Infiniti I35 vs Acura CL

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 I35	Acura CL
Complaints on file	300	731
Model years covered	2001–2004	1997–2004
Worst model year	2002	2001
Best model year	2004	1998
Crashes reported	19	49
Fires reported	4	4
Injuries reported	17	35
Deaths reported	7	7
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	15.7%	13%

Infiniti I35 by year

2 123 134 41

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

Engine & Cooling 109 36.3%

Airbags 32 10.7%

Electrical System 23 7.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 21 7.0%

Suspension 15 5.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 14 4.7%

Brakes 14 4.7%

Other & Unspecified 13 4.3%

Acura CL by year

106 69 66 11 317 71 89 2

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

Transmission & Drivetrain 333 45.6%

Airbags 77 10.5%

Electrical System 63 8.6%

Engine & Cooling 42 5.7%

Brakes 30 4.1%

Suspension 27 3.7%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 26 3.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 25 3.4%