BMW 5 Series vs Ford E-350

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 5 Series	Ford E-350
Complaints on file	556	1,361
Model years covered	1989–2012	1983–2025
Worst model year	2006	1997
Best model year	2003	2015
Crashes reported	26	68
Fires reported	25	66
Injuries reported	22	55
Deaths reported	1	10
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	13.3%	14.6%

BMW 5 Series by year

1 6 1 2 3 4 10 13 89 26 125 22 131 6 9 96 12

89 95 97 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

Airbags 96 17.3%

Engine & Cooling 67 12.1%

Electrical System 62 11.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 57 10.3%

Tires 43 7.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 41 7.4%

Steering 32 5.8%

Brakes 22 4.0%

Ford E-350 by year

1 1 2 2 22 51 53 60 93 59 96 70 77 63 59 61 59 70 80 76 23 56 11 21 19 22 32 23 10 5 17 5 4 2 30 20 3 2 1

83 86 88 89 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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

What breaks

Brakes 225 16.5%

Engine & Cooling 219 16.1%

Tires 172 12.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 153 11.2%

Electrical System 97 7.1%

Steering 89 6.5%

Suspension 81 6.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 72 5.3%