Freightliner Freightliner vs Honda Prelude

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	Freightliner Freightliner	Honda Prelude
Complaints on file	188	463
Model years covered	1981–2004	1981–2001
Worst model year	2001	1997
Best model year	1997	2000
Crashes reported	7	52
Fires reported	5	15
Injuries reported	4	29
Deaths reported	1	2
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	9%	21.2%

Freightliner Freightliner by year

1 2 1 7 6 7 4 6 3 7 12 13 31 16 41 21 5 5

81 85 87 89 90 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04

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

What breaks

Brakes 46 24.5%

Suspension 25 13.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 19 10.1%

Tires 14 7.4%

Engine & Cooling 12 6.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 12 6.4%

Electrical System 11 5.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 9 4.8%

Honda Prelude by year

3 1 5 11 12 17 40 34 4 18 26 14 12 9 4 88 86 40 14 25

81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 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

Transmission & Drivetrain 106 22.9%

Engine & Cooling 53 11.4%

Electrical System 49 10.6%

Seat Belts 35 7.6%

Steering 33 7.1%

Airbags 26 5.6%

Suspension 25 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 25 5.4%