Buick Lesabre vs GMC Sierra 1500

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	Buick Lesabre	GMC Sierra 1500
Complaints on file	4,867	11,637
Model years covered	1971–2006	1994–2026
Worst model year	2000	2019
Best model year	1996	1994
Crashes reported	278	364
Fires reported	320	142
Injuries reported	213	186
Deaths reported	6	3
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	16.8%	6%

Buick Lesabre by year

1 1 2 1 1 7 6 20 53 22 35 75 46 245 264 220 235 121 514 518 268 851 460 381 209 212 95 4

71 77 79 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 848 17.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 590 12.1%

Electrical System 562 11.5%

Brakes 476 9.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 320 6.6%

Airbags 293 6.0%

Body & Structure 293 6.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 267 5.5%

GMC Sierra 1500 by year

15 3 7 100 68 182 215 171 192 210 253 218 183 313 442 280 217 364 149 147 1,031 933 448 476 426 907 688 774 773 633 491 176 152

94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 2,253 19.4%

Brakes 1,781 15.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,314 11.3%

Electrical System 1,197 10.3%

Airbags 948 8.1%

Other & Unspecified 870 7.5%

Steering 610 5.2%

Body & Structure 572 4.9%