Saturn Outlook vs Ford Contour

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 Outlook	Ford Contour
Complaints on file	1,939	4,570
Model years covered	2007–2010	1993–2001
Worst model year	2008	1995
Best model year	2010	1994
Crashes reported	25	211
Fires reported	51	167
Injuries reported	23	174
Deaths reported	0	6
Most complained-about part	Lights	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	5.1%	12.2%

Saturn Outlook by year

728 926 262 23

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

Lights 485 25.0%

Electrical System 330 17.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 275 14.2%

Airbags 193 10.0%

Steering 156 8.0%

Engine & Cooling 105 5.4%

Body & Structure 89 4.6%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 61 3.1%

Ford Contour by year

5 13 1,323 858 314 1,189 616 248 4

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 704 15.4%

Electrical System 646 14.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 435 9.5%

Brakes 366 8.0%

Suspension 305 6.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 284 6.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 232 5.1%

Body & Structure 231 5.1%