Peterbilt 388

Owners filed 21 complaints across 16 model years of the Peterbilt 388. The 2014 drew the most (17).

Model years16
Complaints21
Recalls105
Fires0
Deaths0

Which Peterbilt 388 years should you avoid?

Not enough of the record to single a year out. Fewer than 4 Peterbilt 388 model years have at least 25 complaints and are old enough to judge, so any ranking would be noise. The table below has every year as filed.

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 →

Every Peterbilt 388 model year compared

Complaints per year
YearComplaintsRelative volumeRecallsFiresCrashesMost reportedStatus
20190
1———Routine
20180
1———Routine
20170
1———Routine
20160
3———Routine
20153
7——WheelsRoutine
201417
8—7TiresRoutine
20130
9———Routine
20121
10——TiresRoutine
20110
11———Routine
20100
11———Routine
20090
15———Routine
20080
17———Routine
20070
7———Routine
20060
2———Routine
20050
1———Routine
20040
1———Routine

Data: NHTSA complaint and recall files, October 2026. Complaints are unverified owner reports.