2002 BMW 325I problems
The 2002 BMW 325I has 198 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (27%) concerns air bags. Next are lighting (25%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 198 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 27% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 9 and 24
- Injuries and deaths
- 7 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 80,000 miles 116 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 7 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 8 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 19 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 21 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 21 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 12 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 11 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 7 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 9 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 116 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 80,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 125,000 miles (11 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 9 complaints mention a crash; 24 complaints mention a fire; 7 injuries reported; 1 death reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 81% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 4th most-complained-about out of 9 model years of the BMW 325I with enough data (44 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 6 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Tl*the driver owned a 2002 BMW 325I. While driving approximately 45 MPH a vehicle crashed into the front drivers side of the vehicle. The side air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed to an impound lot. A police report was filed. The driver of the vehicle was fatally injured and died on the scene. The vehicle was destroyed. The VIN was unavailable. The approximate failure mileage was 95,000.
T-boned an eighteen wheeler going 55 MPH after he pulled out in front of me to make a left-hand turn on a highway. The airbag of my BMW 325I failed to deploy resulting in injury.
Right front passenger sustained severe eye injury as a result of the deployment of the right front airbag in a crash. Passenger suffers partial blindness. Undergone several surgeries. Passenger was female and smaller in stature.
On september 7, 2018 I lend my car to my son so he could run some school related errands he needed to attend to. That day he had also taken my daughter with him as they were going to have lunch after he had finished all of the errands he had to do for that day. Around 3:10 p.m. My son got into an accident which had caused both front airbags to deploy. Soon after the accident a noticeable cut was noticed on my daughter left cheek which was caused from the air bag deployment.
Right rear turn-signal lights operate intermittently--sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I almost got hit by another car from behind when I was changing lanes on the freeway.