Recall Register

BMW 318: recalls and complaints by model year

NHTSA lists 7 recall campaigns for the BMW 318, model years 1984 to 2001. NHTSA has 117 complaints on file for this model line. 5 of the 13 model years have a page on this register.

Complaint information entered into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation vehicle owner's complaint database is used with other data sources to identify safety issues that warrant investigation and to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.

NHTSA publishes these words. Source: NHTSA Datasets and APIs, section Complaints, read on . Complaint file through . Recall file through .

Model years

The number under each year is the number of recall campaigns.

  1. 19843
  2. 19852
  3. 19891
  4. 19901
  5. 19913
  6. 19924
  7. 19932
  8. 19941
  9. 19950
  10. 19960
  11. 19970
  12. 19980
  13. 20010
BMW 318: recall campaigns and complaints for each model year, newest first
Model yearRecall campaignsComplaintsShare of the line averageUnits in the campaigns
2001 BMW 318 NHTSA page0667%
1998 BMW 318 NHTSA page0333%
1997 BMW 318 NHTSA page0444%
1996 BMW 318 NHTSA page0556%
1995 BMW 318 NHTSA page019211%
1994 BMW 318 NHTSA page120222%23,500
1993 BMW 318217189%139,800
1992 BMW 318416178%530,000
1991 BMW 318321233%506,500
1990 BMW 318 NHTSA page1111%116,300
1989 BMW 318 NHTSA page100%116,300
1985 BMW 3182222%495,261
1984 BMW 3183333%390,748

The share is the complaints of the model year divided by the average of the line for one model year. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.

A model year with fewer than 2 campaigns and fewer than 25 complaints has no page here. The link in its row opens its NHTSA page.

Recall campaign: One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.

Complaint: A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.

Units: The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.

Components in the complaints

168 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.

BMW 318: complaints by component, per 1,000 component mentions
ComponentPer 1,000Mentions
Engine and Engine Cooling37563
Air Bags12521
Electrical System113.119
Fuel System, Gasoline59.510
Power Train59.510
Visibility41.77
Seat Belts35.76
Equipment35.76
Seats23.84
Steering23.84

Counts by year

Recall campaigns that name the BMW 318, by the year NHTSA received the report. The largest year is 1994, with 2 campaigns.
Complaints about the BMW 318, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 1997, with 29 complaints.

Other model lines of the make

BMW: all 244 model lines

Official channels

Cite this page

Recall Register. BMW 318: recalls and complaints by model year. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/bmw/318/. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, recall, complaint and investigation files. Data through .

Sources

Source
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Licence
US government work, public domain
Recall file through
29 Sep 2026
Complaint file through
29 Mar 2018
Manufacturer in the recall file
BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE

The model name is the name in the NHTSA files. NHTSA keeps a variant of a model as a different line. How the register is made. Report an error.

Questions

Which BMW 318 model years have the most recall campaigns?
1992 with 4, 1991 with 3, 1984 with 3. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.
Which BMW 318 model year has the most complaints?
The 1991 model year, with 21 of the 117 complaints for the line. A newer model year has had less time to get complaints.
Which components do the complaints about the BMW 318 name?
Engine and Engine Cooling: 375 per 1,000 component mentions. Air Bags: 125 per 1,000 component mentions. Electrical System: 113.1 per 1,000 component mentions.
How many NHTSA investigations name the BMW 318?
3 investigations name one or more model years of the line. The page of each model year lists its investigations.