Cadillac Eldorado vs Mercury Topaz

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	Cadillac Eldorado	Mercury Topaz
Complaints on file	234	581
Model years covered	1973–2002	1983–1998
Worst model year	1997	1994
Best model year	1994	1995
Crashes reported	10	27
Fires reported	20	59
Injuries reported	10	12
Deaths reported	0	2
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	17.1%	17.2%

Cadillac Eldorado by year

3 2 1 3 3 2 3 3 5 7 12 29 35 36 19 12 27 20 12

73 82 83 85 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 53 22.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 53 22.6%

Electrical System 28 12.0%

Brakes 26 11.1%

Tires 12 5.1%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 8 3.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 7 3.0%

Airbags 7 3.0%

Mercury Topaz by year

1 13 5 13 28 28 57 67 59 92 98 106 13 1

83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 98

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

What breaks

Electrical System 113 19.4%

Engine & Cooling 99 17.0%

Seat Belts 77 13.3%

Brakes 59 10.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 34 5.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 32 5.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 28 4.8%

Steering 20 3.4%