Mazda 626 vs Nissan Maxima

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	Mazda 626	Nissan Maxima
Complaints on file	3,877	8,853
Model years covered	1983–2003	1982–2023
Worst model year	1995	2000
Best model year	2002	2013
Crashes reported	244	466
Fires reported	65	398
Injuries reported	201	330
Deaths reported	5	16
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	13.3%	13.7%

Mazda 626 by year

2 4 7 20 40 58 48 62 99 24 202 353 587 426 451 499 372 280 235 99 9

83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,056 53.0%

Engine & Cooling 392 10.1%

Airbags 235 6.1%

Electrical System 197 5.1%

Brakes 167 4.3%

Seat Belts 154 4.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 81 2.1%

Other & Unspecified 76 2.0%

Nissan Maxima by year

4 8 40 64 74 194 73 78 138 99 140 102 128 195 117 123 133 215 467 225 278 249 1,725 1,152 733 169 99 460 399 138 137 71 126 2 224 155 46 28 33 4 6 2

82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,465 27.8%

Engine & Cooling 957 10.8%

Electrical System 915 10.3%

Steering 528 6.0%

Airbags 517 5.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 503 5.7%

Brakes 441 5.0%

Body & Structure 355 4.0%