Oldsmobile Ciera vs Suzuki Grand Vitara

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 Ciera	Suzuki Grand Vitara
Complaints on file	354	880
Model years covered	1984–1996	1999–2013
Worst model year	1996	1999
Best model year	1995	2009
Crashes reported	42	86
Fires reported	4	14
Injuries reported	30	32
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	21.5%	15%

Oldsmobile Ciera by year

3 9 15 27 32 37 24 55 45 107

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 94 95 96

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

What breaks

Brakes 69 19.5%

Engine & Cooling 48 13.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 33 9.3%

Electrical System 31 8.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 27 7.6%

Seat Belts 26 7.3%

Body & Structure 19 5.4%

Steering 17 4.8%

Suzuki Grand Vitara by year

142 106 56 63 37 11 2 231 86 55 24 33 11 17 6

99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13

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

What breaks

Airbags 136 15.5%

Electrical System 83 9.4%

Lights 82 9.3%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 76 8.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 70 8.0%

Engine & Cooling 61 6.9%

Brakes 61 6.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 51 5.8%