Volvo 850 vs Buick Rendezvous

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 850	Buick Rendezvous
Complaints on file	732	1,798
Model years covered	1993–2000	2001–2007
Worst model year	1996	2002
Best model year	1997	2007
Crashes reported	45	95
Fires reported	51	33
Injuries reported	38	78
Deaths reported	3	4
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	18.7%	11.7%

Volvo 850 by year

96 108 148 235 142 2 1

93 94 95 96 97 99 00

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

What breaks

Brakes 117 16.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 73 10.0%

Electrical System 73 10.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 67 9.2%

Engine & Cooling 55 7.5%

Tires 45 6.1%

Airbags 42 5.7%

Seats 37 5.1%

Buick Rendezvous by year

4 690 407 300 196 131 70

01 02 03 04 05 06 07

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

What breaks

Electrical System 312 17.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 291 16.2%

Engine & Cooling 280 15.6%

Brakes 150 8.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 120 6.7%

Suspension 105 5.8%

Steering 81 4.5%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 72 4.0%