GMC Safari vs Volkswagen Beetle

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	GMC Safari	Volkswagen Beetle
Complaints on file	1,537	3,621
Model years covered	1985–2005	1965–2019
Worst model year	1995	2000
Best model year	2003	2018
Crashes reported	158	173
Fires reported	30	160
Injuries reported	68	101
Deaths reported	1	4
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	16.7%	12.1%

GMC Safari by year

2 11 22 8 25 44 60 66 79 142 256 199 200 111 92 95 55 35 19 8 8

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

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

What breaks

Brakes 359 23.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 176 11.5%

Suspension 124 8.1%

Engine & Cooling 104 6.8%

Electrical System 98 6.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 91 5.9%

Steering 91 5.9%

Body & Structure 69 4.5%

Volkswagen Beetle by year

5 1 1 1 4 289 280 373 291 231 405 469 330 161 79 109 39 42 88 125 71 108 63 19 21 16

65 69 70 73 74 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 616 17.0%

Airbags 546 15.1%

Electrical System 508 14.0%

Engine & Cooling 372 10.3%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 370 10.2%

Lights 205 5.7%

Body & Structure 166 4.6%

Brakes 134 3.7%