Volkswagen GTI vs Buick Lesabre

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	Buick Lesabre
Complaints on file	1,949	4,865
Model years covered	1985–2024	1971–2006
Worst model year	2002	2000
Best model year	1999	1996
Crashes reported	63	278
Fires reported	23	320
Injuries reported	76	213
Deaths reported	7	6
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	8.7%	16.8%

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%

Buick Lesabre by year

1 1 2 1 1 7 6 20 53 22 35 75 46 245 264 220 235 121 514 518 268 849 460 381 209 212 95 4

71 77 79 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 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 848 17.4%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 590 12.1%

Electrical System 562 11.6%

Brakes 476 9.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 319 6.6%

Airbags 293 6.0%

Body & Structure 293 6.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 267 5.5%