Tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2004 BMW 325I
When tail light, brake light or signal failure gets reported
Owners of the 2004 BMW 325I report tail light, brake light or signal failure at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 50,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 105,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 58,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
9% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49,000 miles | 49,895 miles | 64,000 miles | 80,050 miles | 107,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $100–$900 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 55,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 175,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 32; the 2004 has 13. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Rear tail light assembly (right side). Dash warning light illuminates. All lights in assy. Work. Remove tail light assy, screw all bulbs out and in, replace plug and warning light is out. This is an ongoing problem. While still under warranty was informed of a sill that applied only if wiring or plastic assy was obviously damaged! Fault occurs randomly at various intervals from weekly to monthly.. *tr
2004 bmw 325i tail light intermittently turns on and off. Bmw dealership has diagnosed the car to have a faulty ground wire - bmw s ib (service bulletin) 63 03 06 which prevents the tail lights from working properly. *tr
Documented failure of 2004 bmw 325i rear brake light, parking light and turn signal assembly. Occurred on my personal bmw on or about 6/2010. Occurs sporadically, resulting in total failure of all three lights on left side and also right side. Dash indicator shows that bulbs are out but bulbs have been replaced and problem still occurs. *tr
Also reported on the 2004 BMW 325I
Airbag inflator rupture
Other lighting problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Wiring harness or short circuit
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does tail light, brake light or signal failure happen on the 2004 BMW 325I?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2004 BMW 325I?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed