1991 Ford Tempo problems
Owners have filed 143 complaints with NHTSA about the 1991 Ford Tempo. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 24% of complaints. After that come electrical system (19%) and brakes (15%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 143 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 24% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 12 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 8 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 40,000 miles 11 complaints with mileage
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%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 7 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 0 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 1 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 2 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 11 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 40,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 12 complaints mention a crash; 7 complaints mention a fire; 8 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1991 ranks 4th most-complained-about out of 5 model years of the Ford Tempo with enough data (74 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.
Shoulder belt did not tighten up during rear end collision, leaving driver unrestrained, occupant's chest hit steering wheel; vehicle impacted with a moving truck.
Owner got into vehicle, which was parked at work, started vehicle, pulled out of parking space about 2 ft., noticed flames coming from under the hood, owner put out flames, fire dept arrived but flames was already out
Drove vehicle approximately 30 MPH, then parked in a parking garage. Came back, and vehicle was engulfed in flames.
Traveling at a speed of 60 MPH the car began to slow down rapidly the windshieldwipers began slowing down and the car was losing power a new alternator was installed a week prior when I popped the hood there was a smell of burning wires and the wires coming from the car to the alternator were completely melted, and there was no connection to the alternator.
Dt: the caller took vehicle to a repair shop for brakes, rotors, pads and calipers repairs. The vehicle came back in worse shape than it was before the repairs. The car was much harder to handle, and shook violently. When applying brakes the steering wheel shook violently and steered to the left. When the vehicle was dropped off on june 21, 2005 the gas tank was full, and the trip odometer had just been reset, and mileage was 0.