Total Complaints
4 filings
STERLING 827 · model year
4 NHTSA complaints for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1989STERLING827 carries 4 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 1 fire, 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 1989 827 is electrical system:wiring:interior/under dash with 1 filings, followed by exterior lighting:headlights:switch (1) and seat belts:front:buckle assembly (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 1989 827. 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
4 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING:INTERIOR/UNDER DASH | 1 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS:SWITCH | 1 |
| SEAT BELTS:FRONT:BUCKLE ASSEMBLY | 1 |
| SEAT BELTS:FRONT:RETRACTOR | 1 |
FRONT PASSENGER'S SEAT BELT CANNOT BE PULLED TO REACH THE LATCH. *AK
THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT BELT WILL NOT LATCH UNDER NORMAL INSERTION. HAS TO BE FORCED TO LATCH, THEN IT IS HARD TO UNLATCH. *AK
WHILE DRIVING HEADLIGHTS GO OUT WITHOUT WARNING. PLEASE GIVE MORE INFORMATION.*AK
SHORT CIRCUIT/FIRE IN MAIN BODY WIRING HARNESS. *DSH
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.