2003 BMW 525I problems
The 2003 BMW 525I has 40 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (25%) concerns air bags. After that come electrical system (20%) and lighting (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 40 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 3 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 45,000 miles 23 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 | 3 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 7 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 3 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 1 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 23 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 45,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 3 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 6 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 86% 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 2003 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 10 model years of the BMW 525I with enough data (10 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 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.
On 8 march 2005 at approximately 3:20pm, [xxx] (spouse) and [xxx] (4 year old child) were heading westbound on grand river ave. In novi michigan. [xxx] was secured in a graco booster seat in the subject vehicle in the rear passenger side. The graco booster seat was tethered to the rear bench seat per manufacturers instructions while [xxx] was held in the booster seat by bmw's shoulder restraint belt and secured into the oem latch.
2003 BMW 525I 11 months ago brought in due to water and mold in rear floor dealer found mold, door panels crumbling from water and claimed needed to replace vapor barriers. Wanted to charge me $4,000 or so I fought and BMW furnished parts I paid labor over 1200.00 when asked they claim never saw problem in past, and was due to poor adhesive on vapor barriers, now 2 weeks ago same problem. My wife has been having medical problems as well as I and they are due to toxic mold syndrome.
While changing the tire on my 2003 BMW 525 car jack slipped out causing car to drop on my arm, breaking my arm. I believe the car jack for this car is poorly designed
Bought car new in april of 2001. Since that time, driver side headlight (low beam) has burned out 3 times. Do not know if this is a safety defect or not, but thought I would report it just in case.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 BMW 525I. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle check transmission failsafe message illuminated. The contact stated that the transmission became stuck in third gear and decelerated until it stalled. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the transmission was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who advised that they would contact him at a later date. The vehicle was not repaired.