2018 BMW X5
This year drew an ordinary 69 complaints for a BMW X5 — the model's median is 146. What they were about is the unusual part: 23.2% of them mention multiple, against 9.1% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This BMW X5 ran from 2014 to 2018, 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 | 69 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 146 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- multiple — 23.2% of this year's complaints, against 9.1% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: multiple, serviced, hold, multiple times.
- performed — 14.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (6.1×). Owners wrote it as: performed, valve, cooler, egr cooler.
- appears — 13% of this year's complaints, against 5.2% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: appears, further, vehicle parked, down vehicle.
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
THE CAR DISPLAYED DRIVETRAIN MALFUNCTION WARNING MESSAGE MULTIPLE TIMES AFTER THE CAR REACHED 10K MILES. THE DRIVETRAIN MALFUNCTION MESSAGE WAS REPORTED TO THE DEALER MULTIPLE TIMES AND DEALER FAILED TO PROVIDE PROPER EXPLANATION AS WELL AS FAILED TO [VIN] FIX…
VEHICLE WAS PARKED IN DRIVEWAY AFTER BEING SERVICED. 9,000 MILES ON ODOMETER. WHEN DRIVING OUT OF DRIVEWAY NOTICED GLASS NOISE FROM ABOVE. ROLLED BACK SUNSCREEN AND GLASS FELL DOWN INTO VEHICLE. ON FURTHER INSPECTION THE GLASS AROUND THE HOLE IS RAISED UPWARD…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V652000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 18V439000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 21V586000 FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL Fixed free of charge.
- 17V727000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 24V608000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 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 2018 BMW X5? What happened to yours?
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