Mercury Tracer vs KIA RIO

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 Tracer	KIA RIO
Complaints on file	754	1,819
Model years covered	1988–2000	2000–2023
Worst model year	1997	2002
Best model year	1998	2023
Crashes reported	93	229
Fires reported	60	149
Injuries reported	71	163
Deaths reported	3	8
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	30.1%	30.2%

Mercury Tracer by year

22 20 2 76 26 114 81 126 15 181 57 32 2

88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00

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

What breaks

Electrical System 99 13.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 84 11.1%

Engine & Cooling 83 11.0%

Airbags 76 10.1%

Brakes 67 8.9%

Seat Belts 64 8.5%

Suspension 48 6.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 43 5.7%

KIA RIO by year

4 355 171 103 53 46 89 64 57 54 38 32 75 218 75 69 110 37 42 29 40 23 15 20

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

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 399 21.9%

Airbags 274 15.1%

Brakes 184 10.1%

Electrical System 160 8.8%

Other & Unspecified 131 7.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 102 5.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 98 5.4%

Seat Belts 64 3.5%