Pontiac Sunfire vs Acura TL

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 Sunfire	Acura TL
Complaints on file	1,641	4,055
Model years covered	1985–2005	1995–2014
Worst model year	1996	2003
Best model year	2005	2014
Crashes reported	153	223
Fires reported	61	62
Injuries reported	102	136
Deaths reported	7	8
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	19.7%	10.6%

Pontiac Sunfire by year

2 1 2 154 320 257 149 128 169 83 128 113 41 94

85 91 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 339 20.7%

Engine & Cooling 259 15.8%

Brakes 172 10.5%

Airbags 125 7.6%

Steering 115 7.0%

Lights 109 6.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 76 4.6%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 71 4.3%

Acura TL by year

3 33 29 22 197 325 163 403 466 766 553 345 167 181 51 75 23 162 74 17

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 921 22.7%

Airbags 834 20.6%

Body & Structure 549 13.5%

Electrical System 263 6.5%

Other & Unspecified 244 6.0%

Steering 213 5.3%

Engine & Cooling 174 4.3%

Brakes 125 3.1%