Ford Taurus

Which Ford Taurus years should you avoid?

Going by 16,914 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Ford Taurus years to avoid are 1993, 2002, 2003, 1995 and 2004.

• 19931,557 complaints, 2.9× a typical Taurus year, most often about the engine.
• 20021,426 complaints, 2.6× a typical Taurus year, most often about the suspension.
• 20031,223 complaints, 2.2× a typical Taurus year, most often about the suspension.
• 19951,205 complaints, 2.2× a typical Taurus year, most often about the transmission.
• 20042.2× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (13 fires, 36 crashes, 2 deaths).

1 more year cleared the same bar; it is marked in the table below.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2017, 2016 and 2014 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →