Lincoln Zephyr vs Audi S4

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	Lincoln Zephyr	Audi S4
Complaints on file	289	721
Model years covered	2003–2011	1992–2022
Worst model year	—	2001
Best model year	—	1993
Crashes reported	13	23
Fires reported	1	8
Injuries reported	12	10
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	9%	5.7%

Lincoln Zephyr by year

1 277 3 7 1

03 06 07 08 11

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

What breaks

Airbags 153 52.9%

Wheels 26 9.0%

Brakes 13 4.5%

Body & Structure 13 4.5%

Engine & Cooling 12 4.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 12 4.2%

Electrical System 11 3.8%

Other & Unspecified 10 3.5%

Audi S4 by year

5 18 8 1 171 92 31 1 37 54 37 21 4 73 34 27 34 23 1 9 3 34 2 1

92 93 94 95 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 10 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22

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

What breaks

Electrical System 150 20.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 104 14.4%

Brakes 82 11.4%

Engine & Cooling 72 10.0%

Lights 66 9.2%

Tires 51 7.1%

Steering 37 5.1%

Airbags 33 4.6%