GMC Sierra Denali vs BMW 530I

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	GMC Sierra Denali	BMW 530I
Complaints on file	332	808
Model years covered	2002–2020	1994–2025
Worst model year	2019	2004
Best model year	2013	1994
Crashes reported	11	56
Fires reported	0	55
Injuries reported	15	43
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	7.8%	19.1%

GMC Sierra Denali by year

17 15 5 5 2 21 8 12 40 15 10 19 24 42 15 26 46 10

02 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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

What breaks

Brakes 57 17.2%

Other & Unspecified 54 16.3%

Body & Structure 34 10.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 28 8.4%

Engine & Cooling 27 8.1%

Steering 27 8.1%

Airbags 26 7.8%

Electrical System 17 5.1%

BMW 530I by year

12 7 29 32 61 175 84 128 109 25 38 28 15 20 10 5 27 3

94 95 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 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

Airbags 205 25.4%

Electrical System 106 13.1%

Engine & Cooling 89 11.0%

Seats 67 8.3%

Seat Belts 43 5.3%

Brakes 41 5.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 39 4.8%

Lights 38 4.7%