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Car Safety DB

Powertrain & Transmission Problems

136,494 owner-reported powertrain & transmission 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.

Key Takeaways

  • This hub groups NHTSA owner complaints tagged to the powertrain & transmission category across all currently indexable vehicle pages in the database.
  • The current leaderboard spans 7 makes and 14 models, so it works best as a browsing and comparison surface, not a defect verdict.
  • The highest-volume tracked page right now is 2014 Ford Focus with 1,526 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.

Useful Next Steps

Open the top powertrain & transmission vehicle pageLearn how to check for related recallsRead how to file an NHTSA complaintBrowse related powertrain & transmission recalls

What This Category Means

This page groups NHTSA owner complaints where the reported component falls under the powertrain & transmission category. Vehicles are ranked by the number of reports in this category. These counts are browsing signals — a high number reflects how many owners submitted reports, not a confirmed failure rate. Click any vehicle to view its full complaint breakdown by component.

Recall lookup guideFile a complaint guideSafety ratings explainerRelated recalls
#VehicleReports
12014 Ford Focus1526
22014 Jeep Cherokee1394
32012 Ford Focus1347
42002 Ford Explorer1344
52013 Ford F-1501093
62013 Ford Focus1048
72015 Jeep Cherokee952
82003 Honda Accord883
92004 Nissan Maxima871
102018 Ford F-150766
112010 Ford Fusion743
122005 Nissan Maxima733
132019 Jeep Cherokee667
142015 Chrysler 200664
152016 Ford Focus648
162011 Ford F-150636
172017 Jeep Cherokee611
182016 Jeep Cherokee598
192002 Honda Odyssey593
201995 Ford Windstar586
212019 Ford F-150551
222013 Dodge Dart542
232015 Ford Focus535
242012 Ford F-150524
252003 Honda Odyssey515
262016 Hyundai Tucson507
272013 Nissan Altima490
282010 Ford Escape475
292014 Ford Escape461
302002 Honda Accord460

Start With These Vehicles

2014 Ford Focus2014 Jeep Cherokee2012 Ford Focus2002 Ford Explorer2013 Ford F-1502013 Ford Focus2015 Jeep Cherokee2003 Honda Accord

Other Problem Categories

EngineSteeringBrakesAir Bags & RestraintsElectrical SystemBody & StructureLightingVisibility & WipersFuel SystemSpeed Control & CruiseSuspensionDriver Assist & ADASTires & Wheels

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.

Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026