Mercedes Benz C300 vs KIA Sportage

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 C300	KIA Sportage
Complaints on file	2,855	6,792
Model years covered	2010–2016	1995–2026
Worst model year	2010	2017
Best model year	2012	1995
Crashes reported	102	464
Fires reported	33	314
Injuries reported	72	303
Deaths reported	1	3
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	7.3%	16%

Mercedes Benz C300 by year

593 585 333 342 120 514 368

10 11 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 738 25.8%

Body & Structure 290 10.2%

Engine & Cooling 262 9.2%

Suspension 257 9.0%

Electrical System 249 8.7%

Other & Unspecified 237 8.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 222 7.8%

Steering 188 6.6%

KIA Sportage by year

88 98 299 558 493 462 354 321 4 93 169 113 138 120 28 264 454 449 154 195 183 560 226 102 205 62 67 310 97 86 40

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 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

Engine & Cooling 2,024 29.8%

Electrical System 653 9.6%

Brakes 632 9.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 485 7.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 483 7.1%

Other & Unspecified 478 7.0%

Airbags 297 4.4%

Body & Structure 285 4.2%