Total Complaints
3 filings
BMW 735 · model year
3 NHTSA complaints, 1 crash report for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1990BMW735 carries 3 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 1 crash, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 1990 735 is steering:gear box (other than rack and pinion) with 1 filings, followed by vehicle speed control (1) and engine and engine cooling:cooling system:radiator assembly (1). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability.
NHTSA currently has 34 investigation files overlapping the 1990 735. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.
Total Complaints
3 filings
Crashes Reported
1 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| STEERING:GEAR BOX (OTHER THAN RACK AND PINION) | 1 |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | 1 |
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:COOLING SYSTEM:RADIATOR ASSEMBLY | 1 |
CONSUMER STATES THAT HE WENT TO CHECK THE OIL IN THE ENGINE AND THE RADIATOR HOSE EXPLODED AND GAVE HIM 2ND AND 3RD DEGREE BURNS.*AK
VEHICLE PARKED; TURNED ON IGNITION; SHIFTED FROM PARK TO REVERSE; ENGINE ACCELERATED; VEHICLE LURCHED BACKWARDS FULL SPEED; WENT INTO WOODED AREA ACROSS STREET.
STEERING BOX HAS TO BE REPLACED, POWER STEERING CUTS OUT. TT
Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.