Saab 9-3 vs Nissan Xterra

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	Nissan Xterra
Complaints on file	1,689	4,194
Model years covered	1994–2011	2000–2015
Worst model year	2003	2006
Best model year	2010	2009
Crashes reported	84	173
Fires reported	30	60
Injuries reported	76	111
Deaths reported	4	8
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Fuel & Propulsion
Share of complaints involving harm	11.5%	8.4%

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%

Nissan Xterra by year

258 197 214 97 110 1,175 1,034 770 174 26 58 27 17 7 15 15

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15

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

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 1,106 26.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,045 24.9%

Engine & Cooling 823 19.6%

Electrical System 209 5.0%

Airbags 179 4.3%

Other & Unspecified 121 2.9%

Brakes 114 2.7%

Steering 110 2.6%