Dodge RAM 3500 vs Nissan Maxima

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 RAM 3500	Nissan Maxima
Complaints on file	4,040	8,853
Model years covered	1991–2012	1982–2023
Worst model year	2004	2000
Best model year	1993	2013
Crashes reported	245	466
Fires reported	171	398
Injuries reported	114	330
Deaths reported	9	16
Most complained-about part	Steering	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	13.3%	13.7%

Dodge RAM 3500 by year

5 11 26 102 132 182 153 134 146 77 168 59 330 276 240 349 286 221 130 214 297 502

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 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

Steering 1,051 26.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 375 9.3%

Suspension 359 8.9%

Airbags 317 7.8%

Electrical System 302 7.5%

Brakes 283 7.0%

Engine & Cooling 263 6.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 229 5.7%

Nissan Maxima by year

4 8 40 64 74 194 73 78 138 99 140 102 128 195 117 123 133 215 467 225 278 249 1,725 1,152 733 169 99 460 399 138 137 71 126 2 224 155 46 28 33 4 6 2

82 83 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 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

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,465 27.8%

Engine & Cooling 957 10.8%

Electrical System 915 10.3%

Steering 528 6.0%

Airbags 517 5.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 503 5.7%

Brakes 441 5.0%

Body & Structure 355 4.0%