BMW X5 vs Chevrolet Silverado

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 X5	Chevrolet Silverado
Complaints on file	4,530	10,928
Model years covered	2000–2026	1980–2017
Worst model year	2021	2001
Best model year	2007	1993
Crashes reported	189	869
Fires reported	234	165
Injuries reported	142	498
Deaths reported	7	28
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Brakes
Share of complaints involving harm	12.6%	14.3%

BMW X5 by year

37 215 136 134 93 109 221 119 319 203 190 395 374 215 130 199 110 111 100 267 151 158 111 48 250 105 30

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 26

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 902 19.9%

Airbags 628 13.9%

Electrical System 538 11.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 426 9.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 400 8.8%

Brakes 308 6.8%

Other & Unspecified 275 6.1%

Steering 136 3.0%

Chevrolet Silverado by year

2 2 5 3 2 18 24 37 18 51 77 235 331 230 365 335 2,104 1,614 1,048 853 852 723 361 223 253 221 103 91 99 91 87 195 111 8 156

80 82 84 85 87 88 89 90 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

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

What breaks

Brakes 3,696 33.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 818 7.5%

Electrical System 763 7.0%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 686 6.3%

Engine & Cooling 661 6.0%

Steering 561 5.1%

Body & Structure 508 4.6%

Airbags 485 4.4%