Ford Bronco II vs BMW 525I

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 Bronco II	BMW 525I
Complaints on file	269	663
Model years covered	1982–1996	1989–2009
Worst model year	—	2004
Best model year	—	1994
Crashes reported	31	15
Fires reported	87	63
Injuries reported	35	24
Deaths reported	5	0
Most complained-about part	Electrical System	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	58.7%	15.4%

Ford Bronco II by year

1 14 23 40 43 59 49 32 1 2 4 1

82 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 92 93 94 96

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

What breaks

Electrical System 61 22.7%

Engine & Cooling 39 14.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 30 11.2%

Brakes 21 7.8%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 21 7.8%

Seat Belts 18 6.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 17 6.3%

Body & Structure 13 4.8%

BMW 525I by year

4 51 21 30 9 10 37 2 1 31 41 40 123 52 111 98 1 1

89 90 91 92 93 94 95 98 99 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

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

What breaks

Airbags 168 25.3%

Electrical System 86 13.0%

Engine & Cooling 79 11.9%

Seats 45 6.8%

Seat Belts 43 6.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 32 4.8%

Brakes 32 4.8%

Lights 25 3.8%