Acura TL vs Chevrolet Cobalt

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 TL	Chevrolet Cobalt
Complaints on file	4,055	10,115
Model years covered	1995–2014	1996–2017
Worst model year	2003	2006
Best model year	2014	2010
Crashes reported	223	885
Fires reported	62	101
Injuries reported	136	485
Deaths reported	8	69
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	10.6%	15.2%

Acura TL by year

3 33 29 22 197 325 163 403 466 766 553 345 167 181 51 75 23 162 74 17

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 921 22.7%

Airbags 834 20.6%

Body & Structure 549 13.5%

Electrical System 263 6.5%

Other & Unspecified 244 6.0%

Steering 213 5.3%

Engine & Cooling 174 4.3%

Brakes 125 3.1%

Chevrolet Cobalt by year

1 1 2 2,231 3,056 2,004 1,104 916 795 2 1 1 1

96 00 02 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 16 17

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

What breaks

Steering 3,925 38.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 1,623 16.0%

Electrical System 1,491 14.7%

Airbags 615 6.1%

Engine & Cooling 476 4.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 372 3.7%

Brakes 243 2.4%

Suspension 222 2.2%