Which Automaker Is Sued Most in Federal Court Over Vehicle Defect Injuries
Original analysis of 3,606 records from the Federal Judicial Center, FY2016–FY2025 (federal fiscal years, Oct. 1, 2015 – Sept. 30, 2025). Published October 22, 2026.
We counted every new federal district court case filed under the motor vehicle product liability code from October 2015 to September 2025 and grouped the first-named defendant by automaker.
What the federal court data show
General Motors was the first-named defendant in 857 of the 3,143 new motor vehicle product liability cases filed in U.S. district courts from FY2016 to FY2025 (27%), more than Stellantis (368) and Ford (342) combined. In FY2025 alone, Stellantis (FCA US) led with 128 cases, but 96 of them had been removed from California state courts. GM's total includes a large cluster of cases in a single multidistrict litigation, filed mostly in FY2018 and FY2019. The ranking does not account for how many vehicles each company sells.
- 857Cases naming GM first, FY2016–FY2025
- 27%GM share of federal vehicle product cases, FY2016–25
- 128Stellantis cases in FY2025, most removed in California
GM leads the ten-year ranking
General Motors was the first-named defendant in 857 new federal motor vehicle product liability cases from FY2016 to FY2025, 2.5× as many as Ford (342). Stellantis, the parent of FCA US and Chrysler, ranked second with 368.
Three companies account for most automaker cases
GM, Stellantis and Ford together were named first in 69% of the 2,259 new cases with an automaker as first-named defendant. Hyundai Motor Group, including Kia, ranked fourth with 152, ahead of Toyota with 133.
GM's lead holds without California removals
Leaving out cases removed from California state courts and cases coded as direct filings into multidistrict litigation, GM still has 597 cases, against 248 for Stellantis and 226 for Ford.
Stellantis led FY2025 on California removals
Stellantis was named first in 128 of 341 new cases in FY2025 (38%), up from 8 the year before. Of these, 96 (75%) were removed from California state courts; outside those, Stellantis had 32 cases and GM 31.
Yearly counts swing with case clusters
New cases peaked at 566 in FY2018, when cases in a single GM multidistrict litigation and Ford cases removed in California added up. The lowest count was 203 in FY2021.
Which Automaker Is Sued Most Often for Vehicle Defect Injuries
Across ten federal fiscal years, General Motors was the first-named defendant in 857 new motor vehicle product liability cases, 38% of all cases with an automaker named first.
General Motors (857 cases), Stellantis (368) and Ford (342) lead the FY2016–FY2025 ranking.
The ranking counts new cases filed under nature of suit code 355, which the federal courts define as an action alleging personal injury or wrongful death involving a motor vehicle and caused by a defective product. Each case is assigned to the company listed first among the defendants. Subsidiaries, sales companies and brands were combined into their corporate group: Kia is counted with Hyundai Motor Group, and FCA US, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Maserati with Stellantis.
Of the 3,143 new cases, 2,259 (72%) name an automaker first. The other 884 name another party first, for example a parts supplier, tire maker, dealer, rental company, truck or motorcycle maker, the U.S. government or an individual. In 41 cases the airbag maker Takata is listed first, so the automaker in those cases does not appear in the ranking.
The counts are not adjusted for sales or the number of vehicles on the road, so larger companies would be expected to appear more often.
New federal motor vehicle product liability cases by first-named automaker, FY2016–FY2025
- General Motors85727.27% of all new cases · 46 in FY2025
- Stellantis (FCA US, Chrysler)36811.71% of all new cases · 128 in FY2025
- Ford Motor Company34210.88% of all new cases · 17 in FY2025
- Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai, Kia)1524.84% of all new cases · 9 in FY2025
- Toyota1334.23% of all new cases · 12 in FY2025
- Nissan872.77% of all new cases · 5 in FY2025
- Honda772.45% of all new cases · 7 in FY2025
- Volkswagen Group652.07% of all new cases · 5 in FY2025
- Mercedes-Benz Group411.30% of all new cases · 7 in FY2025
- BMW Group321.02% of all new cases · 3 in FY2025
All automaker groups
- Tesla260.83% of all new cases · 6 in FY2025
- Subaru190.60% of all new cases · 2 in FY2025
- Jaguar Land Rover150.48% of all new cases · 1 in FY2025
- Suzuki110.35% of all new cases · 1 in FY2025
- Mazda90.29% of all new cases · 1 in FY2025
- Ferrari50.16% of all new cases · 0 in FY2025
- Lucid50.16% of all new cases · 3 in FY2025
- Mitsubishi Motors50.16% of all new cases · 1 in FY2025
- Volvo Cars40.13% of all new cases · 1 in FY2025
- Isuzu30.10% of all new cases · 0 in FY2025
- McLaren20.06% of all new cases · 0 in FY2025
- Aston Martin10.03% of all new cases · 0 in FY2025
Fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30; FY2016 began October 1, 2015.
