Saturn SC vs Ford Explorer Sport Trac

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 SC	Ford Explorer Sport Trac
Complaints on file	379	929
Model years covered	1991–2002	1997–2010
Worst model year	1994	2001
Best model year	1998	2008
Crashes reported	58	81
Fires reported	8	32
Injuries reported	31	62
Deaths reported	2	1
Most complained-about part	Seats	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	26.1%	18.9%

Saturn SC by year

6 24 29 59 50 41 44 17 27 8 29 45

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

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

What breaks

Seats 54 14.2%

Engine & Cooling 52 13.7%

Electrical System 47 12.4%

Seat Belts 39 10.3%

Airbags 30 7.9%

Brakes 29 7.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 20 5.3%

Body & Structure 15 4.0%

Ford Explorer Sport Trac by year

6 8 3 229 190 93 108 85 6 122 34 7 38

97 98 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 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

Transmission & Drivetrain 142 15.3%

Engine & Cooling 107 11.5%

Electrical System 89 9.6%

Body & Structure 83 8.9%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 73 7.9%

Brakes 72 7.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 64 6.9%

Suspension 54 5.8%