GMC Suburban 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 Suburban	Saturn ION
Complaints on file	2,323	5,471
Model years covered	1974–2004	2003–2008
Worst model year	1994	2006
Best model year	2000	2005
Crashes reported	246	334
Fires reported	39	23
Injuries reported	101	175
Deaths reported	7	4
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	16.9%	9.8%

GMC Suburban by year

1 2 5 6 4 8 8 24 28 33 105 254 490 294 220 268 137 393 20 5 9 8 1

74 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 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 1,053 45.3%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 203 8.7%

Tires 136 5.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 129 5.6%

Electrical System 125 5.4%

Seats 105 4.5%

Engine & Cooling 100 4.3%

Steering 95 4.1%

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%