Ford Contour vs Chevrolet Silverado

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	Ford Contour	Chevrolet Silverado
Complaints on file	4,570	10,928
Model years covered	1993–2001	1980–2017
Worst model year	1995	2001
Best model year	1994	1993
Crashes reported	211	869
Fires reported	167	165
Injuries reported	174	498
Deaths reported	6	28
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	12.2%	14.3%

Ford Contour by year

5 13 1,323 858 314 1,189 616 248 4

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 704 15.4%

Electrical System 646 14.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 435 9.5%

Brakes 366 8.0%

Suspension 305 6.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 284 6.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 232 5.1%

Body & Structure 231 5.1%

Chevrolet Silverado by year

2 2 5 3 2 18 24 37 18 51 77 235 331 230 365 335 2,104 1,614 1,048 853 852 723 361 223 253 221 103 91 99 91 87 195 111 8 156

80 82 84 85 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

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

What breaks

Brakes 3,696 33.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 818 7.5%

Electrical System 763 7.0%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 686 6.3%

Engine & Cooling 661 6.0%

Steering 561 5.1%

Body & Structure 508 4.6%

Airbags 485 4.4%