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The Street

Samanda Dorger

The Cars Most and Least Likely to Have Safety Recalls

Lexus Tesla Inc. Chevrolet Ford BMW Mazda MercedesBenz Mini NHTSA Nissan

Car manufacturer recalls happen all the time, and they’re usually just annoying.

But while they mostly result in an inconvenience to the owners who have to bring their cars to the dealership for a free fix, these safety defects can be devastating for the people who discover them--that is, anyone who happens to get into an accident in a car with a faulty seat belt or improperly attached seat.

Recalls occur when a car maker or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determines that a vehicle, its equipment, car seat, or tire creates some sort of unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards.

Just in April, Subaru recalled about 4,400 new Ascent SUVs because their tires may have been damaged when mounted to the wheels, potentially causing the tires to blow out during use, according to KBB.com. And BMW recalled 235 of their X5 SUVs because the second-row headrests may be missing a locking tab and might not protect passengers in an accident. Also in April, Chevrolet asked owners of certain medium duty trucks to park outside because flammable brake fluid can seep out onto an electrical component, potentially causing a short circuit and a vehicle fire.

Manufacturers are required to fix the problem by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund, or in rare cases repurchasing the vehicle, according to the NHTSA.

Some of the deadliest defects in history range from the Ford Bronco II of the 1980s with rollover issues, (it would tip onto two wheels at speeds as low as 20 mph) that killed at least 260 people, to Toyotas (TM) with stuck gas pedals, which killed 89 people. Exploding Takata airbags affected some 65–70 million vehicles.

To determine which cars may be least likely to be recalled, iSeeCars.com, a car search and research site, analyzed vehicle safety recall campaigns as of April 7, 2023 from the NHTSA for cars from model years 2014-2023. The number of campaigns for each model was aggregated and projected for an expected 30-year lifespan, taking into account the overall behavior of the automaker and when each recall campaign was issued in the car’s lifetime.

They used the resulting estimates to rank models with the fewest and most expected safety recalls and to compare them with the overall average number of recalls for cars, which is 4 according to the study.

Here are the 25 cars least likely to be recalled, followed by the five models most likely to be recalled.