2020 BMW 3 Series
This year drew an ordinary 51 complaints for a BMW 3 Series — the model's median is 279. What they were about is the unusual part: 45.1% of them mention 330i, against 0.1% across the model's other years.
Generation 3 of the BMW 3 Series, which began in 2019. 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 | 51 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 279 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- 330i — 45.1% of this year's complaints, against 0.1% across the model's other years (225.5×).
- due — 21.6% of this year's complaints, against 8.4% across the model's other years (2.6×).
- respond — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 0.7% across the model's other years (10.8×). Owners wrote it as: respond, hazardous.
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
It was discovered during a routine check that the alternator for my 2020 BMW 330i with xdrive was dying. The car had around 40,000 miles on it. Alternator was replaced with an aftermarket part.
Car was t-boned by another vehicle at 65-70 MPH (other driver was cited as negligent and responsible for accident)—and other driver’s car caused damage to the BMW and driver (my daughter) due to the side airbags on the BMW not deploying (damage to daughter wou…
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 2020 BMW 3 Series? What happened to yours?
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