Ford Aspire vs BMW 535I

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	Ford Aspire	BMW 535I
Complaints on file	289	722
Model years covered	1987–1997	1986–2016
Worst model year	1994	2011
Best model year	1996	2016
Crashes reported	60	37
Fires reported	8	30
Injuries reported	39	23
Deaths reported	3	0
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	38.1%	12.5%

Ford Aspire by year

1 67 92 41 88

87 94 95 96 97

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

What breaks

Airbags 60 20.8%

Electrical System 35 12.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 30 10.4%

Engine & Cooling 26 9.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 20 6.9%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 19 6.6%

Brakes 18 6.2%

Steering 14 4.8%

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%