1991 Geo Metro

The 1991 Geo Metro sits in the early portion of this generation's complaint arc, which rises from 43 complaints in 1990 to a peak of 121 in 1995 before declining steadily to just 6 by 2001. At 59 complaints, the target year represents a moderate step up from its predecessor but remains well below the mid-generation peak, suggesting the model had not yet accumulated the aging-related issues that would drive complaints sharply higher later. Notably, recalls hold steady at 2 (matching 1990) and investigations remain relatively high at 3, indicating regulators were still actively scrutinizing early-production vehicles; this regulatory attention drops to zero after 1993. The 1991's top complaint areas — Seat Belts and Latches/Locks/Linkages (15 each) — point to hardware integrity concerns rather than systemic powertrain failure, though 7 crash-related complaints and 1 fire complaint warrant attention. The data does not specify root causes for any of these areas. **Takeaway:** The 1991 is a reasonable buy within this generation — it avoids the worst complaint volumes seen in 1994–1996, and its remaining recalls and investigations suggest early production issues were being addressed rather than ignored — but a buyer should specifically verify seat belt and latch functionality, as those dominate the complaint record for this year.