Hyundai Excel vs Mitsubishi Montero

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 Excel	Mitsubishi Montero
Complaints on file	424	989
Model years covered	1986–2001	1986–2006
Worst model year	—	2001
Best model year	—	1993
Crashes reported	28	83
Fires reported	46	18
Injuries reported	32	59
Deaths reported	1	8
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	25.2%	17%

Hyundai Excel by year

17 16 64 92 54 44 39 26 53 5 3 2 2 7

86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 01

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 85 20.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 73 17.2%

Electrical System 53 12.5%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 43 10.1%

Seat Belts 31 7.3%

Brakes 20 4.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 19 4.5%

Body & Structure 15 3.5%

Mitsubishi Montero by year

8 4 1 10 25 22 18 17 35 106 40 85 91 47 68 213 132 53 7 1 6

86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06

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

What breaks

Brakes 240 24.3%

Engine & Cooling 170 17.2%

Suspension 70 7.1%

Electrical System 68 6.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 63 6.4%

Steering 56 5.7%

Airbags 51 5.2%

Body & Structure 37 3.7%