Ford Transit reliability by year
65 recall campaigns and 765 owner complaints across 11 model years. Best year to buy: 2021. Year to avoid: 2015.
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 4 flagged on the NHTSA record
Cleaner on the data: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024 . 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 11 model years · newest first
Per-year recall counts add up to 150, more than the 65 campaigns above, because a single NHTSA campaign often covers several model years and is counted once in each.
Common trouble spots across the Transit aggregated across 11 model years
Common questions
What's the best year to buy a Ford Transit?
Based on NHTSA complaint volume and severity weighting, the 2021 Ford Transit scores 7.6/10 — the strongest in the 2015–2025 range. 23 complaints on file, 4 active recalls. Reliability scores reflect the federal complaint record, not subjective owner reviews.
Which Ford Transit year should I avoid?
The 2015 Ford Transit scores 2.4/10 — the weakest in the lineup. 192 owner complaints with NHTSA, 26 active recalls. That doesn't mean every 2015 is a problem — it means failure rates run higher than peer model years on the same platform.
Which years of the Ford Transit should I avoid?
On the NHTSA complaint and recall record, the model years to be most careful with are 2023 (high-risk ownership — reliability score 4.2/10 — below the segment average); 2017 (high-risk ownership — reliability score 4.2/10 — below the segment average); 2016 (high-risk ownership — powertrain: 58 complaints, classified severe, failures cluster 86,000–142,612 mi); 2015 (high-risk ownership — reliability score 2.4/10 — below the segment average). The cleaner years on the data are 2024, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018. 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 Transit are tracked?
11 model years (2015 through 2025) with NHTSA records on file. Total across the lineup: 65 distinct recall campaigns and 765 owner complaints. Those campaigns land on 150 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 Transit?
powertrain is the most-reported category — 217 complaints across 10 model years. Average shop repair runs about $2,500.