Oldsmobile 88 vs Volkswagen Atlas

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	Volkswagen Atlas
Complaints on file	1,226	2,991
Model years covered	1972–1999	2018–2026
Worst model year	1998	2018
Best model year	1994	2026
Crashes reported	97	68
Fires reported	108	9
Injuries reported	65	66
Deaths reported	3	0
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	22.3%	4.8%

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%

Volkswagen Atlas by year

670 709 51 746 281 187 262 75 10

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

Electrical System 472 15.8%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 373 12.5%

Engine & Cooling 371 12.4%

Airbags 370 12.4%

Brakes 359 12.0%

Other & Unspecified 292 9.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 147 4.9%

Lights 115 3.8%