Sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2004 BMW 530I
3 fires 3 of the 5 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When sunroof failure or glass breakage gets reported
There are 5 reports of sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2004 BMW 530I, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 58,702 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
Of these reports, 3 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $700–$4,500 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, every year of the BMW 530I
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.
Idrive is totally black, including all dashboard functions, no wipers or power to windows, only my engine runs. I was told by the dealer that water got into the sunroof and leaked to the truck near tire and cause two gaskets to burn out. I am told that the cost to repair is $1650 or $2950 depending on which option I choose. I am also told that the problem may return. This problem appears to be a manufacturer issued but the consumer has to pay out of pocket for the repair cost, even though through no fault of our own the problem exists. *tr
Idrive is totally black, including all dashboard functions, no wipers or power to windows, only my engine runs. I was told by the dealer that water got into the sunroof and leaked to the truck near tire and cause two gaskets to burn out. I am told that the cost to repair is $1650 or $2950 depending on which option I choose. I am also told that the problem may return. This problem appears to be a manufacturer issued but the consumer has to pay out of pocket for the repair cost, even though through no fault of our own the problem exists. *tr
Subject: 2004 bmw 535i on october 30,2012 just after hurricane sandy hit the east coast of new jersey, I had occasion to use my 535i. While driving I noticed various warning and fault lights flashing on the control panel, loss of power and the cabin began filling with smoke. With great difficulty, I managed to pull across several lanes to the side of the multi-lane highway I was on (route 42n). Upon inspection I found 6-8 inches of water in the trunk wheel well. Under the spare tire I observed a burning and smoking msm power module. I subsequently brought the car to my local bmw dealer in turnersville, nj. The dealer refused any liability or fault for the $3000 repair which included replacing and relocating the msm power module, replacing the radio system, cleaning water stains from the hood liner and trying to alleviate the smoke odor. I came to find out there was a service bulletin to relocate the msm power module higher in the trunk from its original position at the bottom of the wheel well. The dealer lied and told me water has leaked into the trunk via loose trunk rivets. I later determined the water entered the trunk…
Also reported on the 2004 BMW 530I
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other steering problem
Overheating
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 5 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 5 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 sunroof failure or glass breakage happen on the 2004 BMW 530I?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2004 BMW 530I?
5 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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