Saturn ION vs Hyundai Elantra

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 ION	Hyundai Elantra
Complaints on file	5,471	12,108
Model years covered	2003–2008	1992–2026
Worst model year	2006	2013
Best model year	2005	1993
Crashes reported	334	1,289
Fires reported	23	306
Injuries reported	175	756
Deaths reported	4	14
Most complained-about part	Steering	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	9.8%	19.5%

Saturn ION by year

961 1,124 755 1,537 1,090 4

03 04 05 06 07 08

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

What breaks

Steering 1,724 31.5%

Electrical System 1,598 29.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 583 10.7%

Engine & Cooling 288 5.3%

Airbags 263 4.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 202 3.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 116 2.1%

Lights 106 1.9%

Hyundai Elantra by year

46 39 110 179 138 196 75 183 259 445 431 310 209 180 209 365 424 321 504 589 920 1,864 552 356 398 1,078 406 333 342 215 143 159 94 34 2

92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 1,969 16.3%

Airbags 1,365 11.3%

Steering 1,147 9.5%

Electrical System 1,093 9.0%

Brakes 1,082 8.9%

Other & Unspecified 826 6.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 680 5.6%

Suspension 618 5.1%