Nissan D21 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	Nissan D21	BMW 3 Series
Complaints on file	466	1,149
Model years covered	1988–1997	1986–2013
Worst model year	1995	2007
Best model year	1996	2012
Crashes reported	66	49
Fires reported	16	32
Injuries reported	35	40
Deaths reported	1	0
Most complained-about part	Body & Structure	Airbags
Share of complaints involving harm	25.3%	10.5%

Nissan D21 by year

1 5 1 35 21 49 76 159 47 72

88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97

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

What breaks

Body & Structure 69 14.8%

Engine & Cooling 47 10.1%

Tires 43 9.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 40 8.6%

Airbags 36 7.7%

Seat Belts 36 7.7%

Brakes 34 7.3%

Electrical System 33 7.1%

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%