Saab 9-3 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	Saab 9-3	Acura TL
Complaints on file	1,689	4,055
Model years covered	1994–2011	1995–2014
Worst model year	2003	2003
Best model year	2010	2014
Crashes reported	84	223
Fires reported	30	62
Injuries reported	76	136
Deaths reported	4	8
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	11.5%	10.6%

Saab 9-3 by year

1 80 72 74 52 323 236 114 227 182 218 46 31 33

94 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

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

What breaks

Airbags 370 21.9%

Engine & Cooling 221 13.1%

Electrical System 207 12.3%

Suspension 187 11.1%

Seat Belts 164 9.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 109 6.5%

Brakes 96 5.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 71 4.2%

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%