BMW 3 Series vs Mercedes Benz C300

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	Mercedes Benz C300
Complaints on file	1,149	2,855
Model years covered	1986–2013	2010–2016
Worst model year	2007	2010
Best model year	2012	2012
Crashes reported	49	102
Fires reported	32	33
Injuries reported	40	72
Deaths reported	0	1
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	10.5%	7.3%

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%

Mercedes Benz C300 by year

593 585 333 342 120 514 368

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

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

What breaks

Airbags 738 25.8%

Body & Structure 290 10.2%

Engine & Cooling 262 9.2%

Suspension 257 9.0%

Electrical System 249 8.7%

Other & Unspecified 237 8.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 222 7.8%

Steering 188 6.6%