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DriveClue

Lemon Score

One number for how much trouble owners have reported with a model year — from 0 to 100, higher is better. Built from public U.S. government safety data, free for every car.

Check any car's Lemon Score

What the score means

80–100Low lemon risk
60–79Some concerns
40–59Elevated lemon risk
0–39High lemon risk

A low score doesn't mean every car from that year is bad, and a high score doesn't guarantee a good one. It tells you how a model year compares on the problems owners and regulators have reported — so you know what to check, ask about and budget for. Always get a pre-purchase inspection.

How it's calculated

Every score combines four parts, each on the same 0–100 scale:

  • Complaints vs. other years of this model — 35%
  • Complaints vs. cars of the same age — 25%
  • Safety recalls — 20%
  • NHTSA crash-test rating — 20%

Why compare a model with itself? Best-selling cars collect more complaints simply because there are more of them. Comparing a model year with other years of the same nameplate — roughly the same number of cars on the road — shows whether that year really stands out.

Cars of the same age. Complaints keep arriving for years, so we compare complaints per year on the road against every other model year. Complaints that report a crash, fire or injury count extra.

Recalls are compared with cars built within two years either side. Recalls that tell owners to park the car, or that affect air bags, fuel systems, brakes or steering, count double.

Crash tests use NHTSA's overall 5-star rating. If a model year wasn't tested, the other parts are weighted up to fill the gap.

Model years less than two years old are marked provisional — they haven't been on the road long enough for complaints to build up. Scores are recalculated every night as new complaints and recalls are published.

Where the data comes from

Owner complaints, recalls and 5-star ratings come from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Complaints are reports filed by owners and aren't independently verified. NHTSA data covers vehicles sold in the U.S.; most models sold in Canada are the same, but check Transport Canada's recall database for Canadian-market recalls.

Use it before you buy

  • Compare every year of a model on its research page — for example the Honda Civic.
  • Put two cars head to head with the comparison tool.
  • Check a specific car's VIN for open recalls with the VIN decoder.