Volkswagen Touareg vs Oldsmobile Cutlass

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 Touareg	Oldsmobile Cutlass
Complaints on file	945	2,251
Model years covered	2004–2017	1976–1999
Worst model year	2004	1993
Best model year	2009	1999
Crashes reported	22	142
Fires reported	30	59
Injuries reported	30	95
Deaths reported	0	7
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	8.7%	13.5%

Volkswagen Touareg by year

373 106 52 9 73 25 37 20 37 42 35 35 67 34

04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

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

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 152 16.1%

Engine & Cooling 134 14.2%

Electrical System 102 10.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 83 8.8%

Tires 54 5.7%

Airbags 53 5.6%

Steering 46 4.9%

Other & Unspecified 46 4.9%

Oldsmobile Cutlass by year

3 4 2 3 8 1 8 24 22 31 22 107 164 151 266 182 193 200 199 160 161 223 117

76 77 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

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

What breaks

Brakes 600 26.7%

Engine & Cooling 239 10.6%

Electrical System 239 10.6%

Seat Belts 119 5.3%

Steering 118 5.2%

Suspension 109 4.8%

Body & Structure 108 4.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 106 4.7%