Mercedes Benz SL550 vs Nissan Nissan

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 SL550	Nissan Nissan
Complaints on file	46	114
Model years covered	2003–2009	1983–2002
Worst model year	—	2000
Best model year	—	2002
Crashes reported	0	27
Fires reported	5	3
Injuries reported	0	25
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	10.9%	48.2%

Mercedes Benz SL550 by year

1 20 5 20

03 07 08 09

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

What breaks

Brakes 17 37.0%

Electrical System 6 13.0%

Tires 5 10.9%

Wheels 4 8.7%

Body & Structure 3 6.5%

Engine & Cooling 2 4.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 2 4.3%

Steering 2 4.3%

Nissan Nissan by year

1 2 1 2 1 2 3 7 8 8 3 20 26 10 20

83 86 88 89 90 92 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

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

What breaks

Electrical System 20 17.5%

Airbags 18 15.8%

Engine & Cooling 13 11.4%

Brakes 10 8.8%

Seat Belts 7 6.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 6 5.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 5 4.4%

Suspension 5 4.4%