Engine Problems
135,939 owner-reported engine complaints across all covered vehicles in our database. Below are the vehicles with the most reports in this category. Complaint counts are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and may not indicate confirmed defects.
This group counts stored reports whose component label starts with one of this site's matching prefixes, ignoring case. Each matching report counts once within the group. Components mentioned later in the label or only in the narrative are not searched. How component counts work
Key Takeaways
- The total covers matching stored reports across the database; the table shows up to 30 published vehicle-year pages, not the entire dataset.
- The current leaderboard spans 7 makes and 17 models, so it works best as a browsing and comparison surface, not a defect verdict.
- The highest-volume tracked page right now is 2017 Ford Escape with 1,592 complaints in this category.
- A high complaint count can reflect sales volume, age, or reporting behavior. Use the linked vehicle and recall pages to understand context before drawing conclusions.
What This Category Means
This page groups NHTSA owner complaints by matching prefixes at the start of the stored component label. Vehicles are ranked by matching report count, not by every mention of engine in a report. These counts are browsing signals - a high number reflects reports, not a confirmed failure rate or a count of distinct owners. Click any vehicle to view its full complaint breakdown by component.
| # | Vehicle | Reports |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017 Ford Escape | 1592 |
| 2 | 1995 Ford Windstar | 1493 |
| 3 | 2018 Ford Escape | 1118 |
| 4 | 2013 Ford Escape | 1034 |
| 5 | 2017 Ford Edge | 736 |
| 6 | 2011 Hyundai Sonata | 687 |
| 7 | 2014 Ford Escape | 654 |
| 8 | 2002 Nissan Altima | 651 |
| 9 | 1993 Ford Taurus | 574 |
| 10 | 1997 Ford F-150 | 549 |
| 11 | 2016 Kia Sorento | 539 |
| 12 | 2013 Hyundai Sonata | 532 |
| 13 | 2018 Ford Ecosport | 527 |
| 14 | 2003 Nissan Altima | 518 |
| 15 | 2015 Kia Soul | 515 |
| 16 | 2004 Dodge Durango | 502 |
| 17 | 2018 Ford F-150 | 491 |
| 18 | 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe | 491 |
| 19 | 2007 Toyota Camry | 486 |
| 20 | 2018 Ford Edge | 466 |
| 21 | 2016 Honda Pilot | 465 |
| 22 | 2016 Kia Soul | 459 |
| 23 | 2014 Kia Soul | 453 |
| 24 | 2015 Kia Optima | 445 |
| 25 | 2013 Kia Optima | 443 |
| 26 | 1996 Ford Windstar | 439 |
| 27 | 2016 Ford Fusion | 438 |
| 28 | 2013 Ford F-150 | 434 |
| 29 | 2017 Hyundai Tucson | 427 |
| 30 | 2012 Ford F-150 | 420 |
Start With These Vehicles
Other Problem Categories
Data sourced from NHTSA public records. A high complaint count may reflect a vehicle's popularity or sales volume, not necessarily a higher defect rate.
Latest vehicle import recorded anywhere on this site: Oct 8, 2026. Individual vehicles and datasets may have older records; this is not this page's update date.