2010 BMW X5
This year drew an ordinary 148 complaints for a BMW X5 — the model's median is 143. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.1% of them mention brought, against 1.9% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the BMW X5, which began in 2007 and ran to 2013. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 148 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 143 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 14 |
| EPA combined | 17 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- brought — 8.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the other years of this generation (4.3×). Owners wrote it as: brought, car unsafe, refusing, vehicle back.
- under warranty — 7.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.8% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: under warranty, whole.
- fault — 6.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: fault, manufacturing.
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
MY VEHICLE IS HAVING ENGINE LIGHT AND STRON FUEL SMELL. I TOOK VECHIE TO BMW SERVICE CENTER AND BEEN TOLD THAT CAR HAS EGR COOLANT PROBLEM. ACCORDING TO SERVICE CENTER THAT REPAIR FOR RECALL #11E-A03 FOR EGR VALVE WAS PERFOMED IN 2016 WHICH I NOT BEEN TOLD. NO…
EMISSION ALWAYS HAD PROBLEM. I HAVE TWO BMW X5 35D HAD SAME PROBLEMS. ACTIVE TANK AND REDUCTANT T ANK LEVEL SENSOR AND [VIN] SENSOR BROKEN AND NEED TO REPLACE WHOLE TANK COST A LOT OF MONEY.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V017000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V248000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 20V016000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V017000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V336000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V364000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V030000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V746000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 14. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2010 BMW X5? What happened to yours?
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