Pontiac Vibe vs Ford Escort

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 Vibe	Ford Escort
Complaints on file	2,133	5,050
Model years covered	2000–2014	1981–2003
Worst model year	2009	1997
Best model year	2008	2002
Crashes reported	138	629
Fires reported	8	610
Injuries reported	114	456
Deaths reported	1	24
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	12.2%	34%

Pontiac Vibe by year

1 1 2 340 315 337 199 202 68 600 67 1

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 14

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

What breaks

Airbags 1,011 47.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 206 9.7%

Engine & Cooling 168 7.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 137 6.4%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 118 5.5%

Electrical System 96 4.5%

Body & Structure 63 3.0%

Steering 58 2.7%

Ford Escort by year

2 5 7 27 31 53 65 206 199 128 413 222 480 351 725 257 729 470 413 128 85 41 13

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03

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

What breaks

Electrical System 872 17.3%

Seat Belts 660 13.1%

Engine & Cooling 557 11.0%

Airbags 493 9.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 433 8.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 324 6.4%

Suspension 310 6.1%

Brakes 291 5.8%