Cadillac Fleetwood vs Saab 9-5

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 Fleetwood	Saab 9-5
Complaints on file	265	662
Model years covered	1972–1998	1998–2011
Worst model year	1993	2001
Best model year	1995	2011
Crashes reported	33	13
Fires reported	14	23
Injuries reported	22	10
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	26%	6.9%

Cadillac Fleetwood by year

1 1 1 6 1 17 10 8 4 16 22 22 13 51 27 22 39 4

72 78 81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 98

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

What breaks

Brakes 48 18.1%

Engine & Cooling 30 11.3%

Electrical System 24 9.1%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 19 7.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 17 6.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 15 5.7%

Steering 14 5.3%

Body & Structure 14 5.3%

Saab 9-5 by year

1 157 121 113 74 69 30 15 29 17 21 2 2 11

98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

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

What breaks

Electrical System 306 46.2%

Engine & Cooling 76 11.5%

Airbags 61 9.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 52 7.9%

Brakes 36 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 16 2.4%

Lights 13 2.0%

Tires 13 2.0%