BMW M3 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 M3	Ford E-350
Complaints on file	552	1,361
Model years covered	1988–2025	1983–2025
Worst model year	2008	1997
Best model year	2018	2015
Crashes reported	35	68
Fires reported	6	66
Injuries reported	22	55
Deaths reported	0	10
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	11.4%	14.6%

BMW M3 by year

2 16 1 28 18 13 20 48 69 38 12 14 102 54 20 41 6 17 4 7 3 10 5 1 1 2

88 95 96 97 98 99 01 02 03 04 05 06 08 09 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 21 22 23 25

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 120 21.7%

Airbags 101 18.3%

Engine & Cooling 94 17.0%

Electrical System 37 6.7%

Body & Structure 27 4.9%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 24 4.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 23 4.2%

Suspension 21 3.8%

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%