Ford Taurus X vs BMW M3

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 Taurus X	BMW M3
Complaints on file	227	552
Model years covered	2008–2009	1988–2025
Worst model year	—	2008
Best model year	—	2018
Crashes reported	13	35
Fires reported	6	6
Injuries reported	3	22
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	9.7%	11.4%

Ford Taurus X by year

210 17

08 09

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 45 19.8%

Steering 44 19.4%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 26 11.5%

Body & Structure 18 7.9%

Brakes 15 6.6%

Engine & Cooling 13 5.7%

Electrical System 10 4.4%

Suspension 10 4.4%

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%