Vehicle report
1996 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
This model year
What the record shows
The 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier is a compact car, and the 17th model year of a nameplate NHTSA records from 1980 to 2005.
The EPA rated five configurations: engines from 2.2-litre four-cylinder to 2.4-litre four-cylinder, front-wheel drive only, three transmissions and running on regular gasoline.
Combined fuel economy ranges from 23 to 26 mpg depending on which one you have.
The federal record holds 503 owner complaints and 80 service bulletins for it.
Counts are reports, not rates. A complaint is something an owner chose to file; it is unverified and unadjusted for how many of these cars were sold, so the useful comparison is against other model years of the same car. Recalls and investigations carry more weight because a manufacturer or regulator acted on them.
Reading this report
Complaint counts are reports filed with NHTSA, not failure rates. A common model collects more of them than a rare one that breaks more often.