Pontiac Sunfire vs Chevrolet Lumina

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	Chevrolet Lumina
Complaints on file	1,641	4,007
Model years covered	1985–2005	1987–2008
Worst model year	1996	1995
Best model year	2005	2001
Crashes reported	153	283
Fires reported	61	83
Injuries reported	102	159
Deaths reported	7	18
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	19.7%	13.6%

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%

Chevrolet Lumina by year

2 615 483 483 344 190 670 312 438 276 132 36 25 1

87 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 08

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

What breaks

Brakes 1,252 31.2%

Engine & Cooling 423 10.6%

Electrical System 300 7.5%

Steering 287 7.2%

Body & Structure 226 5.6%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 199 5.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 196 4.9%

Seat Belts 182 4.5%