Honda Prelude vs BMW 3 Series

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	Honda Prelude	BMW 3 Series
Complaints on file	463	1,149
Model years covered	1981–2001	1986–2013
Worst model year	1997	2007
Best model year	2000	2012
Crashes reported	52	49
Fires reported	15	32
Injuries reported	29	40
Deaths reported	2	0
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	21.2%	10.5%

Honda Prelude by year

3 1 5 11 12 17 40 34 4 18 26 14 12 9 4 88 86 40 14 25

81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01

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

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 106 22.9%

Engine & Cooling 53 11.4%

Electrical System 49 10.6%

Seat Belts 35 7.6%

Steering 33 7.1%

Airbags 26 5.6%

Suspension 25 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 25 5.4%

BMW 3 Series by year

3 1 3 3 6 4 6 111 49 40 67 93 29 288 190 93 74 43 1 11 34

86 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13

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

What breaks

Airbags 270 23.5%

Electrical System 146 12.7%

Engine & Cooling 98 8.5%

Lights 94 8.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 67 5.8%

Body & Structure 67 5.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 52 4.5%

Steering 49 4.3%