Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R vs Pontiac Trans AM

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	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R	Pontiac Trans AM
Complaints on file	79	196
Model years covered	2009–2026	1969–2002
Worst model year	2024	2002
Best model year	2013	1998
Crashes reported	4	18
Fires reported	0	6
Injuries reported	1	9
Deaths reported	4	2
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	11.4%	17.9%

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R by year

6 3 3 12 1 1 1 1 1 21 26 3

09 11 12 13 14 15 19 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 53 67.1%

Electrical System 11 13.9%

Other & Unspecified 7 8.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 4 5.1%

Brakes 2 2.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 1 1.3%

Stability & Traction Control 1 1.3%

Pontiac Trans AM by year

1 2 1 1 2 10 10 3 1 1 2 10 1 13 5 8 14 22 23 13 10 43

69 77 79 80 82 84 86 87 88 89 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

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

What breaks

Brakes 24 12.2%

Engine & Cooling 23 11.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 18 9.2%

Body & Structure 17 8.7%

Electrical System 13 6.6%

Steering 13 6.6%

Lights 13 6.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 13 6.6%