How the Ranking Changed From Year to Year
GM had the most new cases in 7 of the ten fiscal years. Ford led in FY2021, Hyundai Motor Group in FY2022 and Stellantis in FY2025.
GM led in 7 of ten fiscal years; Stellantis led only in FY2025.
Annual counts for each company are small and move in jumps. GM had 299 new cases in FY2018 and 134 in FY2019, largely cases in a single GM multidistrict litigation, most of them recorded as original filings in the court handling it; only 129 GM cases over the ten years carry the code for direct filings into multidistrict litigation. Ford had 98 cases in FY2018, of which 72 were removed from California state courts.
Stellantis had 8 new cases in FY2024 and 128 in FY2025. A single year therefore says little about a company's long-term position.
New federal motor vehicle product liability cases by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | GM | Stellantis | Ford |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 46 | 128 | 17 |
| 2024 | 91 | 8 | 23 |
| 2023 | 45 | 23 | 23 |
| 2022 | 15 | 15 | 21 |
| 2021 | 26 | 15 | 33 |
| 2020 | 35 | 34 | 30 |
| 2019 | 134 | 41 | 35 |
| 2018 | 299 | 34 | 98 |
| 2017 | 77 | 40 | 30 |
| 2016 | 89 | 30 | 32 |
Why Cases Removed From California Shape the Ranking
In FY2025, 125 of the 341 new cases had been filed in California state courts and moved to federal court by the defendant.
Batches of cases removed from California state courts drove GM's FY2024 count and Stellantis' FY2025 count.
A defendant can move (remove) a case filed in state court to federal court. In the federal data, such cases appear under the nature of suit code chosen on the civil cover sheet. Removals from the four California districts came in waves tied to one company at a time: Ford in FY2018 (72 cases), GM in FY2024 (72 of its 91 cases) and Stellantis in FY2025 (96 of 128).
The federal data do not show the claims in these cases. They are counted here because they carry the motor vehicle product liability code, like every other case in the ranking.
New cases removed from California state courts, by fiscal year
- 201613of 342 new cases
- 201725of 340 new cases
- 201895of 566 new cases
- 201926of 373 new cases
- 202024of 261 new cases
- 202124of 203 new cases
- 202212of 206 new cases
- 202339of 247 new cases
- 202497of 264 new cases
- 2025125of 341 new cases
How Many Vehicle Defect Injury Lawsuits Reach Federal Court
Federal district courts recorded 359 motor vehicle product liability cases in FY2025, against 277 in FY2024.
Our count of 359 FY2025 cases differs from the judiciary's published figure by 0.28%.
The judiciary's own statistics count every case commenced, including cases transferred between districts and reopened cases. On that basis our FY2025 count of 359 is 0.28% below Table C-2 of the Judicial Business report, and our FY2024 count of 277 matches it exactly.
For the ranking we keep only new cases (original filings, removals from state court and direct filings into multidistrict litigation), so that a case moved from one court to another is counted once. That leaves 341 new cases in FY2025.
Federal motor vehicle product liability filings by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | All records | New cases | Automaker first |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 359 | 341 | 255 |
| 2024 | 277 | 264 | 187 |
| 2023 | 305 | 247 | 169 |
| 2022 | 224 | 206 | 116 |
| 2021 | 225 | 203 | 131 |
| 2020 | 282 | 261 | 171 |
| 2019 | 407 | 373 | 281 |
| 2018 | 719 | 566 | 486 |
| 2017 | 395 | 340 | 222 |
| 2016 | 413 | 342 | 241 |
Download the Data and Cite This Study
Every table as a CSV file and in one Excel workbook, a short PDF summary and every chart as an image, free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
- Defendant name variants mapped to each automaker groupEvery first-named defendant string in the FJC data (truncated to 30 characters by the source) that was assigned to an automaker group, with its number of NOS 355 records FY2016-FY2025. · 239 rows · CSV, 11 KB
- New motor vehicle product liability cases against GM, Stellantis and Ford by fiscal yearNew federal NOS 355 cases per federal fiscal year with General Motors, Stellantis (FCA US) or Ford as first-named defendant, all other automakers, cases without an automaker named first, and removals from California state courts. · 10 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Federal motor vehicle product liability cases by automaker group, FY2016-FY2025New federal district court cases under nature of suit 355 (Motor Vehicle Product Liability) filed October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2025, by the automaker group named as first defendant. · 22 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Federal motor vehicle product liability filings per fiscal year, FY2016-FY2025All NOS 355 case records per fiscal year next to the count published in Table C-2 of Judicial Business, plus new cases and the subset with an automaker as first-named defendant. · 10 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- All tables in one Excel workbookOne sheet per table plus an About sheet with sources, method and citation · Excel (.xlsx), 19 KB
- Summary to print or forward (3 pages)Short answer, key figures, main chart, findings, method and citation · PDF, 232 KB
Charts for your story
New federal motor vehicle product liability cases by first-named automaker, FY2016–FY2025
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New federal motor vehicle product liability cases by fiscal year
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New cases removed from California state courts, by fiscal year
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Federal motor vehicle product liability filings by fiscal year
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How to cite
Goldberg, L. (2026). Vehicle Defect Injury Lawsuits by Automaker — Federal Motor Vehicle Product Liability Cases by First-Named Defendant (FY2016–FY2025) [Data set]. Settlement Insight. https://settlementinsight.com/research/vehicle-defect-injury-lawsuits-by-automaker
BibTeX
@dataset{goldberg_2026_vehicle_defect_injury_lawsuits_by_automaker,
author = {Goldberg, Leonard},
title = {Vehicle Defect Injury Lawsuits by Automaker --- Federal Motor Vehicle Product Liability Cases by First-Named Defendant (FY2016--FY2025)},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Settlement Insight},
url = {https://settlementinsight.com/research/vehicle-defect-injury-lawsuits-by-automaker}
}How We Measured
Checked against published figures
- NOS 355 (Personal Injury/Product Liability - Motor Vehicle) civil cases commenced in U.S. district courts, 12 months ending September 30, 2025: published 360, our count 359 (0.28% apart).Judicial Business 2025, Table C-2: U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit
- NOS 355 (Personal Injury/Product Liability - Motor Vehicle) civil cases commenced in U.S. district courts, 12 months ending September 30, 2024: published 277, our count 277 (exact match).Judicial Business 2025, Table C-2: U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit
Full method and limits of the data
We selected all records with nature of suit code 355 (Motor Vehicle Product Liability) and a filing date (field filedate, not the release year) from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2025, and assigned each to a federal fiscal year (October through September). For the ranking we kept new cases only: origin code 1 (original proceeding), 2 (removed from state court) and 13 (filed directly into multidistrict litigation). Transfers between districts (5), transfers into multidistrict litigation (6), remands (3) and reopenings (4, 8) are second records of a case already counted and were left out. Some new cases appear in more than one annual release; we counted one case per district, docket number and filing date. The office code is not part of that key because it can change between releases for the same case, while a docket number alone is not unique: in one district two different cases filed on different days share the same docket number, and both are counted. This leaves 3,143 new cases, of which 2,259 name an automaker first.
The IDB records only the first-listed defendant (field defendant), shortened by the source to about 23 to 30 characters, often with ", ET AL" appended. We assigned each name to an automaker group by the company name at the start of the field, after removing extra spaces, and counted misspelled and cut-off forms of a maker's own name (for example "F C A U S L L C", "FIAT/CHRYSLER CORPORATI", "VOLSWAGEN GROUP OF AMER", "BAYERISCHE MORTOREN WER", "DR. ING. H.C. F. PORSCH", "INFINITY AND NISSAN NORTH AMER"). Groups combine U.S. sales subsidiaries, parent companies, foreign affiliates and brands: Chrysler, FCA US, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Maserati and Stellantis form Stellantis; Kia with Hyundai Motor Group; Audi, Porsche (Porsche Cars North America and Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG) and Bentley with Volkswagen Group; Lexus with Toyota; Infiniti with Nissan; Lincoln with Ford; Fuji Heavy Industries with Subaru; Daimler AG with Mercedes-Benz Group; Honda Canada and General Motors of Canada with their groups; BMW Financial Services and BMW Manufacturing with BMW Group. Isuzu (including Isuzu Commercial Truck of America) and Suzuki Motor count as automakers, as do Tesla, Lucid, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin. Not counted as automakers: dealerships that carry a brand name (such as Toyota of Dallas, BMW Manhattan, Hennessy Porsche), suppliers (Takata, ZF TRW, ARC Automotive, Autoliv, Continental Automotive, Toyota Boshoku, Hyundai Translead, tire makers), rental companies, insurers, used-car sellers and repair shops, makers of heavy trucks and buses (Daimler Truck, Volvo Group and Volvo Trucks, PACCAR and Peterbilt, Navistar, Motor Coach Industries, Workhorse Group), makers of motorcycles and three-wheeled autocycles (Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Victory, Vanderhall), and makers of recreational and powersports vehicles (Thor, Polaris, BRP, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Massimo). A name that does not identify a company ("MOTORS") is not assigned. Every name variant and its assignment is listed in the CSV file automaker_name_variants.csv.
To check the data, we recomputed the judiciary's published totals, counting all records as the judiciary does. Table C-2 of Judicial Business 2025 reports civil cases commenced by nature of suit for the 12 months ending September 30, 2024 and 2025. Our FY2025 count of 359 is 0.28% below the published figure, and our FY2024 count of 277 is identical to it.
What this data cannot tell you
- Only the first-named defendant is recorded. Many cases name several companies; an automaker that is the second or third defendant, for example behind an airbag or tire maker, is not counted.
- The nature of suit code is chosen by the party filing the case or removing it on the civil cover sheet and is not checked by the court. Some cases coded 355 may mainly concern warranty or other claims, and some injury cases may carry a different code. The federal data do not include the complaint itself.
- The counts cover federal district courts only. Cases filed and kept in state courts are not included.
- The ranking is not adjusted for sales, vehicles in operation or miles driven, and a lawsuit is an allegation, not a finding that a vehicle was defective.
- Courts can report cases to the judiciary late, and later FJC releases can slightly change the counts for recent fiscal years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which car manufacturer is sued the most for defects?
In federal district courts, General Motors was the first-named defendant in 857 new motor vehicle product liability cases from FY2016 to FY2025, more than any other automaker. Stellantis followed with 368 and Ford with 342.
How many vehicle defect lawsuits are filed in federal court each year?
The federal courts recorded 359 motor vehicle product liability cases in FY2025 and 277 in FY2024. After removing transfers and reopened cases, 341 new cases were filed in FY2025.
How many product liability lawsuits does FCA US face in federal court?
Stellantis companies, mainly FCA US, were the first-named defendant in 368 new federal motor vehicle product liability cases from FY2016 to FY2025 and in 128 in FY2025. Of the FY2025 cases, 96 had been removed from California state courts.
How many vehicle defect lawsuits has Ford faced in federal court?
Ford Motor Company was the first-named defendant in 342 new federal motor vehicle product liability cases from FY2016 to FY2025, including 17 in FY2025.
Does this count every lawsuit against an automaker?
No. It counts federal cases coded as motor vehicle product liability and only the defendant named first. Cases in state courts, and cases where the automaker is listed behind another company, are not included.
Sources
- Integrated Database (IDB) — civil cases — Federal Judicial Center
- Table C-2. U.S. District Courts—Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit, 12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2024 and 2025 — Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
- Civil Nature of Suit Code Descriptions — Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
- Civil Cover Sheet (JS 44) and Instructions — Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Independent analysis. Settlement Insight is not a law firm and not affiliated with any agency named here. Analysis by Leonard Goldberg, Editor. How we work: methodology, our data.
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