BMW 535I vs Buick Rendezvous

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 535I	Buick Rendezvous
Complaints on file	722	1,798
Model years covered	1986–2016	2001–2007
Worst model year	2011	2002
Best model year	2016	2007
Crashes reported	37	95
Fires reported	30	33
Injuries reported	23	78
Deaths reported	0	4
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	12.5%	11.7%

BMW 535I by year

1 1 9 3 5 5 2 116 100 81 156 86 59 46 37 15

86 88 89 90 91 92 94 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 167 23.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 146 20.2%

Electrical System 79 10.9%

Airbags 51 7.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 45 6.2%

Lights 43 6.0%

Other & Unspecified 28 3.9%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 21 2.9%

Buick Rendezvous by year

4 690 407 300 196 131 70

01 02 03 04 05 06 07

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

What breaks

Electrical System 312 17.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 291 16.2%

Engine & Cooling 280 15.6%

Brakes 150 8.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 120 6.7%

Suspension 105 5.8%

Steering 81 4.5%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 72 4.0%