Volkswagen GTI vs Acura MDX

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	Volkswagen GTI	Acura MDX
Complaints on file	1,949	4,633
Model years covered	1985–2024	2001–2026
Worst model year	2002	2017
Best model year	1999	2007
Crashes reported	63	223
Fires reported	23	87
Injuries reported	76	154
Deaths reported	7	0
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	8.7%	10%

Volkswagen GTI by year

3 2 2 1 28 11 12 12 11 58 97 141 72 13 12 57 102 76 295 68 66 52 42 18 123 84 57 21 288 10 8 56 11 40

85 86 87 91 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

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 384 19.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 317 16.3%

Electrical System 223 11.4%

Brakes 160 8.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 147 7.5%

Other & Unspecified 126 6.5%

Airbags 124 6.4%

Stability & Traction Control 81 4.2%

Acura MDX by year

266 242 259 243 244 121 126 62 76 63 87 101 46 248 98 522 391 284 307 355 209 58 65 151 9

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 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

Transmission & Drivetrain 976 21.1%

Engine & Cooling 818 17.7%

Electrical System 500 10.8%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 345 7.4%

Other & Unspecified 319 6.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 239 5.2%

Airbags 230 5.0%

Brakes 206 4.4%