 2020 7 recalls 125 complaints
  8. 2019 11 recalls 264 complaints
  9. 2017 0 recalls 1 complaints
  10. 2016 0 recalls 1 complaints
  11. 2014 0 recalls 1 complaints
  12. 2011 6 recalls 235 complaints
  13. 2010 9 recalls 320 complaints
  14. 2009 8 recalls 168 complaints
  15. 2008 6 recalls 325 complaints
  16. 2007 6 recalls 270 complaints
  17. 2006 12 recalls 271 complaints
  18. 2005 11 recalls 289 complaints

What does a Ford Ranger say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.