BMW 3 Series vs Hyundai Accent

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	Hyundai Accent
Complaints on file	1,149	2,760
Model years covered	1986–2013	1991–2022
Worst model year	2007	2013
Best model year	2012	2021
Crashes reported	49	366
Fires reported	32	124
Injuries reported	40	261
Deaths reported	0	8
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	10.5%	27.5%

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%

Hyundai Accent by year

2 1 197 142 82 72 66 115 148 163 45 40 76 49 113 135 128 119 53 219 207 99 100 160 98 23 37 17 22 32

91 93 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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

What breaks

Airbags 444 16.1%

Engine & Cooling 350 12.7%

Brakes 279 10.1%

Electrical System 228 8.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 223 8.1%

Suspension 166 6.0%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 159 5.8%

Other & Unspecified 142 5.1%