Recalls, owner-reported complaints, investigations and safety data
Data refreshed
Our database contains 3 NHTSA owner-reported complaints for the 1998 BMW 318, most frequently naming the airbags, driver assistance and transmission categories.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
When owners filed reports about this model year
Not enough dated records to plot a meaningful trend — 3 months of data.
Complaints grouped by the component NHTSA recorded
Percentages are of component mentions. A single complaint can name more than one component, so these do not sum to the total complaint count.
No recalls in our database for this model year
That does not guarantee a specific vehicle is unaffected — recalls are issued against VINs, and new campaigns are announced regularly. Check a VIN on NHTSA.gov.
Reports submitted to NHTSA, shown in the owner's own words
CONSUMER WAS DRIVING AT 10 MPH. WHILE PULLING FROM A STOP LIGHT ANOTHER VEHICLE HIT THE CONSUMER'S VEHICLE ON THE RIGHT. UPON IMPACT, DRIVER'S SIDE AND PASSENGER'S SIDE AIR BAGS DIDN'T DEPLOY. THE VEHICLE WAS STRUCK AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED. *AK
TRANSMISSION KEPT POPPING OUT OF GEAR. ORIGINAL AND REPLACEMENT TRANSMISSION FAILED IN 1 YEAR. BMW STATES THAT IT ISN'T WORTHY OF RECALL BECAUSE IT IS TOO RARE. IT CAN'T BE THAT RARE IF IT HAPPENED TO ME TWICE, AND TO A FRIEND ONCE IN THE LAST YEAR. *AK
ON TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY ACCELERATED, CAUSING A COLLISION. THE DEALER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED. *AK
Complaint and recall counts across every year of this model
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers. Older model years have had longer for reports to accumulate.