1997 FORD TAURUS — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-22 760 complaints · 5 recalls
Most-reported system: POWER TRAIN (186 complaints · 24.5%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 64
  • Fires 12
  • Injuries 49
  • Deaths 4
Compare with 1996 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution POWER TRAIN appears in 186 of 760 owner complaints (24.5%) in this vehicle snapshot. POWER TRAIN: 186 complaints, 24.5% of reports POWER TRAIN 186 · 24.5% · 6 crash reports 1 fire reports ENGINE: 133 complaints, 17.5% of reports ENGINE 133 · 17.5% · 4 fire reports SERVICE BRAKES: 57 complaints, 7.5% of reports SERVICE BRAKES 57 · 7.5% · 7 crash reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL: 51 complaints, 6.7% of reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 51 · 6.7% · 16 crash reports 1 fire reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 44 complaints, 5.8% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 44 · 5.8% · 2 crash reports 2 fire reports VISIBILITY: 41 complaints, 5.4% of reports VISIBILITY 41 · 5.4% STEERING: 40 complaints, 5.3% of reports STEERING 40 · 5.3% · 2 crash reports AIR BAGS: 38 complaints, 5.0% of reports AIR BAGS 38 · 5.0% · 22 crash reports FUEL SYSTEM: 29 complaints, 3.8% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 29 · 3.8% · 1 crash reports 2 fire reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 582 complaints, 76.6% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 582 · 76.6% · 47 crash reports 9 fire reports 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
POWER TRAIN 186 24.5% 6 crashes · 1 fires
ENGINE 133 17.5% 0 crashes · 4 fires
SERVICE BRAKES 57 7.5% 7 crashes · 0 fires
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 51 6.7% 16 crashes · 1 fires
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 44 5.8% 2 crashes · 2 fires
VISIBILITY 41 5.4% 0 crashes · 0 fires
STEERING 40 5.3% 2 crashes · 0 fires
AIR BAGS 38 5.0% 22 crashes · 0 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 29 3.8% 1 crashes · 2 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 582 76.6% 47 crashes · 9 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, NHTSA Safety Recalls, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Oct 1996; the first recall shown was reported in Sep 1996. 1996-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 1997-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 1997-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 1997-Q3: 12 owner reports 12 1997-Q4: 9 owner reports 9 1998-Q1: 11 owner reports 11 1998-Q2: 13 owner reports 13 1998-Q3: 20 owner reports 20 1998-Q4: 19 owner reports 19 1999-Q1: 36 owner reports 36 1999-Q2: 22 owner reports 22 1999-Q3: 46 owner reports 46 1999-Q4: 27 owner reports 27 2000-Q1: 35 owner reports 35 2000-Q2: 42 owner reports 42 2000-Q3: 32 owner reports 32 2000-Q4: 28 owner reports 28 2001-Q1: 35 owner reports 35 2001-Q2: 31 owner reports 31 2001-Q3: 27 owner reports 27 2001-Q4: 26 owner reports 26 2002-Q1: 27 owner reports 27 2002-Q2: 15 owner reports 15 2002-Q3: 34 owner reports 34 2002-Q4: 17 owner reports 17 2003-Q1: 18 owner reports 18 2003-Q2: 14 owner reports 14 2003-Q3: 11 owner reports 11 2003-Q4: 9 owner reports 9 2004-Q1: 16 owner reports 16 2004-Q2: 12 owner reports 12 2004-Q3: 11 owner reports 11 2004-Q4: 10 owner reports 10 2005-Q1: 10 owner reports 10 2005-Q2: 5 owner reports 5 2005-Q3: 4 owner reports 4 2005-Q4: 5 owner reports 5 2006-Q1: 9 owner reports 9 2006-Q3: 4 owner reports 4 2006-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2008-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2008-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2008-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2008-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2009-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2009-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2009-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2010-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2010-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2010-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2011-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2011-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2011-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2011-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2012-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2013-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2014-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2014-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2015-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2015-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2016-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2018-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2021-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 Owner reports Sep 1996 Jan 2021 Recall campaign 96V166000 ◆ Recall campaign 96V166000 Recall campaign 97V097000 ◆ Recall campaign 97V097000 Recall campaign 98V028000 ◆ Recall campaign 98V028000 Recall campaign 06E026000 ◆ Recall campaign 06E026000 Recall campaign 09E012000 ◆ Recall campaign 09E012000
  • Campaign 97V097000 was reported 164 days after the first earlier complaint mapped to its component.
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
1996-Q4 Owner reports 2
1997-Q1 Owner reports 4
1997-Q2 Owner reports 4
1997-Q3 Owner reports 12
1997-Q4 Owner reports 9
1998-Q1 Owner reports 11
1998-Q2 Owner reports 13
1998-Q3 Owner reports 20
1998-Q4 Owner reports 19
1999-Q1 Owner reports 36
1999-Q2 Owner reports 22
1999-Q3 Owner reports 46
1999-Q4 Owner reports 27
2000-Q1 Owner reports 35
2000-Q2 Owner reports 42
2000-Q3 Owner reports 32
2000-Q4 Owner reports 28
2001-Q1 Owner reports 35
2001-Q2 Owner reports 31
2001-Q3 Owner reports 27
2001-Q4 Owner reports 26
2002-Q1 Owner reports 27
2002-Q2 Owner reports 15
2002-Q3 Owner reports 34
2002-Q4 Owner reports 17
2003-Q1 Owner reports 18
2003-Q2 Owner reports 14
2003-Q3 Owner reports 11
2003-Q4 Owner reports 9
2004-Q1 Owner reports 16
2004-Q2 Owner reports 12
2004-Q3 Owner reports 11
2004-Q4 Owner reports 10
2005-Q1 Owner reports 10
2005-Q2 Owner reports 5
2005-Q3 Owner reports 4
2005-Q4 Owner reports 5
2006-Q1 Owner reports 9
2006-Q3 Owner reports 4
2006-Q4 Owner reports 1
2007-Q1 Owner reports 1
2007-Q3 Owner reports 1
2007-Q4 Owner reports 2
2008-Q1 Owner reports 3
2008-Q2 Owner reports 3
2008-Q3 Owner reports 2
2008-Q4 Owner reports 1
2009-Q1 Owner reports 2
2009-Q2 Owner reports 3
2009-Q4 Owner reports 3
2010-Q1 Owner reports 4
2010-Q2 Owner reports 2
2010-Q3 Owner reports 1
2010-Q4 Owner reports 1
2011-Q1 Owner reports 2
2011-Q2 Owner reports 1
2011-Q3 Owner reports 2
2011-Q4 Owner reports 1
2012-Q1 Owner reports 1
2012-Q2 Owner reports 2
2012-Q3 Owner reports 1
2013-Q3 Owner reports 1
2014-Q2 Owner reports 1
2014-Q4 Owner reports 1
2015-Q2 Owner reports 1
2015-Q3 Owner reports 1
2016-Q1 Owner reports 1
2018-Q2 Owner reports 1
2021-Q1 Owner reports 1
Recall campaign 1 96V166000
Recall campaign 1 97V097000
Recall campaign 1 98V028000
Recall campaign 1 06E026000
Recall campaign 1 09E012000
NHTSA Safety Recalls Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Safety Recalls (5)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

