Mercury Topaz vs Chevrolet Sonic

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 Topaz	Chevrolet Sonic
Complaints on file	581	1,423
Model years covered	1983–1998	2011–2020
Worst model year	1994	2013
Best model year	1995	2019
Crashes reported	27	144
Fires reported	59	23
Injuries reported	12	85
Deaths reported	2	5
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	17.2%	18.1%

Mercury Topaz by year

1 13 5 13 28 28 57 67 59 92 98 106 13 1

83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 98

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

What breaks

Electrical System 113 19.4%

Engine & Cooling 99 17.0%

Seat Belts 77 13.3%

Brakes 59 10.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 34 5.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 32 5.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 28 4.8%

Steering 20 3.4%

Chevrolet Sonic by year

1 522 322 230 171 69 59 23 10 16

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 257 18.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 231 16.2%

Electrical System 226 15.9%

Other & Unspecified 166 11.7%

Airbags 126 8.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 74 5.2%

Steering 54 3.8%

Brakes 44 3.1%