Volkswagen GTI vs Ford Contour

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	Ford Contour
Complaints on file	1,949	4,570
Model years covered	1985–2024	1993–2001
Worst model year	2002	1995
Best model year	1999	1994
Crashes reported	63	211
Fires reported	23	167
Injuries reported	76	174
Deaths reported	7	6
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	8.7%	12.2%

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%

Ford Contour by year

5 13 1,323 858 314 1,189 616 248 4

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 704 15.4%

Electrical System 646 14.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 435 9.5%

Brakes 366 8.0%

Suspension 305 6.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 284 6.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 232 5.1%

Body & Structure 231 5.1%