Mitsubishi Galant vs Saturn ION

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	Mitsubishi Galant	Saturn ION
Complaints on file	2,429	5,471
Model years covered	1986–2012	2003–2008
Worst model year	1999	2006
Best model year	1998	2005
Crashes reported	334	334
Fires reported	115	23
Injuries reported	198	175
Deaths reported	9	4
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	27%	9.8%

Mitsubishi Galant by year

6 9 7 20 32 78 43 11 284 296 200 110 69 296 183 211 175 167 68 34 37 31 9 23 12 7 11

86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

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

What breaks

Brakes 395 16.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 265 10.9%

Suspension 250 10.3%

Airbags 234 9.6%

Engine & Cooling 221 9.1%

Electrical System 198 8.2%

Body & Structure 175 7.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 141 5.8%

Saturn ION by year

961 1,124 755 1,537 1,090 4

03 04 05 06 07 08

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

What breaks

Steering 1,724 31.5%

Electrical System 1,598 29.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 583 10.7%

Engine & Cooling 288 5.3%

Airbags 263 4.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 202 3.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 116 2.1%

Lights 106 1.9%