One other point about the NHTSA complaint database. I do not know about nowadays, but in the past there was at least one instance where it was obvious BMW was impacted by the complaint. The Z4 with it's Electric Steering had some problems back in 2003/4 sticking when the ambient temperature got hot. One person had no joy after repeated trips to his dealer, and his dealer said BMW also told them they could not replace anything until the dealer could replicate the problem. So about a month later the person filed a complaint with NHTSA. About a week after that, the dealer called him up and said the BMW had shipped them an unrequested new steering assembly with his name on it, and that he should drop the Z4 off to have it installed.

Coincidence? The dealer certainly was surprised.