The Worst Transmissions, 2005–2025
Documented problem transmission families — DCTs, CVTs, and conventional automatics — ranked by total NHTSA owner complaints across every vehicle that used the unit.
The Ford 6F35 leads with 51,609 NHTSA complaints across 62 model-year entries, against 113 recalls.
| transmission family | manufacturer | type | complaints | recalls | source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford 6F35 | Ford | 6-speed transverse automatic | 51,609 | 113 | view › |
| Chrysler 62TE 6-speed Automatic | Chrysler | 6-speed transverse automatic | 19,770 | 54 | view › |
| ZF 9HP 9-speed Automatic | ZF/Multiple OEMs | 9-speed transverse automatic | 18,527 | 94 | view › |
| Subaru Lineartronic CVT | Subaru | continuously variable transmission | 16,772 | 83 | view › |
| Jatco JF016E/JF017E CVT (Nissan) | Nissan | continuously variable transmission | 16,438 | 73 | view › |
| Ford DPS6 PowerShift | Ford | 6-speed dual-clutch automated manual | 15,607 | 20 | view › |
| GM 6L80/6L90 6-speed Automatic | General Motors | 6-speed longitudinal automatic | 12,876 | 35 | view › |
| Ram 68RFE / Aisin AS69RC | Ram | 6-speed longitudinal automatic (heavy-duty diesel) | 8,616 | 57 | view › |
| Honda 5-speed Automatic (B7XA/BAXA family) | Honda | 5-speed transverse automatic | 7,168 | 31 | view › |
| GM 8L90 8-speed Hydra-Matic | General Motors | 8-speed longitudinal automatic | 4,090 | 26 | view › |
Showing the top 10 of 10 transmission families. The full dataset is free to download and republish with attribution:
Methodology
Families are the editorial set powering /transmissions/. NHTSA does not expose a standalone "transmission" complaint category — transmission complaints bucket under "powertrain" — so this dataset aggregates by curated family (matching year/make/model lists), not a category filter. Complaints are unverified consumer reports.
Source: US NHTSA owner complaints + recalls (public record), MY 2005–2025. License: CC BY 4.0 —
cite as ProblemsByVin (https://problemsbyvin.com). Computed from the database snapshot dated 2026-07-21.
Reporters: we'll pull a custom cut of this — by make, model year, state, or component — and our reliability analyst can speak to methodology on the record. Get in touch ›