Volvo V70XC vs BMW 528I

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	Volvo V70XC	BMW 528I
Complaints on file	521	1,239
Model years covered	1998–2007	1979–2016
Worst model year	2001	2008
Best model year	2003	2009
Crashes reported	14	28
Fires reported	11	72
Injuries reported	12	45
Deaths reported	1	0
Most complained-about part	Acceleration & Cruise Control	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	7.3%	11.7%

Volvo V70XC by year

35 94 132 189 32 21 5 3 6 4

98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

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

What breaks

Acceleration & Cruise Control 118 22.6%

Electrical System 84 16.1%

Fuel & Propulsion 69 13.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 67 12.9%

Engine & Cooling 54 10.4%

Brakes 23 4.4%

Suspension 22 4.2%

Lights 15 2.9%

BMW 528I by year

1 2 49 39 59 53 3 1 181 33 87 164 145 119 92 106 105

79 80 97 98 99 00 01 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 384 31.0%

Electrical System 183 14.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 106 8.6%

Fuel & Propulsion 104 8.4%

Airbags 98 7.9%

Other & Unspecified 66 5.3%

Lights 63 5.1%

Brakes 36 2.9%