Pontiac Grand AM vs Nissan Altima

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	Pontiac Grand AM	Nissan Altima
Complaints on file	8,105	20,238
Model years covered	1973–2005	1993–2025
Worst model year	1999	2014
Best model year	1993	2004
Crashes reported	635	1,256
Fires reported	222	317
Injuries reported	488	783
Deaths reported	37	17
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	17.1%	11.7%

Pontiac Grand AM by year

1 1 8 13 47 34 88 61 102 304 290 515 587 672 600 236 1,318 939 759 549 436 402 143

73 83 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

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

What breaks

Electrical System 1,687 20.8%

Engine & Cooling 1,119 13.8%

Brakes 1,091 13.5%

Lights 747 9.2%

Airbags 446 5.5%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 429 5.3%

Steering 376 4.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 327 4.0%

Nissan Altima by year

150 120 216 117 141 141 110 199 202 1,321 1,099 334 1,364 1,043 598 1,376 2,150 541 320 579 2,981 1,396 1,203 790 521 322 356 262 120 55 39 62 10

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 3,482 17.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,205 10.9%

Airbags 1,967 9.7%

Electrical System 1,775 8.8%

Body & Structure 1,769 8.7%

Other & Unspecified 1,496 7.4%

Steering 1,346 6.7%

Lights 1,235 6.1%