Geo Metro Years to Avoid, Problems & Recalls

Which Geo Metro years should you avoid?

Going by 602 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Geo Metro years to avoid are 1996 and 1995.

19964.3× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (5 fires, 27 crashes, 1 death).
1995109 complaints, 2.0× a typical Metro year, most often about the airbags.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →

Year	Complaints	Recalls	Fires	Crashes	Most reported	Status
2001	6	0	—	2	Visibility › Defroster/Defogger/Hvac System › Rear Window	Routine
2000	19	0	1	3	Air Bags	Routine
1999	23	0	—	4	Air Bags › Frontal	Routine
1998	33	0	—	5	Engine and Engine Cooling › Engine › Gasoline	Routine
1997	63	1	2	13	Engine and Engine Cooling › Engine › Gasoline	Routine
1996Avoid	88	0	5	27	Air Bags › Frontal	Fatalities reported
1995Avoid	109	1	—	43	Air Bags › Frontal	Routine
1994	68	0	1	7	Latches/Locks/Linkages › Hood › Latch	Routine
1993	50	1	—	6	Latches/Locks/Linkages › Hood › Latch	Routine
1992	54	1	—	6	Seat Belts › Front › Buckle Assembly	Routine
1991	50	2	1	6	Latches/Locks/Linkages › Hood › Latch	Fatalities reported
1990	39	2	—	5	Latches/Locks/Linkages › Hood › Latch	Routine

Year

Complaints

Relative volume

Recalls

Fires

Crashes

Most reported

Status

2001

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Visibility › Defroster/Defogger/Hvac System › Rear Window

Routine