Mazda Protege vs Chrysler PT Cruiser

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 Protege	Chrysler PT Cruiser
Complaints on file	1,377	3,420
Model years covered	1989–2003	2001–2010
Worst model year	1995	2002
Best model year	1998	2009
Crashes reported	242	268
Fires reported	30	155
Injuries reported	197	199
Deaths reported	4	9
Most complained-about part	Seat Belts	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	34.4%	18.5%

Mazda Protege by year

2 45 60 72 56 89 232 91 103 53 102 126 68 133 145

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

Seat Belts 230 16.7%

Airbags 171 12.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 170 12.3%

Engine & Cooling 144 10.5%

Brakes 103 7.5%

Electrical System 74 5.4%

Tires 54 3.9%

Suspension 48 3.5%

Chrysler PT Cruiser by year

799 658 354 291 244 512 203 171 158 30

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

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

What breaks

Electrical System 578 16.9%

Engine & Cooling 461 13.5%

Lights 238 7.0%

Suspension 234 6.8%

Airbags 230 6.7%

Steering 229 6.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 221 6.5%

Body & Structure 178 5.2%