Mercury Sable vs 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	RAM 1500
Complaints on file	7,190	16,530
Model years covered	1984–2009	2009–2026
Worst model year	2000	2019
Best model year	2005	2009
Crashes reported	406	905
Fires reported	252	286
Injuries reported	264	464
Deaths reported	5	16
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	12.9%	10.1%

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%

RAM 1500 by year

47 1,598 2,401 1,963 2,094 1,181 898 2,138 900 1,130 1,020 331 126 603 100

09 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 2,645 16.0%

Steering 2,604 15.8%

Electrical System 2,295 13.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 1,497 9.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,421 8.6%

Brakes 1,245 7.5%

Other & Unspecified 1,222 7.4%

Airbags 561 3.4%