Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT vs Mercury Cougar

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 Trailblazer EXT	Mercury Cougar
Complaints on file	1,070	2,646
Model years covered	2002–2006	1962–2002
Worst model year	2003	1999
Best model year	2002	1997
Crashes reported	23	173
Fires reported	20	94
Injuries reported	21	129
Deaths reported	0	6
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	6%	15.2%

Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT by year

120 406 306 238

02 03 04 06

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

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 297 27.8%

Electrical System 281 26.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 97 9.1%

Lights 60 5.6%

Engine & Cooling 59 5.5%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 56 5.2%

Body & Structure 47 4.4%

Doors, Latches & Locks 24 2.2%

Mercury Cougar by year

1 3 2 3 2 2 25 22 20 49 72 104 104 98 122 236 178 160 77 112 1 740 283 103 127

62 73 78 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 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 450 17.0%

Electrical System 342 12.9%

Brakes 299 11.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 238 9.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 177 6.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 164 6.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 141 5.3%

Lights 136 5.1%