Other electrical problem on the 2003 BMW X5
5 fires 1 injury 6 of the 9 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 7 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 other electrical problem gets reported
There are 9 reports of other electrical problem on the 2003 BMW X5, 7 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 85,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 150,000 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
Of these reports, 5 a fire and 1 an injury are 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 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 210,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 30; the 2003 has 9. 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.
October 2002 I purchased a new bmw x5 - shortly there after I started to experience intermittent electrical problems - headlights would not shut off without re-starting the car, interior lights would not turn off, the flashers would come on, the rear latch would disconnect, the keyless entry into the car would not work, battery was being drained and ultimately the batter wouldn't even hold a charge. After 3-4 months of experiencing these intermittent problems, I insisted the dealer take the car back and let me purchase a 2003 bmw x5. I received the newest bmw x5 on february 26, 2003 and on march 10, 2003, I started experiencing problems again! This time, when the ignition was turned on, the flashers came on and the interior lights would not shut off without me opening the door and closing it again - I had to manually shut off the flashers. Minutes later after driving the car, I shut off the ignition, got out of the car and used the keyless entry system to lock the car and arm the alarm. I wasn't able to lock the car doors but the alarm was activated. I had to turn the alarm off and open the door and close it again. Then I was able…
I was driving the vehicle in stop and go traffic, the vehicle lost all power forcing me to come to complete stop in the middle of the highway. This occurred 3 other times in the past 4 months , the other incidents were in the parking lot. The car starts up and runs perfectly before and after. I am concerned about my safety. Searching for a solution, I found that bmw has service bulletin to address this issue. I am surprised that there is no recall on this since it is a huge safety concern. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 bmw x5. The contact stated that the front passenger side caught fire while parked in a residential garage. The manufacturer investigated the failure and concluded that cause of the fire was not due a manufacturing defect. A police report was filed of the incident. The contact stated that the battery was replaced twice and the computer system was replaced three times prior to the fire. The vehicle was destroyed. The approximate failure and current mileage was 150,000. Updated 2/15/13 *cn the consumer believed the fire was due to an electrical failure. Updated 02/02/513
Also reported on the 2003 BMW X5
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Differential or transfer case failure
Airbag inflator rupture
Complete engine failure or seizure
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 9 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 9 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 2003 BMW X5?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 150,000 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 other electrical problem on the 2003 BMW X5?
9 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