Mercury Mystique vs Audi A4

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	Mercury Mystique	Audi A4
Complaints on file	1,510	3,677
Model years covered	1994–2002	1995–2024
Worst model year	1995	2002
Best model year	1997	2022
Crashes reported	76	146
Fires reported	61	76
Injuries reported	69	84
Deaths reported	1	0
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	13.7%	8.3%

Mercury Mystique by year

2 524 303 100 326 169 81 2 3

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

Engine & Cooling 250 16.6%

Electrical System 204 13.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 151 10.0%

Suspension 128 8.5%

Brakes 125 8.3%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 92 6.1%

Body & Structure 76 5.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 76 5.0%

Audi A4 by year

1 133 119 321 242 115 153 218 282 225 267 343 226 204 150 77 17 23 28 38 24 18 75 80 16 230 19 10 19 4

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

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

What breaks

Airbags 520 14.1%

Engine & Cooling 489 13.3%

Electrical System 483 13.1%

Brakes 402 10.9%

Lights 375 10.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 217 5.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 205 5.6%

Other & Unspecified 162 4.4%