Oldsmobile 88 vs Chevrolet Monte Carlo

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	Oldsmobile 88	Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Complaints on file	1,226	2,964
Model years covered	1972–1999	1974–2010
Worst model year	1998	2001
Best model year	1994	2005
Crashes reported	97	203
Fires reported	108	207
Injuries reported	65	133
Deaths reported	3	16
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	22.3%	18.9%

Oldsmobile 88 by year

1 2 1 2 4 13 9 7 33 22 46 32 28 16 109 99 91 150 113 129 213 106

72 76 77 79 81 82 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 276 22.5%

Brakes 180 14.7%

Electrical System 114 9.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 86 7.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 79 6.4%

Airbags 73 6.0%

Steering 65 5.3%

Seat Belts 57 4.6%

Chevrolet Monte Carlo by year

1 2 2 1 3 7 6 9 5 1 244 255 218 129 170 332 417 319 204 275 155 146 54 3 6

74 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 91 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 10

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

What breaks

Electrical System 626 21.1%

Engine & Cooling 518 17.5%

Brakes 395 13.3%

Steering 207 7.0%

Lights 170 5.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 166 5.6%

Airbags 137 4.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 136 4.6%