Saturn SC vs Lexus IS 250

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	Lexus IS 250
Complaints on file	379	938
Model years covered	1991–2002	2006–2016
Worst model year	1994	2006
Best model year	1998	2015
Crashes reported	58	79
Fires reported	8	7
Injuries reported	31	39
Deaths reported	2	2
Most complained-about part	Seats	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	26.1%	13.5%

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%

Lexus IS 250 by year

252 282 157 61 43 38 27 8 46 20 4

06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

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

What breaks

Airbags 230 24.5%

Body & Structure 160 17.1%

Other & Unspecified 76 8.1%

Engine & Cooling 72 7.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 72 7.7%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 63 6.7%

Electrical System 47 5.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 40 4.3%