Pontiac Montana vs Volkswagen Beetle

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 Montana	Volkswagen Beetle
Complaints on file	1,451	3,625
Model years covered	1997–2008	1965–2019
Worst model year	2000	2000
Best model year	2006	2018
Crashes reported	98	174
Fires reported	18	160
Injuries reported	117	101
Deaths reported	6	4
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	16.5%	12.1%

Pontiac Montana by year

25 62 329 310 208 161 117 46 130 61 2

97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 08

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 300 20.7%

Body & Structure 122 8.4%

Electrical System 120 8.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 102 7.0%

Airbags 99 6.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 99 6.8%

Brakes 93 6.4%

Doors, Latches & Locks 77 5.3%

Volkswagen Beetle by year

5 1 1 1 4 289 280 373 291 231 405 469 330 161 79 109 39 42 88 126 71 108 64 19 23 16

65 69 70 73 74 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 616 17.0%

Airbags 548 15.1%

Electrical System 509 14.0%

Engine & Cooling 372 10.3%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 370 10.2%

Lights 205 5.7%

Body & Structure 167 4.6%

Brakes 134 3.7%