Acura CL vs Buick Rendezvous

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Acura CL	Buick Rendezvous
Complaints on file	731	1,798
Model years covered	1997–2004	2001–2007
Worst model year	2001	2002
Best model year	1998	2007
Crashes reported	49	95
Fires reported	4	33
Injuries reported	35	78
Deaths reported	7	4
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	13%	11.7%

Acura CL by year

106 69 66 11 317 71 89 2

97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 333 45.6%

Airbags 77 10.5%

Electrical System 63 8.6%

Engine & Cooling 42 5.7%

Brakes 30 4.1%

Suspension 27 3.7%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 26 3.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 25 3.4%

Buick Rendezvous by year

4 690 407 300 196 131 70

01 02 03 04 05 06 07

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Electrical System 312 17.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 291 16.2%

Engine & Cooling 280 15.6%

Brakes 150 8.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 120 6.7%

Suspension 105 5.8%

Steering 81 4.5%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 72 4.0%