Mercedes Benz 300 Series vs Pontiac Trans AM

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	Mercedes Benz 300 Series	Pontiac Trans AM
Complaints on file	79	196
Model years covered	1988–1995	1969–2002
Worst model year	—	2002
Best model year	—	1998
Crashes reported	2	18
Fires reported	4	6
Injuries reported	2	9
Deaths reported	0	2
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	10.1%	17.9%

Mercedes Benz 300 Series by year

1 2 17 17 27 15

88 90 91 92 93 95

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

What breaks

Electrical System 45 57.0%

Engine & Cooling 11 13.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 5 6.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 4 5.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 3 3.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 2 2.5%

Lights 2 2.5%

Other & Unspecified 2 2.5%

Pontiac Trans AM by year

1 2 1 1 2 10 10 3 1 1 2 10 1 13 5 8 14 22 23 13 10 43

69 77 79 80 82 84 86 87 88 89 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

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

What breaks

Brakes 24 12.2%

Engine & Cooling 23 11.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 18 9.2%

Body & Structure 17 8.7%

Electrical System 13 6.6%

Steering 13 6.6%

Lights 13 6.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 13 6.6%