Other electrical problem on the 2006 BMW X5
4 fires 3 injuries 7 of the 13 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 2006 BMW X5 report other electrical problem at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 13 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 50,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 68,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
8% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52,000 miles | 65,300 miles | 92,000 miles | 108,000 miles | 120,000 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, 4 a fire and 3 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 2006 has 13. 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.
Heated seats were getting hotter the past couple of uses...until today when I warmed up the car (approximately 3 minutes). I was putting my daughter in her safety seat in the rear passenger side. When I opened the door, the cabin of the vehicle was filled with thick white smoke. I removed my daughter and proceed to ascertain where the smoke was coming from. There was a swirling funnel of smoke coming from the front driver side. I opened the driver side door and observed the driver seat leather burning (fizzling amber fire). I looked over to the seat warmer light and it was on. I turned it off and had to put out the fire by batting my hands against the fire while holding my daughter in the other. The fire left my hands charred and the entire interior of the car smelling like smoke. *tr
My vehicles rear doors will not open from the inside or outside. The lock goes up and down, but the doors will not open. The rear passenger door stopped working on the 12th of december 2012 and the rear driver side door stopped working today 18 december 2012. The driver side door stopped working this morning when I dropped my daughter off for school. She was unable to get out of the back seat after multiple unlocking attempts of the rear driver side door. I had to have her climb into the front seat in order to get out of the car. That is terrifying to think that she would not have been able to get out in an emergency, fire, or accident. After doing some research online I found that this seems to be an ongoing issue with this model and other bmw models. I am assuming and concerned that my front driver side and passenger side door will do the same. Myself and family need to be able to get out of the vehicle along with all the other consumers that own these vehicles. Its just not safe. I have had other vehicles that were older with more mileage and never had an issue with doors not opening. This is a safety issue and hazard. I have…
After experiencing the same issue for which bmw issued this recall NHTSA action number: ea08001 I learned that because my 2006 x5 was manufactured after november 30, 2005, bmw is not covering under warranty the very same defect that vehicles manufactured prior to november 30, 2005 are under warranty for (extended to 10 years with no mileage restrictions). The explanation is "that is the recall policy. We manage this via VIN numbers". *tr
Also reported on the 2006 BMW X5
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other body or interior problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other brake problem
Loss of braking
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 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 2006 BMW X5?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 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 2006 BMW X5?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 4.4 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