2003 BMW X5 problems
NHTSA has received 134 complaints about the 2003 BMW X5, and 25% of them involve engine. Next are electrical system (13%) and air bags (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 134 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 5 and 20
- Injuries and deaths
- 5 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 90,000 miles 108 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 | 5 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 18 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 19 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 12 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 17 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 13 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 6 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 8 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 108 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 90,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 76,000 miles (30 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 5 complaints mention a crash; 20 complaints mention a fire; 5 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 83% 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 24th most-complained-about out of 27 model years of the BMW X5 with enough data (26 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 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.
This morning 03/13/2020 at aprox. 2:30am my BMW x5 2003 was engulfed in flames for no reason and my two german shepherds hey you and my baby diesel were inside,and how one made it out and the baby didnt, I busted windows cause I heard him crying ,,,,I couldnt get him I tried to I tried oh my god my poor baby , I was injured and scared for life with that. My car was off and parked in front of a friends house on a side street, all a loss. No pictures taken ,several police and fire dept. Came.
Passenger-airbag-disabled warning lamp comes on intermittently while seat is occupied by an adult. Problem first noted in 2007, becoming progressively worse. Dealer checked and found defective seat occupancy detector, but replacement quoted at $800 note - this is a BMW model x3 but your web form did not list x3 so I selected x5.
Tl* takata recall. The contact owns a 2003 BMW x5. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15v318000 (air bags) and stated that the part was not available within a reasonable time frame to schedule the recall repair. The dealer did not give a specific date for when the part would become available. The manufacturer could not provide an estimated date for when the contact's vehicle would receive the recall repair. The contact was not experiencing a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.