Reliable Auto DB

2015 Ford Fiesta reliability

Is it reliable?

NHTSA's file on the 2015 Ford Fiesta holds 258 complaints after 12 years, a rate of 18 per year. That is more complaints per year than most Fiesta years here — over the median of the other years, which is 9. NHTSA has 4 recalls on file, including Latch, Engine, and Fuel pump.

2011 Ford Fiesta SES hatchback
Photo by IFCAR, resized from the original. Wikimedia Commons Public domain
Complaints

258

Per year

18

Recalls

4

Years on the road

12

What owners report

The complaints owners file most often name Powertrain (104 of 258), then Engine (69) and Fuel and propulsion system (41). Complaints that include an odometer have a median of 49,210 miles, and the middle half falls between 20,000 and 80,000 miles. Those filings include 16 that report a crash and 8 that report an injury.

Next to 2014 and 2016

The 2014 Fiesta has 502 complaints, 63 per year, and the 2016 has 178 complaints, 9 per year. The 2015 has fewer complaints per year than the 2014. The 2015 has more complaints per year than the 2016.

The complaint rate is complaints filed in this year’s first 3 years on the road, divided by however many of those years have passed. Recalls are a separate count. The numbers are for the US-market 2015 Ford Fiesta. How we count. Data as of .

Recalls (4)

Recall latches, locks, and linkages, doors, latch 2023-11-17 · NHTSA campaign 23V775000
Summary Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2015 Fiesta, 2016 Fusion, and 2016 Lincoln MKZ vehicles sold, or ever registered in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A component inside the door latches may break, which can make it difficult to latch or possibly allow the doors to open while driving.
Remedy Dealers will inspect the door latch date codes and if necessary, replace all four side door latches, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed December 20, 2023. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 20S15. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall number 20V-177.
Vehicles affected 45,173
Recall latches, locks, and linkages, doors, latch 2020-03-23 · NHTSA campaign 20V177000
Summary Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2014-2015 Fiesta, 2014-2016 Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles sold, or ever registered in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A component within the door latches may break making the doors difficult to latch and/or leading the driver or a passenger to believe a door is securely closed when, in fact, it is not.
Remedy Ford will notify owners, and Ford or Lincoln dealers will replace the side door latches, free of charge. The recall began September 21, 2020. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 20S15.
Vehicles affected 288,110
Recall Engine 2017-03-27 · NHTSA campaign 17V209000
Summary Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2014 Escape, 2014-2015 Fiesta ST, 2013-2014 Fusion and 2013-2015 Transit Connect vehicles equipped with 1.6L GTDI engines. If the vehicle is started and driven with an insufficient level of coolant within the engine cooling system, the engine cylinder head may overheat, crack and leak oil.
Remedy Ford will notify owners, and dealers will install a coolant level sensor and the supporting hardware and software, free of charge. Interim notices informing owners of the safety risk were mailed April 21, 2017. The recall began on January 5, 2018. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 17S09.
Vehicles affected 208,584
Recall Fuel pump 2015-01-09 · NHTSA campaign 15V005000
Summary Ford Motor Company (Ford) notified the agency on January 8, 2015, that they are recalling certain model year 2014 Ford Escape vehicles manufactured April 15, 2014, to May 8, 2014, and 2015 Lincoln MKC vehicles manufactured April 21, 2014, to May 15, 2014. On April 30, 2015, Ford expanded the recall to cover an additional 45,505 vehicles, including certain model year 2014-2015 Ford Transit Connect vehicles manufactured November 11, 2013, to August 29, 2014, 2014-2015 Ford Fiesta vehicles manufactured April 10, 2014, to June 17, 2014 and 2014 Ford Edge vehicles manufactured April 30, 2014, to May 21, 2014. Improper nickel plating of components within the fuel pump may result in the fuel pump failing.
Remedy Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump, free of charge. The recall began on February 27, 2015. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 14S30.
Vehicles affected 54,543

NHTSA's count is every vehicle in that campaign. A campaign can cover other model years and other models.

Complaints by component (258 total)

Powertrain
104
Engine
69
Fuel and propulsion system
41
Electrical system
19
Air bags
14
Speed control
13
Structure
12
Service brakes
9
Steering
8
Latches, locks, and linkages
6
Suspension
6
Engine and engine cooling
5
Fuel system, gasoline
5
Visibility
5
Wheels
5
Visibility and wipers
3
Seat belts
2
Electronic stability control (ESC)
1
Exterior lighting
1
Forward collision avoidance
1
Interior lighting
1
Tires
1
Show 14 more Show less
Crash-flagged

16

Fire-flagged

0

Injury reports

8

Death reports

0

Of the 178 complaints that include an odometer reading, the median is 49,210 miles. The middle half fall between 20,000 and 80,000 miles.

