Volvo 240 vs Honda Prelude

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	Volvo 240	Honda Prelude
Complaints on file	186	463
Model years covered	1976–1994	1981–2001
Worst model year	—	1997
Best model year	—	2000
Crashes reported	37	52
Fires reported	8	15
Injuries reported	18	29
Deaths reported	0	2
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	33.9%	21.2%

Volvo 240 by year

1 1 2 9 5 8 29 8 12 19 26 19 29 16 2

76 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94

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

What breaks

Electrical System 32 17.2%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 22 11.8%

Brakes 19 10.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 18 9.7%

Airbags 17 9.1%

Tires 15 8.1%

Engine & Cooling 12 6.5%

Lights 9 4.8%

Honda Prelude by year

3 1 5 11 12 17 40 34 4 18 26 14 12 9 4 88 86 40 14 25

81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 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

Transmission & Drivetrain 106 22.9%

Engine & Cooling 53 11.4%

Electrical System 49 10.6%

Seat Belts 35 7.6%

Steering 33 7.1%

Airbags 26 5.6%

Suspension 25 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 25 5.4%