Cadillac Escalade vs Saturn ION

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 Escalade	Saturn ION
Complaints on file	2,367	5,471
Model years covered	1999–2026	2003–2008
Worst model year	2007	2006
Best model year	2026	2005
Crashes reported	135	334
Fires reported	78	23
Injuries reported	110	175
Deaths reported	3	4
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	13.8%	9.8%

Cadillac Escalade by year

46 96 3 164 111 99 64 26 320 180 89 47 53 32 24 30 145 123 78 29 29 16 101 119 199 70 32 42

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 549 23.2%

Airbags 328 13.9%

Electrical System 278 11.7%

Brakes 184 7.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 180 7.6%

Other & Unspecified 116 4.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 105 4.4%

Suspension 74 3.1%

Saturn ION by year

961 1,124 755 1,537 1,090 4

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

Steering 1,724 31.5%

Electrical System 1,598 29.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 583 10.7%

Engine & Cooling 288 5.3%

Airbags 263 4.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 202 3.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 116 2.1%

Lights 106 1.9%