Audi A3 vs Volvo XC90

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	Audi A3	Volvo XC90
Complaints on file	945	2,252
Model years covered	2001–2025	2003–2025
Worst model year	2016	2016
Best model year	2023	2010
Crashes reported	33	69
Fires reported	9	76
Injuries reported	22	52
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	6.8%	8.7%

Audi A3 by year

1 2 7 140 63 46 66 60 51 48 25 134 115 75 47 15 19 12 10 1 8

01 03 04 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 24 25

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

What breaks

Airbags 339 35.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 126 13.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 115 12.2%

Electrical System 86 9.1%

Engine & Cooling 75 7.9%

Other & Unspecified 39 4.1%

Lights 30 3.2%

Seat Belts 20 2.1%

Volvo XC90 by year

149 669 304 73 59 44 11 16 30 6 13 7 311 118 68 58 48 56 49 69 57 37

03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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

What breaks

Electrical System 434 19.3%

Engine & Cooling 320 14.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 313 13.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 190 8.4%

Other & Unspecified 156 6.9%

Brakes 109 4.8%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 89 4.0%

Body & Structure 80 3.6%