Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Ford Taurus

What it says about you

Opinion

Once the best-selling car in the country, later a fleet default, finally a big quiet saloon nobody bought. Yours is comfortable.

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

15 model years on record, 3,214 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2013 (power steering), 2005 (cruise control). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

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.

  • pedal 2005, 2006, 2007 peak 34.8% of that year's complaints
  • assist 2013, 2015 peak 28.8% of that year's complaints
  • manufacturer made 2016, 2018 peak 26.1% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2019 2 recalls 12 complaints
  2. 2018 4 recalls 46 complaints
  3. 2017 4 recalls 44 complaints
  4. 2016 4 recalls 79 complaints
  5. 2015 6 recalls 263 complaints
  6. 2014 5 recalls 234 complaints
  7. 2013 power steering 587 complaints
  8. 2012 5 recalls 78 complaints
  9. 2011 4 recalls 187 complaints
  10. 2010 3 recalls 204 complaints
  11. 2009 0 recalls 64 complaints
  12. 2008 1 recall 175 complaints
  13. 2007 1 recall 149 complaints
  14. 2006 3 recalls 318 complaints
  15. 2005 cruise control 774 complaints

What does a Ford Taurus 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.