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Ford Ranger

Every model year 2019–2026: recalls, owner complaints, NHTSA crash ratings and EPA efficiency side by side, each value traced to the file it came from.

8 Model years 2019–2026

67 Recalls NHTSA campaigns, all years

721 Complaints owner reports, all years

F Newest grade 2026 Safety Signal

2020 Best on record cleanest filed year

The 2026 Ranger →Which years to avoid Compare it

Ford Ranger — photograph via Wikimedia Commons — Ford Ranger · Photo: Alexander-93 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Active NHTSA advisory on 1 model year of the Ranger — park outside or do not drive. The year rows below carry it.

Every Ford Ranger model year

Source: NHTSA · EPA · one row per year

Year	Powertrains	Safety	Recalls	Complaints	Crash	Best efficiency
2026	Gas	F	8	8	★★★★☆	23 mpg
2025	Gas	F	13	44	★★★★☆	23 mpg
2024	Gas	F	13	95	★★★★☆	22 mpg
2023	Gas	D	4	18	★★★★☆	23 mpg
2022	Gas	D	5	38	★★★★☆	23 mpg
2021	Gas	D	6	118	★★★★☆	23 mpg
2020	Gas	D	7	130	★★★★☆	23 mpg
2019	Gas	F	11	270	★★★★☆	23 mpg

Which model year the record favours

Source: recalls and complaints per year on the road

Years to avoid, with the reasons →Best on the record 2020

On the filed record so far, the 2020 is the cleanest Ranger year we hold, and the 2023 the one to check hardest. The 2023 carries a standing park-outside or do-not-drive advisory, which outranks every other number on this page.

Both figures are divided by the number of years the car has been on sale, because otherwise the oldest year on the page loses every time simply for having been around longer. The current model year and any year under three on the road are left out: their records are not finished.

Year	Safety Signal	Recalls /yr	Complaints /yr
2020	D	1.2	22	1 critical
2021	D	1.2	24	1 critical
2022	D	1.2	10	1 critical
2019	F	1.6	39	3 critical
2023	D	1.3	6	Advisory

What owners filed about the Ford Ranger, by system

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls, investigations and manufacturer communicationsEvery system, every year →

The systems the federal record is deep on for this nameplate: the complaints per model year, the mileage owners reported them at, and every recall, investigation and manufacturer bulletin filed under the heading — each one linked, none a failure rate.

transmission and drivetrain problems 283 complaints, every model year

What changed year to year

Source: computed from the filed record

2025: best combined mpg 22 → 23
2024: best combined mpg 23 → 22; 5 → 4 EPA configurations
2022: 4 → 5 EPA configurations
2021: 3 → 4 EPA configurations

Compare

All Ranger head-to-heads →Which is better for you? →

Head-to-head	Verdict
2026 Ranger vs Toyota Tundra · Large Pickup truck	Toss-up
2026 Ranger vs GMC Sierra · Large Pickup truck	Sierra +9.1
2026 Ranger vs Chevrolet Silverado · Large Pickup truck	Toss-up
2026 Ranger vs Ram 1500 · Large Pickup truck	Ranger +22.3
2026 Ranger vs Chevrolet Colorado · Large Pickup truck	Ranger +3.9

Common questions about the Ford Ranger

Source: EPA, NHTSA and manufacturer press kits

Which Ford Ranger year is the best used buy?

On the recall record, the 2020 Ranger comes out top of the years before the current one: Safety Signal grade D (61/100), 7 recalls and 130 owner complaints on file. That ranks paperwork, not condition — a specific car's history and service record still decide it.

What Ford Ranger years should I avoid?

2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 have the weakest recall records in this range — one carries an active park-outside or do-not-drive advisory. The year pages list every campaign, its severity and whether a repair exists yet. Every Ranger model year ranked, with the reasons.

How many recalls does the Ford Ranger have?

Across model years 2019–2026, NHTSA has posted 67 recall campaigns for the Ford Ranger. They are counted per model year in the table above, because a campaign almost never covers the whole run — it covers a build range.