Mini Cooper vs KIA Sportage

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	Mini Cooper	KIA Sportage
Complaints on file	2,854	6,792
Model years covered	2001–2026	1995–2026
Worst model year	2003	2017
Best model year	2019	1995
Crashes reported	94	464
Fires reported	163	314
Injuries reported	72	303
Deaths reported	1	3
Most complained-about part	Steering	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	11.6%	16%

Mini Cooper by year

7 220 388 330 440 247 159 155 193 142 130 98 72 45 76 43 42 10 17 11 7 7 9 1 1 4

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 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

Steering 835 29.3%

Airbags 444 15.6%

Engine & Cooling 357 12.5%

Electrical System 312 10.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 284 10.0%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 86 3.0%

Other & Unspecified 82 2.9%

Seats 65 2.3%

KIA Sportage by year

88 98 299 558 493 462 354 321 4 93 169 113 138 120 28 264 454 449 154 195 183 560 226 102 205 62 67 310 97 86 40

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 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 2,024 29.8%

Electrical System 653 9.6%

Brakes 632 9.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 485 7.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 483 7.1%

Other & Unspecified 478 7.0%

Airbags 297 4.4%

Body & Structure 285 4.2%