Jaguar XJS vs Volkswagen Rabbit

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	Jaguar XJS	Volkswagen Rabbit
Complaints on file	107	267
Model years covered	1978–2002	1980–2009
Worst model year	—	2009
Best model year	—	2006
Crashes reported	5	19
Fires reported	19	20
Injuries reported	2	10
Deaths reported	0	1
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	24.3%	18.7%

Jaguar XJS by year

1 1 1 1 5 7 2 1 7 17 19 8 6 1 10 7 9 2 1 1

78 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 98 01 02

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

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 29 27.1%

Electrical System 14 13.1%

Seat Belts 10 9.3%

Brakes 9 8.4%

Engine & Cooling 8 7.5%

Body & Structure 6 5.6%

Suspension 5 4.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 5 4.7%

Volkswagen Rabbit by year

2 1 5 2 2 1 18 78 35 123

80 81 82 83 84 85 06 07 08 09

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

What breaks

Brakes 60 22.5%

Electrical System 30 11.2%

Stability & Traction Control 27 10.1%

Engine & Cooling 19 7.1%

Airbags 18 6.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 18 6.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 17 6.4%

Steering 17 6.4%