GMC Sierra 2500 vs Saturn ION

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 Sierra 2500	Saturn ION
Complaints on file	2,284	5,471
Model years covered	1994–2026	2003–2008
Worst model year	2001	2006
Best model year	1998	2005
Crashes reported	111	334
Fires reported	64	23
Injuries reported	59	175
Deaths reported	4	4
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	10.4%	9.8%

GMC Sierra 2500 by year

2 14 19 42 63 171 164 193 175 159 78 98 78 37 11 81 40 57 39 100 77 51 46 40 107 65 53 40 135 35 14

94 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 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Brakes 522 22.9%

Electrical System 289 12.7%

Engine & Cooling 208 9.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 199 8.7%

Airbags 167 7.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 145 6.3%

Other & Unspecified 138 6.0%

Steering 132 5.8%

Saturn ION by year

961 1,124 755 1,537 1,090 4

03 04 05 06 07 08

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

What breaks

Steering 1,724 31.5%

Electrical System 1,598 29.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 583 10.7%

Engine & Cooling 288 5.3%

Airbags 263 4.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 202 3.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 116 2.1%

Lights 106 1.9%