Mercury Tracer vs Saturn LS

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	Saturn LS
Complaints on file	754	1,885
Model years covered	1988–2000	2000–2004
Worst model year	1997	2001
Best model year	1998	2000
Crashes reported	93	49
Fires reported	60	49
Injuries reported	71	38
Deaths reported	3	5
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	30.1%	7.5%

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%

Saturn LS by year

544 708 631 2

00 01 02 04

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 745 39.5%

Electrical System 258 13.7%

Lights 213 11.3%

Steering 86 4.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 83 4.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 80 4.2%

Suspension 78 4.1%

Brakes 70 3.7%