Complaints filed per year

9201522201624201729201839201927202018202124202226202315202418202572026
Excerpts from recent NHTSA complaint filings
  • "Car sputters everytime I put gas in it. Sometimes shuts off. It’s every time I put gas. I’m not filling up the gas tank because I notice if I do fill it up. It gives me more problems .. occurring problem"
    Fuel and propulsion system · filed 2026-07-15
  • "The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to the dealer for recall repairs; however the issue persisted. After the repairs, while mother was driving on the highway, the vehicle stalled. The clutch became inoperable.…"
    Powertrain · filed 2026-05-28
  • "I have taken the vehicle to 2 auto places both have confirmed it has engine failure. It only has 140,000 miles"
    Engine · filed 2026-04-30
  • "I was driving for couple hours then my oil light came on check engine light came on. Vehicle started to shake very badly. I had to pull over and see what happened. I started the vehicle up again and the oil light and…"
    Steering, Powertrain, Engine · filed 2026-04-27
  • "I was driving on the highway, and my car started shaking. All of the sudden I couldn't push on the gas anymore, and out of the blue a notification popped up on my screen that said "transmission failure, service…"
    Suspension, Electrical system, Unknown or other · filed 2026-04-27

NHTSA crash ratings

Version Overall Front Side Rollover
2015 Ford Fiesta 4 DR FWD 4 stars 4 stars 2 stars 4 stars
2015 Ford Fiesta 5 HB FWD 4 stars 4 stars 2 stars 4 stars

Stars are how this vehicle did in NHTSA crash tests. They are a safety result, separate from the complaint record. Not rated means that test was not run for this version.

Fuel economy

Trim Engine Transmission Drive City Hwy Combined Annual fuel cost
Fiesta front-wheel drive 1.6L, 4-cyl Automatic (6-speed) Front-wheel drive 27 36 30 MPG $2150
Fiesta front-wheel drive 1.6L, 4-cyl Manual 5-speed Front-wheel drive 27 35 30 MPG $2150
Fiesta SFE front-wheel drive 1L, 3-cyl Manual 5-speed Front-wheel drive 31 41 35 MPG $1850
Fiesta ST front-wheel drive 1.6L, 4-cyl Manual 6-speed Front-wheel drive 26 34 29 MPG $2250

Specs and fitment

6th generation, 2011–2019
Body styles Sedan, Hatchback
Oil 5W-20 (1.6L, all trims incl. ST) , 4.2 qt capacity
Tire size 185/60R15 to 195/50R16

Known issues for this generation

U.S. 2011-2016 Fiesta models built with the optional PowerShift dual-clutch automatic transmission (DPS6) developed a well-documented pattern of rough shifting and repeat repairs to the clutch and clutch seals. NHTSA found no evidence that the transmission is a safety risk and did not order a recall. Ford settled a nationwide class action, Vargas v. Ford Motor Co., covering 2011-2016 Fiesta and 2012-2016 Focus PowerShift owners, with final court approval in March 2020; in August 2019 Ford separately extended the clutch warranty to seven years or 100,000 miles on roughly 560,000 of these cars. Only PowerShift-equipped cars are covered by the settlement.

Compare

Previous year 2014 Ford Fiesta Next year 2016 Ford Fiesta See every Ford Fiesta model year →

Frequently asked questions

Is the 2015 Ford Fiesta reliable?

NHTSA's file on the 2015 Ford Fiesta holds 258 complaints after 12 years, a rate of 18 per year. That is more complaints per year than most Fiesta years here — over the median of the other years, which is 9. NHTSA has 4 recalls on file, including Latch, Engine, and Fuel pump.

What are common problems with a 2015 Ford Fiesta?

The complaints owners file most often name Powertrain (104 of 258), then Engine (69) and Fuel and propulsion system (41). Complaints that include an odometer have a median of 49,210 miles, and the middle half falls between 20,000 and 80,000 miles. Those filings include 16 that report a crash and 8 that report an injury.

Is the 2015 Ford Fiesta more reliable than the years next to it?

The 2014 Fiesta has 502 complaints, 63 per year, and the 2016 has 178 complaints, 9 per year. The 2015 has fewer complaints per year than the 2014. The 2015 has more complaints per year than the 2016.

Has the 2015 Ford Fiesta been recalled?

The 2015 Ford Fiesta has 4 recalls on file with NHTSA. See the recalls table on this page for dates, components, and remedies.

How many complaints have owners filed about the 2015 Ford Fiesta?

Owners have filed 258 complaints about the 2015 Ford Fiesta with NHTSA.

What mpg does a 2015 Ford Fiesta get?

EPA-rated combined fuel economy for the 2015 Ford Fiesta is 31 MPG. See the fuel economy table on this page for city and highway figures by engine and transmission.

What generation is the 2016 Ford Fiesta?

6th generation (2011-2019), the only Fiesta generation sold in the US.

Does the Ford Fiesta have PowerShift transmission problems?

2011-2016 Fiestas with the optional DPS6 dual-clutch automatic were covered by a 2020 class-action settlement and a 2019 clutch warranty extension; NHTSA did not order a recall.