Mercedes Benz E Class vs Mitsubishi Montero

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 E Class	Mitsubishi Montero
Complaints on file	412	989
Model years covered	1993–2008	1986–2006
Worst model year	2003	2001
Best model year	1996	1993
Crashes reported	14	83
Fires reported	12	18
Injuries reported	8	59
Deaths reported	0	8
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	8.3%	17%

Mercedes Benz E Class by year

9 46 29 18 43 31 20 61 33 8 69 19 10 11 5

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 08

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

What breaks

Electrical System 99 24.0%

Suspension 57 13.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 39 9.5%

Engine & Cooling 38 9.2%

Brakes 34 8.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 20 4.9%

Body & Structure 18 4.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 17 4.1%

Mitsubishi Montero by year

8 4 1 10 25 22 18 17 35 106 40 85 91 47 68 213 132 53 7 1 6

86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06

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

What breaks

Brakes 240 24.3%

Engine & Cooling 170 17.2%

Suspension 70 7.1%

Electrical System 68 6.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 63 6.4%

Steering 56 5.7%

Airbags 51 5.2%

Body & Structure 37 3.7%