Hyundai Accent vs Chevrolet Cavalier

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	Hyundai Accent	Chevrolet Cavalier
Complaints on file	2,760	6,452
Model years covered	1991–2022	1982–2005
Worst model year	2013	1997
Best model year	2021	2005
Crashes reported	366	554
Fires reported	124	167
Injuries reported	261	369
Deaths reported	8	21
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	27.5%	17.2%

Hyundai Accent by year

2 1 197 142 82 72 66 115 148 163 45 40 76 49 113 135 128 119 53 219 207 99 100 160 98 23 37 17 22 32

91 93 95 96 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

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

What breaks

Airbags 444 16.1%

Engine & Cooling 350 12.7%

Brakes 279 10.1%

Electrical System 228 8.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 223 8.1%

Suspension 166 6.0%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 159 5.8%

Other & Unspecified 142 5.1%

Chevrolet Cavalier by year

1 17 10 4 21 27 14 71 70 77 178 237 310 392 748 751 473 337 447 356 254 867 428 362

82 83 84 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

Electrical System 1,252 19.4%

Engine & Cooling 839 13.0%

Brakes 717 11.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 652 10.1%

Steering 415 6.4%

Airbags 346 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 332 5.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 322 5.0%