Acura RSX vs Toyota Celica

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 RSX	Toyota Celica
Complaints on file	214	520
Model years covered	2001–2008	1974–2005
Worst model year	2002	2000
Best model year	2003	1999
Crashes reported	29	108
Fires reported	1	15
Injuries reported	15	65
Deaths reported	0	3
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	21%	36.7%

Acura RSX by year

3 94 30 19 38 28 1 1

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 44 20.6%

Airbags 33 15.4%

Engine & Cooling 26 12.1%

Suspension 21 9.8%

Brakes 13 6.1%

Lights 11 5.1%

Body & Structure 10 4.7%

Electrical System 9 4.2%

Toyota Celica by year

3 1 1 3 2 4 3 3 9 9 6 10 16 34 35 24 18 24 25 10 10 8 11 130 55 37 21 4 4

74 77 78 79 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 94 18.1%

Airbags 85 16.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 48 9.2%

Seat Belts 46 8.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 39 7.5%

Body & Structure 31 6.0%

Brakes 29 5.6%

Tires 25 4.8%