Total Complaints
5 filings
BUICK ELECTRA · model year
5 NHTSA complaints for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1983BUICKELECTRA carries 5 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 1983 ELECTRA is seat belts:front:anchorage with 2 filings, followed by exterior lighting:headlights (1) and exterior lighting:brake lights (1). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability.
NHTSA currently has 1 investigation file overlapping the 1983 ELECTRA. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.
Total Complaints
5 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| SEAT BELTS:FRONT:ANCHORAGE | 2 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS | 1 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS | 1 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HAZARD FLASHING WARNING LIGHTS | 1 |
DRIVER'S SEAT BELT FAILED, UNABLE TO GET REPLACEMENT DUE TO LACK OF PARTS.
WHEN HEADLIGHTS ARE TURNED ON THE BRAKES LIGHTS ARE ACTIVATED.
WHEN BRAKING THE BRAKES LIGHTS DO NOT COME ON.
NEW HAZARD FLASHERS DO NOT FUNCTION.
DRIVERS SEAT BELT NO LONGER WORKS, NEEDS TO BE REPLACED, DEALER SAID THE MANUFACTURE NO LONGER MAKES THIS PART.
Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.