Acura CL vs Mazda CX-9

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	Mazda CX-9
Complaints on file	731	1,827
Model years covered	1997–2004	2007–2023
Worst model year	2001	2012
Best model year	1998	2020
Crashes reported	49	92
Fires reported	4	15
Injuries reported	35	38
Deaths reported	7	0
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	13%	7.9%

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%

Mazda CX-9 by year

98 234 66 194 209 263 80 73 45 142 78 167 75 26 47 13 17

07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

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

What breaks

Brakes 436 23.9%

Engine & Cooling 369 20.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 162 8.9%

Suspension 148 8.1%

Airbags 135 7.4%

Other & Unspecified 120 6.6%

Electrical System 85 4.7%

Steering 60 3.3%