11:27 21-12-2025

Which car brands skip turn signals most? A 2025 study

It’s hard to stay calm when someone dives into your lane or makes a turn without any warning, as if the road is theirs alone. Annoyance aside, that habit raises the risk for everyone around, especially on multi-lane interchanges and busy junctions. Even in 2025, with cars bristling with driver aids and sensors, using the turn signal remains the simplest and most effective way to coordinate with other road users.

The rental platform DiscoverCars.com set out to see which brands most often skip the blinker, running an observation in one European country. In a study reviewed by SPEEDME.RU journalists, researchers chose six busy intersections and spent at least 30 minutes at each, logging whether passing drivers used their indicators. They counted 1,493 vehicles in total, and only brands seen at least 29 times were eligible for the top ten. Notably, the gap between BMW and other marques proved statistically significant.

BMW topped the anti-ranking: 19.3% of the observed cars from the brand turned without signaling. Across all other manufacturers combined, the average was 11.4%. Next came Mercedes-Benz at 14.7%, followed by Renault at 14.5% and Audi at 13.8%. Opel posted 12.7% and Volkswagen 9.3%. Rounding out the list were Volvo (7.7%), Toyota (7.6%), Honda (6.9%), and Peugeot (6.7%).

The spread will feel familiar to anyone who spends time in traffic: badges with a sporting image show up near the top, yet road manners still depend more on the person behind the wheel than on the emblem.

To understand why BMW so often becomes the butt of jokes about turn signals, expert Dmitry Novikov pointed out that many of the “silent” cars were older BMWs with an unconventional indicator stalk that returns to neutral; an inexperienced driver can accidentally trigger a signal in the opposite direction. Newer models use a more conventional mechanism, so this effect may diminish over time.

One detail from the field notes stood out as well: at an intersection where a major highway cuts through a small town, every driver used their indicator. A mix of heavy flow and a more intimate setting seems to nudge people toward better discipline.

Novikov stressed that rankings like this are not a verdict on any brand or a judgment on all owners, but a snapshot of behavior in specific places and conditions. He added that the useful takeaway is straightforward: check the mirror, signal, then make the maneuver. In that order, you keep tempers cooler—and sometimes the bodywork intact.