Chrysler Lebaron vs Volkswagen Golf

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	Chrysler Lebaron	Volkswagen Golf
Complaints on file	832	2,009
Model years covered	1978–2003	1985–2023
Worst model year	1995	2015
Best model year	1993	2021
Crashes reported	79	77
Fires reported	57	44
Injuries reported	48	74
Deaths reported	4	1
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	22.6%	9.8%

Chrysler Lebaron by year

2 1 1 2 7 13 31 59 40 69 96 95 100 87 133 89 4 2 1

78 79 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 03

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 142 17.1%

Engine & Cooling 106 12.7%

Body & Structure 84 10.1%

Electrical System 72 8.7%

Airbags 57 6.9%

Suspension 56 6.7%

Brakes 52 6.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 42 5.0%

Volkswagen Golf by year

15 20 4 9 41 10 11 6 11 57 84 4 7 28 76 118 152 98 32 33 27 16 2 1 5 97 151 68 67 14 185 115 145 38 88 8 12 132 22

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 18 19 20 21 22 23

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 312 15.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 309 15.4%

Electrical System 212 10.6%

Airbags 195 9.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 158 7.9%

Other & Unspecified 111 5.5%

Brakes 100 5.0%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 97 4.8%