1999 BMW X5: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 1999 BMW X5
No owner has filed a defect report with NHTSA about the 1999 BMW X5. That is not a clean bill of health — it usually means few were sold, or the year is too new for problems to have surfaced.
Recalls on the 1999 model year
NHTSA has issued 1 recall campaign covering the 1999 BMW X5, affecting an estimated 6,860 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.
The campaigns cover service brakes, hydraulic:foundation components:hoses, lines. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.
Recalls also distort complaint counts. Publicity about a campaign reminds owners that complaining is possible, so reports for a recalled component often spike after the recall rather than before it.
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS
13,721 vehicles 2001-06-14- Defect
- Vehicle description: 4.4i sport utility vehicles. There is a plastic carrier to which the oil filter housing is attached. Oil supply and return lines are attached to the filter housing. Over time, this carrier could sag slightly. If this happens, one of the oil lines, which are armored with steel mesh, could come into contact and chafe a steel brake line located immediately underneath.
- Consequence
- Continued chaffing can cause the anticorrosion coating of this brake line to fail, allowing the brake line to rust through and leading to loss of brake fluid, failure of the rear brake circuit, and extended stopping distances, and a possible crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will install a rubber spacer below the plastic carrier to prevent sagging and subsequent contact between the oil and brake lines. Brake lines whose anticorrosion layer is found to be damaged as a result of contact with the oil line will be replaced. Owner notification began august 14, 2001. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact bmw at 1-800-831-1117.
Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.
Every year of the BMW X5
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 1999-2003 generation, 2000 BMW X5 scores best at 62 and 2003 BMW X5 worst at 71.
Why this page is short
A model year needs about 8 reports before percentiles mean anything, and this one does not have them. Complaint volume tracks how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road, so a thin page usually means a rare car, a new car, or a car whose owners do not file.
Other years of the same model do have enough: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The mechanical parts are often shared across those years, so their pages are the better guide to what this one is likely to do, with the caveat that a shared part is not a shared production line.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
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