The Weekly Driver has launched a free engine-specific reliability database covering 4,553 engines across 50 brands, built entirely from 1,508,163 federal safety complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It is live now and open to anyone shopping for a used car. No subscription. No manufacturer sponsorship. No paywall.
What separates this tool from existing reliability resources is specificity. Consumer Reports and J.D. Power rate vehicles by model. This rates them by engine. That distinction matters more than most buyers realize.
Take the Ford F-150 from 2009 to 2014. The generation accumulated 26,884 NHTSA complaints. Sounds terrible. But the 5.0L V8 in that same truck? Sixty-six complaints total. Rated “Recommended.” The EcoBoost variants drove the overwhelming majority of problems. Same truck, same showroom, wildly different ownership depending on which engine sat under the hood.
Key Takeaways
- 4,553 engines rated across 50 brands using 1,508,163 NHTSA federal complaint records, free and open to the public
- Engine-specific ratings reveal that the same vehicle can range from “Recommended” to “Avoid” depending on powertrain
- Ford F-150 2009-2014 illustrates the engine lottery: 5.0L V8 earned 66 complaints (Recommended) while EcoBoost variants drove 26,884 total complaints
- Toyota Camry 2007-2011 rated “Avoid” with 8,812 complaints and 153 engine-related fire reports for the 2.4L four-cylinder
- Fire and fatality data surfaced per engine, information otherwise buried across millions of individual NHTSA records
- Ford dominates the five most-complained-about vehicle generations in the database
- Ratings are segment-relative, comparing trucks to trucks and sedans to sedans rather than applying a single threshold to every vehicle
What the Data Reveals
Patterns emerge from 1.5 million complaint records that would take weeks to find manually in NHTSA’s own search tools. Some confirm what enthusiasts already suspected. Others will change how you shop.
Start with the Ford F-150 engine lottery. Buyers who chose the 5.0L Coyote V8 in 2009 through 2014 got a powertrain with 66 total complaints across the entire production run. Buyers who opted for the turbocharged EcoBoost? That generation logged 26,884 filings with federal regulators. No other vehicle shows such a stark divide between engine options in the same generation.
Then there is the Toyota Camry.
Toyota’s reputation for bulletproof sedans hits a wall with the 2007 through 2011 generation. The 2.4L four-cylinder accumulated 8,812 NHTSA complaints, including 153 engine-specific fire reports. Rating: Avoid. That finding alone contradicts what most shoppers assume when they see a Camry on a used car lot.
Ford appears five times in the top five most-complained-about generations. F-150, Focus, Fusion. The engines to avoid list reads like a Ford product catalog, with the 2000 through 2003 F-150 alone logging 759 fire reports across its engine options.
Not every surprise is bad news. The Ram 1500 from 2009 through 2018 earned a “Recommended” rating for its 3.6L V6. Just 79 complaints over a decade of production. Buyers who skipped the Hemi saved money at the pump and got a more dependable powertrain according to federal safety records.
| Category | Vehicle | Engine | Complaints | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most complaints | Ford F-150 2009-2014 | EcoBoost | 26,884 | Avoid |
| Most fires | Ford F-150 2000-2003 | Various | 759 fires | Avoid |
| Surprise avoid | Toyota Camry 2007-2011 | 2.4L 4-cyl | 8,812 (153 fires) | Avoid |
| Engine lottery winner | Ford F-150 2009-2014 | 5.0L V8 | 66 | Recommended |
| Reliable surprise | Ram 1500 2009-2018 | 3.6L V6 | 79 | Recommended |
Why Engine-Specific Ratings Matter
Every major reliability resource rates vehicles at the model level. Consumer Reports assigns a single score to the Toyota Camry. J.D. Power does the same. RepairPal averages repair costs across all configurations.
None of them tell you whether the four-cylinder version of a sedan has a fundamentally different ownership experience than the V6.
Back to the F-150. A buyer researching the 2012 model on Consumer Reports would see one rating. That number blends the 5.0L V8’s near-perfect record with the EcoBoost’s troubled history into a single score. The useful information, the fact that engine choice determines whether you are buying a dependable truck or a problematic one, gets averaged away.
The TWD tool treats each engine as its own entity. A 2012 F-150 with the 5.0L V8 gets a different page, a different complaint count, and a different rating than one with the 3.5L EcoBoost. For used car shoppers, that granularity can mean the difference between 200,000 trouble-free miles and a new turbocharger at 80,000.
How to Use the Database
It works the way people actually shop. Start with a brand or a specific model.
Say you are looking at a Camry. Navigate to the Toyota brand page, which lists all 30 models with their complaint histories and ratings. Click into the Camry and you see every generation broken down by engine option. The 2018 through 2024 model with the 2.5L four-cylinder tells a very different story than the 2007 through 2011 generation.
