2012 Ford Taurus — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 100 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Steering16 (16.0%)Official recall records for this system: 7, covering model years 1995–2017.
• Body & structure16 (16.0%)Official recall records for this system: 8, covering model years 1995–2019.
• Electrical system15 (15.0%)Official recall records for this system: 5, covering model years 1995–2018.
• Engine13 (13.0%)Official recall records for this system: 5, covering model years 1995–2016.
• Lights12 (12.0%)Official recall records for this system: 14, covering model years 1996–2014.
• Brakes4 (4.0%)Official recall records for this system: 10, covering model years 1995–2015.

Other / uncategorized: 6 classifications (6.0%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (25,896 records, model years 1995–2019) are most frequently classified under: suspension, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and speed control & accelerator.
• Safety recalls (176 records, model years 1995–2019) are most frequently classified under: lights, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and fuel system.
• Transport Canada recalls (137 records, model years 1995–2019) are most frequently classified under: powertrain (transmission & drivetrain), lights and brakes.
• Manufacturer communications (3,313 records, model years 1995–2019) are most frequently classified under: powertrain (transmission & drivetrain), engine and electrical system.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 51reports included a mileage
• 60,772average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1995 1,366 records for 1995 1,366
2. 1996 1,149 records for 1996 1,149
3. 1997 1,063 records for 1997 1,063
4. 1998 758 records for 1998 758
5. 1999 1,093 records for 1999 1,093
6. 2000 1,404 records for 2000 1,404
7. 2001 1,172 records for 2001 1,172
8. 2002 1,532 records for 2002 1,532
9. 2003 1,297 records for 2003 1,297
10. 2004 435 records for 2004 435
11. 2005 808 records for 2005 808
12. 2006 336 records for 2006 336
13. 2007 159 records for 2007 159
14. 2008 351 records for 2008 351
15. 2009 94 records for 2009 94
16. 2010 249 records for 2010 249
17. 2011 244 records for 2011 244
18. 2012 141 records for 2012 141
19. 2013 695 records for 2013 695
20. 2014 321 records for 2014 321
21. 2015 354 records for 2015 354
22. 2016 198 records for 2016 198
23. 2017 153 records for 2017 153
24. 2018 128 records for 2018 128
25. 2019 72 records for 2019 72

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 1mention a crash
• 3mention a fire

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 5
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 53
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 5
• Owner complaints NHTSA 78

Explore the underlying evidence records