Mercedes Benz C250 vs Audi A6

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 C250	Audi A6
Complaints on file	902	2,209
Model years covered	2012–2016	1994–2026
Worst model year	2013	2001
Best model year	2015	2025
Crashes reported	51	94
Fires reported	21	87
Injuries reported	43	76
Deaths reported	0	2
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	12.7%	11.7%

Mercedes Benz C250 by year

317 346 222 16 1

12 13 14 15 16

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

What breaks

Airbags 437 48.4%

Engine & Cooling 135 15.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 59 6.5%

Steering 44 4.9%

Other & Unspecified 43 4.8%

Electrical System 37 4.1%

Body & Structure 29 3.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 27 3.0%

Audi A6 by year

2 22 71 26 158 276 201 148 113 85 44 119 83 63 79 22 24 26 86 79 48 29 77 24 16 196 39 21 4 2 1 11 14

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 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Electrical System 401 18.2%

Airbags 322 14.6%

Engine & Cooling 248 11.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 229 10.4%

Brakes 170 7.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 118 5.3%

Steering 113 5.1%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 84 3.8%