Lexus ES300 vs Lincoln MKZ

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	Lexus ES300	Lincoln MKZ
Complaints on file	862	2,025
Model years covered	1992–2013	2007–2020
Worst model year	2002	2017
Best model year	1999	2018
Crashes reported	212	165
Fires reported	28	30
Injuries reported	99	71
Deaths reported	7	1
Most complained-about part	Acceleration & Cruise Control	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	40.1%	13.2%

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%

Lincoln MKZ by year

305 328 129 197 181 176 146 130 107 78 184 40 22 2

07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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

What breaks

Airbags 674 33.3%

Brakes 292 14.4%

Engine & Cooling 178 8.8%

Electrical System 122 6.0%

Steering 114 5.6%

Other & Unspecified 101 5.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 94 4.6%

Wheels 84 4.1%