Fleetwood Southwind vs Mercury Topaz

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	Fleetwood Southwind	Mercury Topaz
Complaints on file	238	581
Model years covered	1983–2023	1983–1998
Worst model year	2003	1994
Best model year	1996	1995
Crashes reported	5	27
Fires reported	11	59
Injuries reported	7	12
Deaths reported	1	2
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	10.1%	17.2%

Fleetwood Southwind by year

1 3 1 2 5 2 3 8 7 2 6 13 20 14 11 14 17 22 6 5 24 14 12 5 3 7 1 2 1 3 1 1 2

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 12 14 16 17 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

Brakes 62 26.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 23 9.7%

Equipment & Accessories 22 9.2%

Body & Structure 20 8.4%

Suspension 19 8.0%

Electrical System 17 7.1%

Engine & Cooling 15 6.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 13 5.5%

Mercury Topaz by year

1 13 5 13 28 28 57 67 59 92 98 106 13 1

83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 98

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

What breaks

Electrical System 113 19.4%

Engine & Cooling 99 17.0%

Seat Belts 77 13.3%

Brakes 59 10.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 34 5.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 32 5.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 28 4.8%

Steering 20 3.4%