Saturn LS vs BMW X5

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	Saturn LS	BMW X5
Complaints on file	1,885	4,578
Model years covered	2000–2004	2000–2026
Worst model year	2001	2021
Best model year	2000	2007
Crashes reported	49	190
Fires reported	49	236
Injuries reported	38	142
Deaths reported	5	7
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	7.5%	12.6%

Saturn LS by year

544 708 631 2

00 01 02 04

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 745 39.5%

Electrical System 258 13.7%

Lights 213 11.3%

Steering 86 4.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 83 4.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 80 4.2%

Suspension 78 4.1%

Brakes 70 3.7%

BMW X5 by year

37 215 136 134 93 109 221 119 319 203 190 395 374 215 130 203 113 111 101 274 159 166 118 48 253 107 35

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 914 20.0%

Airbags 628 13.7%

Electrical System 546 11.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 433 9.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 403 8.8%

Brakes 309 6.7%

Other & Unspecified 279 6.1%

Steering 138 3.0%