Smart Fortwo vs Mazda MPV

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	Smart Fortwo	Mazda MPV
Complaints on file	475	1,156
Model years covered	2005–2019	1989–2006
Worst model year	2008	2003
Best model year	2017	1995
Crashes reported	28	130
Fires reported	68	27
Injuries reported	22	107
Deaths reported	1	0
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	25.1%	22.8%

Smart Fortwo by year

4 177 139 8 23 11 35 14 10 39 13 1 1

05 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 106 22.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 71 14.9%

Electrical System 57 12.0%

Other & Unspecified 45 9.5%

Seat Belts 35 7.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 31 6.5%

Body & Structure 26 5.5%

Brakes 20 4.2%

Mazda MPV by year

27 55 81 95 65 41 21 21 27 26 2 184 82 143 141 84 45 16

89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 232 20.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 204 17.6%

Airbags 108 9.3%

Brakes 106 9.2%

Electrical System 85 7.4%

Body & Structure 53 4.6%

Seat Belts 51 4.4%

Tires 46 4.0%