Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen vs Mercury Topaz

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 Jetta Sportwagen	Mercury Topaz
Complaints on file	234	581
Model years covered	2008–2014	1983–1998
Worst model year	2014	1994
Best model year	2009	1995
Crashes reported	8	27
Fires reported	5	59
Injuries reported	5	12
Deaths reported	0	2
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	7.7%	17.2%

Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen by year

2 27 33 41 38 47 46

08 09 10 11 12 13 14

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

What breaks

Electrical System 38 16.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 34 14.5%

Suspension 24 10.3%

Brakes 23 9.8%

Engine & Cooling 21 9.0%

Other & Unspecified 21 9.0%

Airbags 20 8.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 13 5.6%

Mercury Topaz by year

1 13 5 13 28 28 57 67 59 92 98 106 13 1

83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 98

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

What breaks

Electrical System 113 19.4%

Engine & Cooling 99 17.0%

Seat Belts 77 13.3%

Brakes 59 10.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 34 5.9%

Fuel & Propulsion 32 5.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 28 4.8%

Steering 20 3.4%