Infiniti I30 vs Lexus ES300

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	Infiniti I30	Lexus ES300
Complaints on file	345	862
Model years covered	1996–2004	1992–2013
Worst model year	2001	2002
Best model year	1997	1999
Crashes reported	38	212
Fires reported	19	28
Injuries reported	19	99
Deaths reported	0	7
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Acceleration & Cruise Control
Share of complaints involving harm	22%	40.1%

Infiniti I30 by year

31 28 61 36 75 108 2 3 1

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

Airbags 53 15.4%

Electrical System 44 12.8%

Engine & Cooling 34 9.9%

Suspension 33 9.6%

Brakes 31 9.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 26 7.5%

Body & Structure 24 7.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 17 4.9%

Lexus ES300 by year

46 53 50 55 44 50 61 35 78 36 194 147 1 4 8

92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 05 06 13

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

What breaks

Acceleration & Cruise Control 151 17.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 122 14.2%

Engine & Cooling 92 10.7%

Airbags 73 8.5%

Electrical System 72 8.4%

Brakes 65 7.5%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 35 4.1%

Seat Belts 35 4.1%