Other body or interior problem on the 2006 BMW 325I
When other body or interior problem gets reported
Owners of the 2006 BMW 325I report other body or interior problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 49 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 32,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 122,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 90,670 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
18% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31,330 miles | 44,000 miles | 66,000 miles | 94,000 miles | 122,000 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 $200–$2,000 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 2004, at a median of 60,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
Dt: consumer owns 2006 bmw 325i sedan. Vehicle came equipped with bridgestone turanza tires, 205/55r16. A low pressure warning light came on. According to the owner's manual, it could be driven up to 90 miles at 50 MPH. The consumer drove the vehicle to a dealer, which was about 8 miles away, at about 45 MPH and drove very carefully. Dealer told the consumer that bmw told him that run flat tires have been driven on lower tire pressure and were not reusable or repairable. Consumer had to pay $229.43 for a new tire. There was nothing in the owners manual stating that tire would not be reusable if tire was used at low pressure. The tire did have warnings on it, but the print was so small that it took great effort to read it. There was no printed warning in vehicle or in vehicle owner's manual about not inflating tire or not repairing or reusing tire after it has been used in the run flat condition. There were no flyers or information from the tire manufacturer . The vehicle did not have the proper information in the manual or at least in some form with the vehicle, as in a tire manufacturer's warranty or brochure.*ak *jb
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 bmw 325i. The contact stated that all of the locks failed to unlock in 2007. All of the locks are electronic and there is a master unlock button on the dashboard. The contact was unable to exit the vehicle and had to drive to the service dealer in order to be let out of the vehicle. The dealer had to reset the computer chip in the locks. On march 22, 2008, the failure recurred and the dealer had to replace all the door locks. Immediately after the replacement, the electric mirrors failed. The dealer stated that the motor failed simultaneously. The dealer provided the contact with a new vehicle. The failure and current mileages were 38,000.
I was inside my car in a parking lot and the electric door locks failed to unlock the doors. The switch on the dash would unlock the doors nor would the remote. The door handles inside the car would not open the door either. Luckily I remembered that if I held down on one of the buttons on the remote control the windows would open. I then had to climb out of the window. The temperature inside the car was more than 100 degrees. This is a very serious problem. If I had not had the remote, I would have been trapped inside the car! *tr
Also reported on the 2006 BMW 325I
Seat belt or retractor failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Oil leak
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 56 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 other body or interior problem happen on the 2006 BMW 325I?
Across 49 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other body or interior problem on the 2006 BMW 325I?
56 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.7 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