2017 BMW 3 Series
This year drew an ordinary 213 complaints for a BMW 3 Series — the model's median is 279. What they were about is the unusual part: 18.3% of them mention 330i, against 3.7% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the BMW 3 Series, which began in 2012 and ran to 2018. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 213 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 279 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- 330i — 18.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the other years of this generation (5×). Owners wrote it as: 330i, bmw 330i, hose, detached.
- under — 23.9% of this year's complaints, against 8.4% across the other years of this generation (2.8×).
- who — 15.5% of this year's complaints, against 4.7% across the other years of this generation (3.3×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
There is a well known issue with the clip on BMW 3 series (mine is a 2017 330i) that holds the parking brake cable assembly to the body if the car above the drive shaft towards the rear of the car. The plastic clips fail frequently, causing the parking brake c…
During normal street and highway driving operation, the whole console and digital warning systems shutdown causing safety issues while driving.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the BMW 3 Series was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2017 BMW 3 Series? What happened to yours?
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