  1. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 06E026000

    Report date
    Component:
    Not available in the source record
    Consequence:
    WITHOUT THE AMBER REFLECTORS, THE VEHICLE WILL BE POORLY ILLUMINATED, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN A VEHICLE CRASH WITHOUT WARNING.
    Remedy:
    PRO-A MOTORS WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND OFFER TO REPURCHASE THE LAMPS. THE RECALL BEGAN ON APRIL 3, 2006. OWNERS MAY CONTACT PRO-A MOTORS AT 323-838-2988.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  2. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 09E012000

    Report date
    Component:
    Not available in the source record
    Consequence:
    DECREASED LIGHTING VISIBILITY MAY RESULT IN A VEHICLE CRASH.
    Remedy:
    SABERSPORT WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND OFFER A FULL REFUND FOR THE NONCOMPLIANT COMBINATION LAMPS. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON MAY 11, 2009. OWNERS MAY CONTACT SABERSPORT AT 1-909-598-7589.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  3. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 96V166000

    Report date
    Component:
    POWER TRAIN
    Consequence:
    UNINTENDED AND UNEXPECTED VEHICLE MOVEMENT CAN RESULT IN PERSONAL INJURY AND PROPERTY DAMAGE.
    Remedy:
    DEALERS WILL INSPECT AND, IF NECESSARY, REPLACE THE PARK PAWL ABUTMENT BRACKET.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  4. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 97V097000

    Report date
    Component:
    POWER TRAIN
    Consequence:
    THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER TEMPERATURE MAY BE HOT ENOUGH TO IGNITE THE TRANSMISSION FLUID AND CAUSE A VEHICLE FIRE.
    Remedy:
    DEALERS WILL INSPECT THE TRANSMISSION AND REPLACE THESE SERVO COVERS.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  5. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 98V028000

    Report date
    Component:
    EXTERIOR LIGHTING
    Consequence:
    IF THE HEADLAMP ASSEMBLIES ARE REPLACED, CUSTOMERS MAY BE CONFUSED BY THE AIMING INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED IN THE OWNER GUIDES CAUSING THE HEADLAMPS TO BE IMPROPERLY AIMED.
    Remedy:
    OWNER GUIDES CONTAINING REVISED AIMING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE MAILED TO OWNERS OF THESE VEHICLES.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot 2026-08-21
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 760 complaints · page 1 of 31

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot 2026-08-21
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources