Model Year Scorecard · NHTSA + EPA data
Western Star model years compared
Every Western Star model in the catalogue (1981–2026), with owner complaints, recall campaigns, urgent advisories and fatal-crash involvement summed across all model years. Open a model to see its years side by side and the best and worst year called out.
Western Star models ranked by complaints
| Model | Years | Complaints | Recalls | Urgent | Fatal (FARS) | MPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4900 | 1981–2002 (22) |
17
|
83 | — | 170 | — |
| 47X | 2022–2026 (5) |
3
|
21 | — | — | — |
| 4900EX | 2002–2023 (22) |
3
|
3 | — | — | — |
| 49X | 2021–2026 (6) |
1
|
29 | 1 | — | — |
| 6900 | 1989–2001 (13) |
1
|
19 | — | — | — |
| 57X | 2023–2026 (4) |
—
|
6 | — | — | — |
| 4800 | 1981–2002 (22) |
—
|
4 | — | 6 | — |
| 5900 | 1989–2001 (13) |
—
|
3 | — | 1 | — |
| 4900FA | 2002–2023 (22) |
—
|
2 | — | — | — |
| 5800 | 1997–2002 (6) |
—
|
2 | — | — | — |
| 4900SA | 2002–2023 (22) |
—
|
1 | — | — | — |
| 3700 catalogue only | 2000–2001 (2) |
—
|
— | — | — | — |
| 3800 catalogue only | 1989–2001 (12) |
—
|
— | — | — | — |
| 4700SB catalogue only | 2012–2023 (12) |
—
|
— | — | — | — |
| 4700SF catalogue only | 2012–2023 (12) |
—
|
— | — | — | — |
| 4800SB catalogue only | 2012–2023 (12) |
—
|
— | — | — | — |
| 4800SF catalogue only | 2013–2023 (11) |
—
|
— | — | — | — |
| 4900E catalogue only | 1997–2002 (6) |
—
|
— | — | 13 | — |
| 5700XE catalogue only | 2016–2022 (7) |
—
|
— | — | — | — |
| 6900XD catalogue only | 2002–2023 (19) |
—
|
— | — | — | — |
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Every Western Star model opens to every model year compared side by side, with the best and worst year called out. Free account, no card, takes a minute.
Sources. Owner complaints, recall campaigns and advisories are from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation datasets; fatal-crash vehicles from FARS; fuel economy from the EPA. VehDB sums them per model; the figures are not VehDB's own findings.
How to read it. Complaints and recalls are summed over every catalogue year of the model, so long-running best-sellers rank high on volume alone; the model page ranks each year against other vehicles of the same model year, which is the fairer read. Urgent counts do-not-drive and park-outside campaigns. Fatal (FARS) is a census of vehicles in fatal crashes from 2020 onward, exact, and is never mixed with CRSS estimates. MPG is the EPA combined average across the model's trims. Sources are U.S. public domain; nothing here is a verified defect finding.