Kawasaki KLR650 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	Kawasaki KLR650	BMW M3
Complaints on file	229	554
Model years covered	1993–2024	1988–2025
Worst model year	2008	2008
Best model year	2023	2005
Crashes reported	0	35
Fires reported	1	8
Injuries reported	1	22
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Lights	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	0.9%	11.7%

Kawasaki KLR650 by year

2 1 1 6 7 9 20 12 7 1 1 129 8 1 3 19 2

93 95 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 05 06 08 09 17 22 23 24

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

What breaks

Lights 87 38.0%

Engine & Cooling 69 30.1%

Steering 18 7.9%

Suspension 13 5.7%

Body & Structure 11 4.8%

Electrical System 9 3.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 7 3.1%

Equipment & Accessories 3 1.3%

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 12 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 18.2%

Engine & Cooling 95 17.1%

Electrical System 38 6.9%

Body & Structure 27 4.9%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 24 4.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 23 4.2%

Suspension 21 3.8%