Mercedes Benz SL500 vs Mercury Tracer

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 SL500	Mercury Tracer
Complaints on file	308	754
Model years covered	1992–2009	1988–2000
Worst model year	2004	1997
Best model year	2006	1998
Crashes reported	12	93
Fires reported	30	60
Injuries reported	14	71
Deaths reported	2	3
Most complained-about part	Suspension	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	18.8%	30.1%

Mercedes Benz SL500 by year

2 7 10 39 9 13 8 2 2 3 108 64 22 15 4

92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 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

Suspension 64 20.8%

Electrical System 60 19.5%

Brakes 43 14.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 36 11.7%

Engine & Cooling 16 5.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 14 4.5%

Airbags 14 4.5%

Steering 10 3.2%

Mercury Tracer by year

22 20 2 76 26 114 81 126 15 181 57 32 2

88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00

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

What breaks

Electrical System 99 13.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 84 11.1%

Engine & Cooling 83 11.0%

Airbags 76 10.1%

Brakes 67 8.9%

Seat Belts 64 8.5%

Suspension 48 6.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 43 5.7%