1990 Ford Tempo problems
Owners have filed 174 complaints with NHTSA about the 1990 Ford Tempo. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 30% of complaints. After that come seat belts (17%) and brakes (13%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 174 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 31% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 21 and 32
- Injuries and deaths
- 15 and 0
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
What the data shows
Safety-related details: 21 complaints mention a crash; 32 complaints mention a fire; 15 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 95% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1990 ranks 5th most-complained-about out of 5 model years of the Ford Tempo with enough data (44 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Upon impact, during rear end collision while stopped, rear lap belt buckle disengaged, also front passenger lap belt sticks when press release button. Tt
Involved in a frontal and rear impact. After being hit from the front the driver's and passenger's front seatbacks gave out(collapsed) and went back into the upright position and caused driver to hit his face on steering wheel; the passenger's seat remained where it was, pinning the passenger's legs.
Consumer was in a head-on collision and the driver's side air bag didn't deploy, driver was injured . Please describe.
Car has repeatable problem of not starting...have had it towed, due to this, numerous times, spent thousands of dollars trying to get it fixed, etc. Only to discover that it has two ignition defects...potentially... Since the car was not new when I bought it 3 years ago, I have no recourse but to bear the cost of repairs myself. I am outraged that ford got away with not recalling these vehicles!!!