BMW 525I vs Ford Tempo

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 525I	Ford Tempo
Complaints on file	663	1,649
Model years covered	1989–2009	1981–2000
Worst model year	2004	—
Best model year	1994	—
Crashes reported	15	110
Fires reported	63	191
Injuries reported	24	86
Deaths reported	0	5
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	15.4%	23.8%

BMW 525I by year

4 51 21 30 9 10 37 2 1 31 41 40 123 52 111 98 1 1

89 90 91 92 93 94 95 98 99 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

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

What breaks

Airbags 168 25.3%

Electrical System 86 13.0%

Engine & Cooling 79 11.9%

Seats 45 6.8%

Seat Belts 43 6.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 32 4.8%

Brakes 32 4.8%

Lights 25 3.8%

Ford Tempo by year

2 19 40 42 79 176 168 174 143 264 316 212 6 2 3 1 1 1

81 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00

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

What breaks

Electrical System 369 22.4%

Engine & Cooling 326 19.8%

Seat Belts 232 14.1%

Brakes 153 9.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 87 5.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 72 4.4%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 71 4.3%

Steering 66 4.0%