BMW 545I vs Ford F250

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 545I	Ford F250
Complaints on file	198	492
Model years covered	2004–2005	1968–1990
Worst model year	—	—
Best model year	—	—
Crashes reported	4	16
Fires reported	3	98
Injuries reported	6	8
Deaths reported	0	1
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	6.6%	25%

BMW 545I by year

77 121

04 05

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

What breaks

Airbags 56 28.3%

Electrical System 26 13.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 23 11.6%

Engine & Cooling 17 8.6%

Brakes 15 7.6%

Seat Belts 14 7.1%

Steering 9 4.5%

Seats 7 3.5%

Ford F250 by year

1 1 2 3 3 1 1 2 11 33 42 51 85 127 129

68 70 74 77 78 79 81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

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

What breaks

Electrical System 98 19.9%

Brakes 97 19.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 91 18.5%

Engine & Cooling 42 8.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 41 8.3%

Tires 34 6.9%

Steering 20 4.1%

Body & Structure 18 3.7%