Mercury Sable vs Dodge RAM 1500

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 Sable	Dodge RAM 1500
Complaints on file	7,190	16,087
Model years covered	1984–2009	1991–2014
Worst model year	2000	2005
Best model year	2005	1995
Crashes reported	406	1,173
Fires reported	252	356
Injuries reported	264	806
Deaths reported	5	30
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	12.9%	14.7%

Mercury Sable by year

1 55 105 189 300 220 346 517 981 534 485 391 326 243 302 578 528 541 251 75 112 2 81 27

84 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 08 09

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 1,423 19.8%

Suspension 988 13.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 844 11.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 520 7.2%

Brakes 499 6.9%

Electrical System 472 6.6%

Body & Structure 341 4.7%

Steering 337 4.7%

Dodge RAM 1500 by year

8 7 148 273 407 468 645 769 641 1,370 1,004 1,363 1,369 1,630 1,080 701 720 884 630 989 980 1

91 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 14

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,447 15.2%

Airbags 2,223 13.8%

Body & Structure 2,038 12.7%

Electrical System 1,426 8.9%

Engine & Cooling 1,388 8.6%

Suspension 916 5.7%

Steering 873 5.4%

Brakes 833 5.2%