2013 Ford Fusion
This year drew an ordinary 1,949 complaints for a Ford Fusion — the model's median is 2,048. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.1% of them mention fusion driving, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Ford Fusion was redesigned for 2013. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,949 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 2,048 |
| Involving a crash | 65 |
| Involving a fire | 94 |
| Recalls | 19 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- fusion driving — 10.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation (5.8×). Owners wrote it as: fusion driving, indicator illuminated, warning indicator, indicators illuminated.
- cooling — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: cooling, engine engine, engine cooling.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 65 MPH, THE ENGINE WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED AND THE VEHICLE OVERHEATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE COOLANT BYPASS VALVE WOULD NEED TO BE REPLACED. THE VIN WAS NOT INCLUDED I…
THE FRONT AND REAR PASSENGER DOORS WOULD NOT OPEN FROM OUTSIDE OF THE VEHICLE. THERE WERE NO WARNING INDICATORS ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS INCLUDED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBERS: 15V246000 (LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES) AND 17V209000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING). THE D…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V632000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 18V471000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 19V362000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 16V875000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V169000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 17V210000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 17V209000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V597000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 19. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Fusion was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2013 Ford Fusion? What happened to yours?
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