2021 Ford Ranger
This year drew an ordinary 222 complaints for a Ford Ranger — the model's median is 125. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.1% of them mention handles, against 0% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Ford Ranger, which began in 2019 and ran to 2023. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
| Complaints filed | 222 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 125 |
| Involving a crash | 12 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- handles — 8.1% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (40.5×). Owners wrote it as: handles, handle, finger, door handle.
- faulty — 8.1% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: faulty, interior door, sharp, sliced open.
- move — 7.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the other years of this generation (3.2×).
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
The wrap material on the front driver side and passenger inside door handles is separating and is very sharp. I noticed it a couple of days ago when I went to get out of the vehicle and I reached to open the door, and it sliced open my finger. I told my passen…
Chrome metal peeling up on 3 door handles. Started peeling around 39K miles. Cut my fingers and my daughter's fingers. Brought it to local dealer who filed a repair request and Ford said I would have to pay for ful door handle assemblies out of pocket. Truck w…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V765000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V982000 FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE Fixed free of charge.
- 21V811000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 23V379000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 25V442000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 25V685000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Ranger 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 2021 Ford Ranger? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…