2004 BMW X3 problems
The 2004 BMW X3 has 182 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (18%) concerns air bags. Next are seats (18%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 182 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 18% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 18 and 16
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 70,000 miles 133 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 | 31 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 11 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 15 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 24 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 16 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 11 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 8 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 7 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Of the 133 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 70,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 65,000 miles (23 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 18 complaints mention a crash; 16 complaints mention a fire; 21 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 90% 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 2004 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 22 model years of the BMW X3 with enough data (76 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
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 contact stated that whiled driving on the morning of 01/17/06, the thermostat on her seats turned on high. The contact stated that she smelled something burning and pulled to the side of the road. She then turned off the heater in the vehicle and opened the hood of the vehicle. The contact stated that she found nothing wrong. She got back in the vehicle and started driving without the car heater on. The contact stated that about 1/2 mile later she felt burning on her legs.
As I was driving my 2004 BMW x3 during cold weather, I smelled something burning. I pulled my car over, turned off the heat and checked under the hood. The smell had dissipated and I could see no smoke or any evidence of fire. I restarted the car with the heater turned off, and shortly after, felt a strong burning sensation on my hip and realized that my coat was on fire. I stopped the car and jumped out and used a large book to smother the fire on the driver's seat.
Driver's seat back heater grid shorted causing damage to the insulation and leather seat cover. It was hot enough to cause physical burns.
The heated seat malfunctioned and burnt a hole in the leather seat. This easily could have caused a fire, had I not turned off the heated seat immediately. The heater must have shorted out. The spot where the short occurred, on the side bolster in the seat bottom, gets very hot and burned the leather.
The lamps in the rear tail light assembly do not work. The connection is corroded. Similar item was under a recall for 2002-05 3 series sedans (BMW recall campaign 11v-438) and this x3 shares many components with the sedan. The lighting assembly/connector is suspected to be one of them.