YearsTellEspaƱol

2021 Ford Ranger

For every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2021 Ranger as about the typical Ranger year. Among the 3 Ranger years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about the 2020 (0.32 per 1,000 sold) and the most about the 2019 (0.73).

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

0.40 per 1,000

1.0 times this nameplate’s own median

Counted from 39 complaints filed in the first three years, of 119 ever. 95% lower bound 0.27.

Every Ranger model yearComplaints per 1,000 sold, first three years
This yearOther yearsToo few complaints to rankTypical year, 0.40

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters. The bar is how many complaints each rate rests on.

Model yearPer 1,000Complaints
20190.7365
20200.3231
20210.4039
20220.2821

Issues owners of the 2021 Ranger report

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

Power Train 60 complaints

truck2440%
shifts1017%

When it breaks

46% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 35,600 miles, from 26 complaints that recorded one).

No clear early or late pattern.

What NHTSA did

No NHTSA investigation covers this model year.

That is not a clean bill of health, and not a criticism of the agency: investigations open for many reasons and complaint volume is only one of them.

Questions buyers ask about the 2021 Ford Ranger

Is 2021 a good year or a bad year for the Ranger?

For every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2021 Ranger as about the typical Ranger year. Among the 3 Ranger years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about the 2020 (0.32 per 1,000 sold) and the most about the 2019 (0.73). The typical year is the median across its model years.

What problems does the 2021 Ranger have?

The parts owners named most often in complaints filed to date: Power Train (60), Service Brakes (15), Engine (13). The phrases they used are listed above.

Is the 2021 Ranger reliable?

Complaint records cannot settle that on their own. They count safety problems owners chose to report to the federal government, not every repair. What they do show is how this year compares with the other Ranger years: for every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2021 Ranger as about the typical Ranger year.

Which Ranger year has the fewest complaints?

Among years with enough complaints to compare, the 2020, at 0.32 per 1,000 sold. Every Ranger year, ranked.

What the used-car guides say

No guide we read covers the Ranger.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page, each on NHTSA’s own site:

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 taken year by year from published US sales figures, each one quoted from a named source.