Each engine page shows the total complaint count, fire reports, fatality records, recall history, and the overall rating. Complaints are benchmarked against other vehicles in the same segment, so a truck with 500 complaints is measured against other trucks rather than against compact sedans with lower sales volumes.
Want to browse instead of search? The most reliable engines and least reliable engines rankings show which manufacturers consistently land at the top and bottom of federal complaint records.
How Ratings Are Calculated
It starts with raw NHTSA complaint data. Every consumer-submitted safety filing on record with the federal government. Each one includes a Vehicle Identification Number that encodes the specific engine and drivetrain configuration.
The system decodes those VINs to identify the exact engine behind each complaint, then groups them by vehicle generation and engine option. The result is per-engine complaint totals rather than the per-model averages you find everywhere else.
Ratings are calculated relative to the vehicle’s segment. A midsize sedan is compared against other midsize sedans. A full-size truck is benchmarked against other full-size trucks. This prevents high-volume vehicles like the F-150 from being unfairly penalized simply because Ford sells more of them than Honda sells CR-Vs.
Four tiers: Recommended, Acceptable, Caution, and Avoid. Fire reports and fatality counts are flagged separately. A malfunctioning infotainment screen and an engine that catches fire are not the same category of risk, and the ratings reflect that.
The Bottom Line
Reliability data exists. The federal government has been collecting it for decades. The problem has always been accessibility. The TWD engine reliability database organizes 1.5 million complaints into a format that answers the question used car buyers actually ask: is this specific engine in this specific vehicle going to give me problems?
The database is free, requires no account, and covers 4,553 engines across 50 brands. Bookmark it before your next used car search.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the TWD engine reliability database?
The TWD engine reliability database is a free online tool that rates 4,553 individual engines across 50 automotive brands using 1,508,163 federal safety complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Unlike other reliability resources that rate vehicles at the model level, this database provides ratings for each specific engine option within a vehicle generation.
How is this different from Consumer Reports or J.D. Power reliability ratings?
Consumer Reports and J.D. Power assign a single reliability score to each vehicle model. The TWD database rates each engine separately within a model. For vehicles like the Ford F-150, where one engine option has 66 complaints and another has thousands, model-level ratings obscure critical differences that affect ownership experience.
Where does the reliability data come from?
All data comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s public complaint database. These are complaints filed by vehicle owners directly with the federal government. The TWD database decodes VINs from those complaints to identify the specific engine in each report, then aggregates the results by vehicle generation and powertrain.
Is the TWD reliability database free to use?
Yes. The database is completely free, requires no account or login, and is accessible to anyone at theweeklydriver.com/reliability/. There are no paywalls or premium tiers.
What do the reliability ratings mean?
Engines receive one of four ratings: Recommended, Acceptable, Caution, or Avoid. Ratings are calculated relative to other vehicles in the same segment, so trucks are compared to trucks and sedans to sedans. Fire reports and fatality counts are flagged separately regardless of the overall rating.
Why is the Toyota Camry 2007-2011 rated Avoid?
The 2007 through 2011 Toyota Camry’s 2.4L four-cylinder engine accumulated 8,812 NHTSA complaints, including 153 engine-specific fire reports. That complaint volume is significantly higher than comparable midsize sedans from the same era, resulting in an Avoid rating despite Toyota’s general reputation for dependability.
What is the Ford F-150 engine lottery?
The term refers to the dramatic reliability gap between engine options in the 2009 through 2014 Ford F-150. The 5.0L V8 has just 66 NHTSA complaints and earns a Recommended rating. The EcoBoost turbocharged engines drove the generation to 26,884 total complaints. Buyers who chose one engine over the other had fundamentally different ownership experiences.
How many vehicles and brands does the database cover?
The database covers 4,553 individual engines across 1,434 vehicle generations from 50 automotive brands. Coverage spans from early 2000s models through current production vehicles, with the most comprehensive data available for vehicles with longer ownership histories.
Does the database include fire and death reports?
Yes. The database flags fire reports and fatality counts for each engine option. This data is included in individual NHTSA complaints but is difficult to aggregate manually. The TWD database surfaces these figures prominently because they represent safety risks beyond typical mechanical complaints.
Can I use this database to compare specific engines before buying a used car?
That is exactly what the database is built for. Search for any model, view the available generations, and compare complaint counts and ratings across engine options. The rankings pages also allow browsing the most and least reliable engines across all brands and segments.
Sources and Data
- TWD Engine Reliability Database
- NHTSA Vehicle Safety Complaints Database
- Most Reliable Engines Rankings
- Least Reliable Engines Rankings
Article Last Updated: April 7, 2026.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Michael Kahn is the publisher of The Weekly Driver, serving as writer, photographer, and content creator. With a keen eye for storytelling and a passion for adventure, he specializes in uncovering the stories and experiences of automobile enthusiasts. Michael’s work is inspired by his love for off-the-beaten-path road trips, global exploration, and the pursuit of exceptional culinary experiences, all captured through the lens of a world traveler and automotive enthusiast.