BMW 328I vs Dodge Dakota

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 328I	Dodge Dakota
Complaints on file	3,777	9,236
Model years covered	1996–2016	1985–2011
Worst model year	2013	2002
Best model year	1998	2009
Crashes reported	210	691
Fires reported	193	178
Injuries reported	159	356
Deaths reported	1	24
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Suspension
Share of complaints involving harm	14.9%	13.5%

BMW 328I by year

36 29 34 125 146 5 574 375 297 231 799 198 392 237 203 96

96 97 98 99 00 01 07 08 09 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

Engine & Cooling 1,093 28.9%

Electrical System 684 18.1%

Airbags 604 16.0%

Other & Unspecified 179 4.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 174 4.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 149 3.9%

Brakes 114 3.0%

Body & Structure 112 3.0%

Dodge Dakota by year

3 1 21 65 88 88 161 314 159 240 294 250 650 793 1,011 1,096 945 946 419 287 598 385 167 131 23 48 53

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11

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

What breaks

Suspension 2,348 25.4%

Brakes 1,449 15.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,060 11.5%

Steering 723 7.8%

Airbags 691 7.5%

Engine & Cooling 597 6.5%

Electrical System 465 5.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 238 2.6%