Used car model years with the worst engine and transmission complaint rates

The model years where owner complaints to NHTSA concentrate most heavily on the engine and transmission, ranked by share, from the cars we track. Refreshed with the data.

The Lane Check · September 14, 2026

This is the list people ask for: which used cars have the worst drivetrain record. It is built from the same public NHTSA owner-complaint data as every page on this site, it covers the 200 models and 1,790 model years we track, and it refreshes when the data does.

One thing before the table. This is a ranking by share, not by count: of all the complaints owners filed about that model year, what fraction were about the engine, the transmission or the fuel and propulsion system. A car with 5,000 complaints spread across everything is a common car. A car with 400 complaints and 340 of them about the powertrain is a car with a problem. How to read these numbers explains the method. Model years with fewer than 100 complaints are left out here, because a small sample can swing wildly.

The 25 highest drivetrain shares

† Share computed with a flooded recall category removed, where a mass safety campaign would otherwise have masked the drivetrain signal. Click any row for the component breakdown, the years either side and what owners reported.

What the list is telling you

A few families dominate it, and they are worth knowing by name if you are shopping in these segments.

Ford Focus and Escape, and the Edge alongside them. The Focus appears with almost every year from 2016 to 2018 above 80%, on the back of a run that starts in 2012 and never gets below 52%. The dual-clutch automatic in those cars is the subject of a class-action settlement, and owners describe it the same way over and over: shudder, hesitation, slipping, then no drive at all. The 2017 to 2019 Escape and the 2018 and 2019 Edge sit next to it with a different complaint, centred on the engine rather than the transmission. Whatever the cause in each case, the effect for a buyer is the same: check these years by VIN before you go any further, and read the owner quotes.

Kia Soul, Sportage, Forte and Optima. The Soul is on this list six times, every year from 2014 to 2022 above 76%. The Sportage from 2012 and 2013 sits with it, and the Forte is above 57% for a decade. Kia and Hyundai engines from this period have been the subject of very large recall and extended-warranty campaigns; the complaint data shows the same thing from the owner's side. These cars are cheap on the used market for a reason, and the reason is on this page.

GMC Yukon, 2021 to 2023. Three consecutive years above 80%, on a truck that is not cheap. The complaints concentrate on the engine, and there is a recall campaign on the V8 in these years. If you are buying a late-model full-size GM SUV, this is the one to check.

Small samples at the top. The 2018 Mazda CX-5 tops the list on 117 complaints. That clears our floor, but it is a thin sample for a car Mazda sold in large numbers, so treat the exact figure with more caution than the Focus or the Soul, whose numbers are built on thousands of reports.

The other end of the table

For contrast, these are the lowest drivetrain shares among model years with at least 300 complaints, which is enough that the low number means something rather than nothing.

A low share is not a promise about the car in front of you. It says that among owners of that model year who were unhappy enough to file, the engine and transmission were not where the unhappiness concentrated. That is the best a base rate can do, and it is a lot more than most buyers walk in with.

How to use this

1. If your car is on the first table, run the VIN through the free report and read the owner quotes. Then read the questions to ask the seller. You may still buy it; some of these cars are very cheap and some individual examples have had the problem fixed. But you should buy it knowing.
2. If it is not, that is good but not the end. The list is a top 25 out of more than a thousand model years. Check the actual year, make and model: browse by model or paste the VIN.
3. Look at the neighbouring years. Almost every entry above has a year on either side that is much better. Sometimes the fix is one model year away and a few hundred dollars more.