BMW 320I vs Ford F-550 SD

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 320I	Ford F-550 SD
Complaints on file	247	613
Model years covered	1978–2018	1997–2026
Worst model year	2014	1999
Best model year	2013	2005
Crashes reported	36	16
Fires reported	8	45
Injuries reported	24	21
Deaths reported	0	1
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Fuel & Propulsion
Share of complaints involving harm	27.5%	13.5%

BMW 320I by year

3 1 6 1 1 2 5 13 80 46 40 13 36

78 79 80 82 02 04 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 47 19.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 29 11.7%

Electrical System 27 10.9%

Airbags 25 10.1%

Other & Unspecified 23 9.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 17 6.9%

Brakes 17 6.9%

Lights 14 5.7%

Ford F-550 SD by year

2 92 85 35 31 40 67 41 55 25 31 1 2 4 8 3 10 18 4 5 4 7 16 15 1 5 3 3

97 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 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

Fuel & Propulsion 185 30.2%

Engine & Cooling 107 17.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 64 10.4%

Tires 63 10.3%

Electrical System 36 5.9%

Brakes 31 5.1%

Wheels 26 4.2%

Suspension 20 3.3%