Vehicle report
1988 FORD FESTIVA
This model year
What the record shows
The 1988 Ford Festiva is a subcompact car, and the 5th model year of a nameplate NHTSA records from 1984 to 1994.
The EPA rated two configurations: a single 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine, front-wheel drive only, two transmissions and running on regular gasoline.
Combined fuel economy ranges from 34 to 35 mpg depending on which one you have.
The federal record holds 44 owner complaints and 19 service bulletins for it.
Counts are reports, not rates. A complaint is something an owner chose to file; it is unverified and unadjusted for how many of these cars were sold, so the useful comparison is against other model years of the same car. Recalls and investigations carry more weight because a manufacturer or regulator acted on them.
Reading this report
Complaint counts are reports filed with NHTSA, not failure rates. A common model collects more of them than a rare one that breaks more often.