Subaru GL vs BMW 528XI

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	Subaru GL	BMW 528XI
Complaints on file	99	241
Model years covered	1981–1993	2008–2014
Worst model year	—	2012
Best model year	—	2010
Crashes reported	9	6
Fires reported	5	7
Injuries reported	4	5
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Seat Belts	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	18.2%	7.5%

Subaru GL by year

2 2 5 5 10 17 26 22 9 1

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 93

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

What breaks

Seat Belts 27 27.3%

Engine & Cooling 18 18.2%

Suspension 15 15.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 8 8.1%

Body & Structure 8 8.1%

Brakes 5 5.1%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 5 5.1%

Electrical System 4 4.0%

BMW 528XI by year

43 9 12 88 88 1

08 09 10 12 13 14

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 88 36.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 36 14.9%

Electrical System 34 14.1%

Lights 20 8.3%

Airbags 18 7.5%

Other & Unspecified 13 5.4%

Fuel & Propulsion 11 4.6%

Seat Belts 6 2.5%