all vehicles · every Fusion year · method

Ford Fusion 2012

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

1.72 per 1,000

2.7 times this nameplate’s own median · from 421 complaints filed in the first three years, of 2612 ever. 95% lower bound 1.56.

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 1511 complaints

steering	1488	98%
power	1280	84%
power steering	1243	82%
steering assist	390	26%
fault	263	17%
service power	234	15%

Air Bags 436 complaints

recall notification	115	26%
remedy made	45	10%
parts become	42	10%
become experienced	39	9%
able confirm	38	9%
confirm parts	38	9%

Electrical System 177 complaints

steering	81	46%
power steering	73	41%
service power	15	9%
advance	15	9%
steering assist	15	9%
advancetrac	13	8%

When it breaks

14% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 73,092 miles, from 1813 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, 2 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 2095 complaints about this component over roughly 75 months before an investigation opened.

Power Steering Failure

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:

10422775 · 10429080 · 10433090 · 10436921 · 10441519 · 10442219

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.