2006 BMW X5
This year drew an ordinary 279 complaints for a BMW X5 — the model's median is 143. What they were about is the unusual part: 28.7% of them mention bag, against 3.4% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 279 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 143 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 14 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 16 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- bag — 28.7% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the model's other years (8.5×). Owners wrote it as: bag, air bag, bag warning, bag light.
- seat — 29% of this year's complaints, against 5% across the model's other years (5.9×).
- sensor — 28% of this year's complaints, against 7.9% across the model's other years (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: sensor, passenger seat, sensor mat, passenger airbag.
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
WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 60 MPH ON NORMAL ROAD CONDITIONS, THE PASSENGER SEAT OCCUPANCY SENSOR AND AIR BAG WARNING INDICATORS ILLUMINATED ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. THE INDICATORS REMAINED ILLUMINATED UNTIL THE ENGINE WAS TURNED OFF. IN ADDITION, THE SEAT BEL…
THE AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED APPROXIMATELY 2 MONTHS AGO. THE VEHICLE WAS LATER TAKEN TO THE DEALER AND THEY ADVISED THE CONTACT THAT THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT SENSOR FAILED AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS NOTIFIED…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 13V564000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 05V504000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the BMW X5 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 2006 BMW X5? What happened to yours?
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