Dodge Nitro vs Mazda MAZDA3

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	Dodge Nitro	Mazda MAZDA3
Complaints on file	1,635	4,006
Model years covered	2005–2012	2004–2026
Worst model year	2007	2008
Best model year	2009	2020
Crashes reported	57	322
Fires reported	37	42
Injuries reported	59	171
Deaths reported	0	4
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	9.4%	13.5%

Dodge Nitro by year

1 676 611 36 111 197 3

05 07 08 09 10 11 12

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

What breaks

Electrical System 426 26.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 290 17.7%

Engine & Cooling 122 7.5%

Airbags 105 6.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 103 6.3%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 89 5.4%

Other & Unspecified 80 4.9%

Brakes 78 4.8%

Mazda MAZDA3 by year

185 127 224 301 387 140 920 181 328 176 181 154 137 105 139 118 51 66 34 20 23 8 1

04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Steering 399 10.0%

Electrical System 368 9.2%

Other & Unspecified 367 9.2%

Engine & Cooling 301 7.5%

Brakes 288 7.2%

Body & Structure 283 7.1%

Airbags 269 6.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 251 6.3%