Mercedes Benz S550 vs Cadillac Fleetwood

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 S550	Cadillac Fleetwood
Complaints on file	108	265
Model years covered	2007–2008	1972–1998
Worst model year	—	1993
Best model year	—	1995
Crashes reported	2	33
Fires reported	2	14
Injuries reported	2	22
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	5.6%	26%

Mercedes Benz S550 by year

83 25

07 08

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 15 13.9%

Electrical System 15 13.9%

Engine & Cooling 14 13.0%

Suspension 14 13.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 10 9.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 8 7.4%

Other & Unspecified 7 6.5%

Airbags 4 3.7%

Cadillac Fleetwood by year

1 1 1 6 1 17 10 8 4 16 22 22 13 51 27 22 39 4

72 78 81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 98

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

What breaks

Brakes 48 18.1%

Engine & Cooling 30 11.3%

Electrical System 24 9.1%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 19 7.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 17 6.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 15 5.7%

Steering 14 5.3%

Body & Structure 14 5.3%