BMW 330CI vs Pontiac Firebird

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 330CI	Pontiac Firebird
Complaints on file	326	802
Model years covered	2000–2006	1976–2002
Worst model year	2004	1995
Best model year	2003	2001
Crashes reported	20	86
Fires reported	16	53
Injuries reported	23	52
Deaths reported	0	5
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	18.1%	24.4%

BMW 330CI by year

1 97 55 18 82 38 35

00 01 02 03 04 05 06

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

What breaks

Airbags 132 40.5%

Lights 33 10.1%

Engine & Cooling 27 8.3%

Electrical System 26 8.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 24 7.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 24 7.4%

Body & Structure 16 4.9%

Tires 9 2.8%

Pontiac Firebird by year

1 1 3 2 2 5 6 20 22 27 11 10 23 10 29 33 18 72 112 50 59 91 76 35 36 48

76 77 78 79 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

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

What breaks

Brakes 148 18.5%

Electrical System 86 10.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 70 8.7%

Seat Belts 68 8.5%

Engine & Cooling 67 8.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 54 6.7%

Airbags 45 5.6%

Steering 39 4.9%