Chevrolet Cavalier vs Dodge Caravan

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 Cavalier	Dodge Caravan
Complaints on file	6,452	14,200
Model years covered	1982–2005	1984–2017
Worst model year	1997	1997
Best model year	2005	2014
Crashes reported	554	914
Fires reported	167	335
Injuries reported	369	652
Deaths reported	21	35
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	17.2%	13.6%

Chevrolet Cavalier by year

1 17 10 4 21 27 14 71 70 77 178 237 310 392 748 751 473 337 447 356 254 867 428 362

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

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

What breaks

Electrical System 1,252 19.4%

Engine & Cooling 839 13.0%

Brakes 717 11.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 652 10.1%

Steering 415 6.4%

Airbags 346 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 332 5.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 322 5.0%

Dodge Caravan by year

26 85 55 83 135 236 341 773 1,126 1,229 836 656 2,178 1,028 840 745 613 341 326 252 83 691 231 115 421 175 257 112 116 34 27 29 2 3

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

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

What breaks

Brakes 1,819 12.8%

Engine & Cooling 1,502 10.6%

Electrical System 1,470 10.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,467 10.3%

Airbags 1,269 8.9%

Body & Structure 816 5.7%

Steering 762 5.4%

Seat Belts 695 4.9%