BMW 325I vs Buick Regal

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 325I	Buick Regal
Complaints on file	1,808	4,456
Model years covered	1987–2012	1978–2020
Worst model year	2006	1996
Best model year	1993	2004
Crashes reported	71	227
Fires reported	103	335
Injuries reported	76	169
Deaths reported	2	5
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	13.9%	16.5%

BMW 325I by year

5 7 10 5 4 55 25 23 42 1 196 198 261 182 81 709 1 1 1 1

87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 11 12

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

What breaks

Airbags 529 29.3%

Electrical System 217 12.0%

Lights 205 11.3%

Engine & Cooling 176 9.7%

Doors, Latches & Locks 78 4.3%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 71 3.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 65 3.6%

Steering 60 3.3%

Buick Regal by year

1 3 1 4 6 10 14 28 181 150 107 303 204 118 146 218 273 174 376 301 245 229 150 139 94 8 1 1 2 441 138 137 51 50 61 26 33 29 3

78 79 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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

What breaks

Brakes 867 19.5%

Engine & Cooling 811 18.2%

Electrical System 591 13.3%

Steering 325 7.3%

Lights 241 5.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 210 4.7%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 172 3.9%

Airbags 149 3.3%