Mercedes Benz CLK320 vs Ford Ford

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 CLK320	Ford Ford
Complaints on file	160	394
Model years covered	1999–2009	1963–2003
Worst model year	2003	2003
Best model year	2005	1995
Crashes reported	25	27
Fires reported	7	40
Injuries reported	16	23
Deaths reported	0	4
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	30%	23.9%

Mercedes Benz CLK320 by year

29 19 20 27 26 23 14 1 1

99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 09

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

What breaks

Electrical System 31 19.4%

Airbags 20 12.5%

Seat Belts 13 8.1%

Engine & Cooling 11 6.9%

Body & Structure 11 6.9%

Tires 10 6.3%

Other & Unspecified 9 5.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 8 5.0%

Ford Ford by year

1 1 1 1 5 1 6 1 1 2 4 3 5 5 12 5 5 8 12 17 22 21 20 28 62 34 56 55

63 64 67 72 77 79 80 82 84 85 86 87 88 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

Electrical System 58 14.7%

Engine & Cooling 48 12.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 41 10.4%

Tires 35 8.9%

Suspension 31 7.9%

Brakes 27 6.9%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 26 6.6%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 23 5.8%