Oldsmobile Alero vs Mercury Sable

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 Alero	Mercury Sable
Complaints on file	2,939	7,190
Model years covered	1998–2004	1984–2009
Worst model year	2000	2000
Best model year	2002	2005
Crashes reported	126	406
Fires reported	43	252
Injuries reported	90	264
Deaths reported	7	5
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	9.1%	12.9%

Oldsmobile Alero by year

2 702 810 549 407 294 175

98 99 00 01 02 03 04

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

What breaks

Electrical System 630 21.4%

Lights 427 14.5%

Brakes 412 14.0%

Engine & Cooling 335 11.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 181 6.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 148 5.0%

Suspension 112 3.8%

Airbags 103 3.5%

Mercury Sable by year

1 55 105 189 300 220 346 517 981 534 485 391 326 243 302 578 528 541 251 75 112 2 81 27

84 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 08 09

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 1,423 19.8%

Suspension 988 13.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 844 11.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 520 7.2%

Brakes 499 6.9%

Electrical System 472 6.6%

Body & Structure 341 4.7%

Steering 337 4.7%