Pontiac Lemans vs Lexus LS400

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 Lemans	Lexus LS400
Complaints on file	172	424
Model years covered	1977–1993	1990–2001
Worst model year	—	1993
Best model year	—	2000
Crashes reported	16	58
Fires reported	6	8
Injuries reported	12	33
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Seat Belts	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	19.8%	23.3%

Pontiac Lemans by year

2 24 20 31 35 28 32

77 88 89 90 91 92 93

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

What breaks

Seat Belts 56 32.6%

Brakes 32 18.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 15 8.7%

Electrical System 13 7.6%

Engine & Cooling 11 6.4%

Suspension 6 3.5%

Lights 6 3.5%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 5 2.9%

Lexus LS400 by year

36 27 10 83 76 48 24 23 52 27 16 2

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

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

What breaks

Electrical System 131 30.9%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 48 11.3%

Brakes 26 6.1%

Lights 26 6.1%

Seat Belts 25 5.9%

Airbags 20 4.7%

Tires 20 4.7%

Engine & Cooling 18 4.2%