Ford Taurus reliability by year
22 recall campaigns and 3,256 owner complaints across 15 model years. Best year to buy: 2009. Year to avoid: 2013.
Worst model years to avoid → — the single year to avoid for every model line we track, ranked side by side.
Years to avoid — and why 3 flagged on the NHTSA record
Cleaner on the data: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and others. Still verify the specific vehicle.
At-a-glance: every year color-coded
Each cell shows the last two digits of the model year and its 0–10 reliability score from NHTSA data. Click any year to see the full record. ★ best year · ✕ year to avoid.
Year-by-year reliability 15 model years · newest first
Per-year recall counts add up to 52, more than the 22 campaigns above, because a single NHTSA campaign often covers several model years and is counted once in each.
Common trouble spots across the Taurus aggregated across 15 model years
Common questions
What's the best year to buy a Ford Taurus?
Based on NHTSA complaint volume and severity weighting, the 2009 Ford Taurus scores 8.0/10 — the strongest in the 2005–2019 range. 64 complaints on file, 0 active recalls. Reliability scores reflect the federal complaint record, not subjective owner reviews.
Which Ford Taurus year should I avoid?
The 2013 Ford Taurus scores 5.2/10 — the weakest in the lineup. 591 owner complaints with NHTSA, 9 active recalls. That doesn't mean every 2013 is a problem — it means failure rates run higher than peer model years on the same platform.
Which years of the Ford Taurus should I avoid?
On the NHTSA complaint and recall record, the model years to be most careful with are 2005 (avoid — the cruise-control — 1 fatality report and 1 fire-related complaint on the cruise-control); 2013 (high-risk ownership — steering: 296 complaints, classified severe, failures cluster 70,250–125,000 mi); 2010 (high-risk ownership — steering: 41 complaints, classified severe, failures cluster 76,500–110,000 mi). The cleaner years on the data are 2019, 2009, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015. This is our read of the federal data, not a substitute for a pre-purchase inspection of the specific vehicle.
How many years of the Ford Taurus are tracked?
15 model years (2005 through 2019) with NHTSA records on file. Total across the lineup: 22 distinct recall campaigns and 3,256 owner complaints. Those campaigns land on 52 model-year entries in total, because one campaign often covers several years at once — which is why per-year recall counts add up to more than the campaign count.
What's the most-reported problem on the Ford Taurus?
cruise control is the most-reported category — 740 complaints across 10 model years. Average shop repair runs about $600.