Mazda MX-5 Miata vs Audi A3

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 MX-5 Miata	Audi A3
Complaints on file	391	946
Model years covered	1990–2005	2001–2025
Worst model year	1999	2016
Best model year	1994	2023
Crashes reported	52	33
Fires reported	12	9
Injuries reported	43	22
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	27.4%	6.8%

Mazda MX-5 Miata by year

32 21 25 8 20 36 32 12 1 87 34 24 24 18 8 9

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

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

What breaks

Airbags 83 21.2%

Engine & Cooling 37 9.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 32 8.2%

Electrical System 32 8.2%

Brakes 31 7.9%

Body & Structure 28 7.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 25 6.4%

Tires 19 4.9%

Audi A3 by year

1 2 7 140 63 46 66 60 51 48 25 135 115 75 47 15 19 12 10 1 8

01 03 04 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 24 25

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

What breaks

Airbags 339 35.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 126 13.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 116 12.3%

Electrical System 86 9.1%

Engine & Cooling 75 7.9%

Other & Unspecified 39 4.1%

Lights 30 3.2%

Seat Belts 20 2.1%