Chevrolet Caprice vs Oldsmobile Cutlass

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	Chevrolet Caprice	Oldsmobile Cutlass
Complaints on file	912	2,251
Model years covered	1977–2014	1976–1999
Worst model year	1994	1993
Best model year	2014	1999
Crashes reported	100	142
Fires reported	37	59
Injuries reported	58	95
Deaths reported	3	7
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	21.7%	13.5%

Chevrolet Caprice by year

2 6 8 8 8 41 20 16 19 6 170 133 63 185 111 87 3 1 2 9 14

77 79 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 03 11 13 14

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

What breaks

Brakes 151 16.6%

Electrical System 120 13.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 70 7.7%

Engine & Cooling 66 7.2%

Suspension 64 7.0%

Steering 55 6.0%

Seat Belts 53 5.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 44 4.8%

Oldsmobile Cutlass by year

3 4 2 3 8 1 8 24 22 31 22 107 164 151 266 182 193 200 199 160 161 223 117

76 77 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

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

What breaks

Brakes 600 26.7%

Engine & Cooling 239 10.6%

Electrical System 239 10.6%

Seat Belts 119 5.3%

Steering 118 5.2%

Suspension 109 4.8%

Body & Structure 108 4.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 106 4.7%