BMW 3 Series vs Mitsubishi Eclipse

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	Mitsubishi Eclipse
Complaints on file	1,149	2,785
Model years covered	1986–2013	1989–2012
Worst model year	2007	2001
Best model year	2012	2012
Crashes reported	49	328
Fires reported	32	83
Injuries reported	40	169
Deaths reported	0	11
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	10.5%	21.2%

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%

Mitsubishi Eclipse by year

13 59 65 65 44 53 440 220 185 174 150 380 287 84 158 20 8 118 122 83 44 1 1 11

89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

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

What breaks

Brakes 427 15.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 331 11.9%

Wheels 278 10.0%

Engine & Cooling 272 9.8%

Body & Structure 217 7.8%

Airbags 179 6.4%

Electrical System 176 6.3%

Suspension 163 5.9%