all vehicles · every Fusion year · method

Ford Fusion 2011

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

2.38 per 1,000

3.7 times this nameplate’s own median · from 557 complaints filed in the first three years, of 2926 ever. 95% lower bound 2.19.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.16	23
2009	0.20	33
2010	2.79	558
2011	2.38	557
2012	1.72	421
2013	1.04	278
2014	0.65	195
2015	0.46	139
2016	0.89	252
2017	0.80	190
2018	0.22	42
2019	0.31	52
2020	0.28	39

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Steering 1478 complaints

steering	1432	96%
power	1263	85%
power steering	1213	81%
assist	542	36%
steering assist	461	31%
fault	332	22%

Air Bags 364 complaints

recall	315	86%
takata	244	66%
takata recall	228	62%
recall notification	92	25%
parts recall	46	13%
recall recall	41	11%

Engine 288 complaints

throttle	132	46%
wrench	112	39%
body	107	37%
throttle body	106	37%
wrench light	69	24%
restarted	68	24%

When it breaks

11% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 72,000 miles, from 2189 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

5 investigations covering this model year, 3 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 2095 complaints about this component over roughly 75 months before an investigation opened.

Floor mat interference with accelerator

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10369908 · 10375898 · 10382853 · 10392292 · 10392614 · 10395866

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.