BMW 3 Series vs Honda Ridgeline

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	BMW 3 Series	Honda Ridgeline
Complaints on file	1,149	2,769
Model years covered	1986–2013	2006–2026
Worst model year	2007	2006
Best model year	2012	2009
Crashes reported	49	96
Fires reported	32	65
Injuries reported	40	63
Deaths reported	0	2
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	10.5%	8.2%

BMW 3 Series by year

3 1 3 3 6 4 6 111 49 40 67 93 29 288 190 93 74 43 1 11 34

86 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Airbags 270 23.5%

Electrical System 146 12.7%

Engine & Cooling 98 8.5%

Lights 94 8.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 67 5.8%

Body & Structure 67 5.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 52 4.5%

Steering 49 4.3%

Honda Ridgeline by year

296 195 159 39 50 44 30 55 36 2 438 198 295 232 150 156 172 88 123 11

06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Electrical System 422 15.2%

Engine & Cooling 361 13.0%

Airbags 350 12.6%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 289 10.4%

Other & Unspecified 227 8.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 212 7.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 173 6.2%

Body & Structure 165 6.0%