Saturn Aura vs Ford Freestyle

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	Saturn Aura	Ford Freestyle
Complaints on file	2,227	5,155
Model years covered	2000–2010	2002–2007
Worst model year	2007	2005
Best model year	2009	2004
Crashes reported	79	153
Fires reported	19	21
Injuries reported	41	39
Deaths reported	5	0
Most complained-about part	Steering	Acceleration & Cruise Control
Share of complaints involving harm	6.5%	4.1%

Saturn Aura by year

4 6 950 677 588 2

00 05 07 08 09 10

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

What breaks

Steering 396 17.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 387 17.4%

Electrical System 257 11.5%

Brakes 214 9.6%

Stability & Traction Control 154 6.9%

Airbags 150 6.7%

Lights 147 6.6%

Engine & Cooling 113 5.1%

Ford Freestyle by year

1 14 2,018 1,872 1,250

02 04 05 06 07

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

What breaks

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1,617 31.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,308 25.4%

Engine & Cooling 681 13.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 397 7.7%

Electrical System 269 5.2%

Brakes 227 4.4%

Other & Unspecified 190 3.7%

Body & Structure 102 2.0%