Other electrical problem on the 2013 BMW X3
1 fire 1 of the 17 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.
When other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2013 BMW X3 report other electrical problem at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 12 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 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 91,280 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.
33% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21,020 miles | 33,800 miles | 61,500 miles | 89,460 miles | 112,300 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, 1 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 $250–$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 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2024, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2025 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 23; the 2013 has 17. 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.
The rear hatch door opens unexpectedly. This has occurred about 6 times in the last 1-1/2 years. It last occurred on aug. 3 and our dog -- who was sitting in the rear of the car -- fell out of the car as we were driving. This is the second time our dog has abruptly fallen or jumped out of the car due to the hatch unexpectedly opening while we were driving. The problem: 1) my wife and I both have keys to the car. The keys electronically lock & unlock the doors. 2) we parked the car on the street, and I locked the car successfully with my set of keys. 3) my wife left her keys in the car. The car remained locked. 4) after an hour, we arrived back at the car and I opened the back hatch with my keys in my pocket. 5) after the dog hopped into the back of the car, I pressed the "lock" button on the hatch. The hatch successfully closed. 6) I walked to the driver's side and unlocked the doors, got in, started the car and began driving away. 7) after moving about 20 feet and preparing to merge onto a major artery, people on the street started yelling that the back hatch of the bmw had opened and our dog had fallen out of the car. There was…
On april 5th, 2015 at 10:00am. I drove my car to church (20 min drive / 10 miles @ 35-60mph speed) without any problems or indication of issues. At 11:15am I was in route to go home traveling about 35mph. When I reached a stop light...my cars eco-technology kicked in, and it turned off. Nothing out of the ordinary on any other day except that day. The engine light came on, the abd light came on, and alerts indicating my transmission was malfunctioning and my brakes weren't working. When the light turned green, my vehicle did not turn on. It shut off and would not restart. After 5 minutes of being idle in the middle of ongoing traffic and me panic-kingly pressing buttons on my key and on the dash...my car out of no where... Turned back on. But my car was like in a "safe mode", I could not accelerate more than 15-20 MPH and I'm not sure because the tachometer wasn't working or my indicators. The lights indicating that my transmission, brakes and engine were all still on and the alerts kept showing up on my navigation screen. I tried calling global assist, but the call would not go thru given my electrical issues. I tried sending a…
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 bmw x3. The contact stated that the warning indicators flashed for the oil pressure low and drive train, and the vehicle suddenly decelerated without warning. The vehicle started to coast and randomly stalled. The vehicle was unable to restart and was towed to an independent mechanic who was unable to replicate and diagnose the failure. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that metal shavings were in the oil. Further diagnostic testing was required to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was then towed to a second independent repair shop for further testing. The dealer and manufacturer were notified. The approximate failure mileage was 78,000.
Also reported on the 2013 BMW X3
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Other brake problem
Complete engine failure or seizure
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 17 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 electrical problem happen on the 2013 BMW X3?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2013 BMW X3?
17 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.9 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