YearTell editorial · 2026-09-07
Ford Fusion Complaints and Recalls by Year
In plain English
People filed 23,764 problem reports on the Ford Fusion across 15 years (2006–2020). Owners named Steering more often than any other system.
2010 has the most reports (5,621). That is often age, not a ranking. Open the year you are buying.
Steering. Check for play in the wheel, noises on lock and whether it tracks straight. Then read that year-page for recalls and owner text.
Open the year you are shopping. Note the system owners named most, then read that year-page for recalls and owner filings.
NHTSA complaint counts are self-selected reports. They are not normalised for sales volume and they are not a reliability score. YearTell does not publish stars, “best year” lists or advice to avoid a vehicle.
This guide reports NHTSA owner-complaint and recall counts for the Ford Fusion from the 2026-09-07 snapshot. 23,764 owner reports are on file across 15 published model years (2006–2020). 2010 has the highest complaint count (5,621).
Older model years have had longer to accumulate reports, so a high lifetime total is not evidence that a year is worse to own. YearTell does not adjust these figures for how many vehicles were sold.
Where a system dominates the file, it is named below as a count, not as a diagnosis. Open the year-page for the component table, the recall list and a short set of owner narratives.
Years that appear most often in NHTSA complaints
| Model year | Owner complaints | Recall campaigns | System named most often |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 Ford Fusion | 722 | 5 | Airbags (AIR BAGS) |
| 2007 Ford Fusion | 1,050 | 5 | Airbags (AIR BAGS) |
| 2008 Ford Fusion | 1,349 | 6 | Airbags (AIR BAGS) |
| 2009 Ford Fusion | 1,017 | 7 | Brakes (SERVICE BRAKES) |
| 2010 Ford Fusion | 5,621 | 13 | Steering (STEERING) |
| 2011 Ford Fusion | 2,911 | 9 | Steering (STEERING) |
| 2012 Ford Fusion | 2,606 | 6 | Steering (STEERING) |
| 2013 Ford Fusion | 1,949 | 20 | Steering (STEERING) |
| 2014 Ford Fusion | 1,421 | 20 | Steering (STEERING) |
| 2015 Ford Fusion | 1,054 | 14 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2016 Ford Fusion | 1,684 | 13 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2017 Ford Fusion | 1,188 | 4 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2018 Ford Fusion | 498 | 2 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2019 Ford Fusion | 466 | 4 | Engine (ENGINE) |
| 2020 Ford Fusion | 228 | 3 | Electrical (ELECTRICAL SYSTEM) |
Recall campaigns are manufacturer safety actions filed with NHTSA. A year can have many complaints and few recalls, or the reverse. The two series answer different questions.
If you are comparing two adjacent years, use the equal-exposure comparison when one exists. That window holds age constant so the later year is not punished for having had less time on the road.
A practical read: open the year you are shopping, note the system named most often, read every recall campaign, then skim the owner filings for that system. Take that list to a mechanic. Do not turn the complaint total into a score.
Model-year records cited
- 2010 Ford Fusion
- 2011 Ford Fusion
- 2012 Ford Fusion
- 2013 Ford Fusion
- 2016 Ford Fusion
- 2014 Ford Fusion
- 2008 Ford Fusion
- 2017 Ford Fusion
- Ford Fusion
How YearTell builds these numbers
Counts are not a reliability score.
Frequently asked questions
Which Ford Fusion year has the most NHTSA complaints in this snapshot?
2010 has the highest owner-report count (5,621). That is a count, not advice to avoid the year.
Are these figures a reliability rating?
No. YearTell does not publish reliability scores. Read the methodology for what complaint counts cannot tell you.
Where does the data come from?
NHTSA owner complaints and safety recall campaigns, snapshot 2026-09-07. Each cited year-page links to the federal records.