2010 BMW X3
This year drew an ordinary 85 complaints for a BMW X3 — the model's median is 128. What they were about is the unusual part: 14.1% of them mention bolts, against 5.5% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This BMW X3 ran from 2004 to 2010, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 85 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 128 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- bolts — 14.1% of this year's complaints, against 5.5% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: bolts, vanos, bolt, like know.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
FOUND A BROKEN BOLT OF THE INTAKE CYLINDER HEAD, WAS BROKE WITHOUT ANY REASON. I NOT THE ONLY ONE, FOUND THIS VIDEO. HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=A7HIZIB96PQ THERE ARE 3 MORE BOLTS INSIDE THE CYLINDER HEAD THAT CAN CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE ON THE ENGINE IF BROK…
BRIDGESTONE POTENZA TIRE TREAD SEPARATING FROM THE TIRE - DELIMITATION? NORMAL HIGHWAY DRIVING IN ARIZONA. TIRE APPEARS TO HAVE SIGNIFICANT TREAD LEFT AND STILL HOLDS AIR. SEE PHOTO.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V017000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V605000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V683000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 23V707000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the BMW X3 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2010 BMW X3? What happened to yours?
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