2004 BMW 5 Series — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 465 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Air bags (restraint system)134 (28.8%)Official recall records for this system: 24, covering model years 2000–2025.
• Electrical system71 (15.3%)Official recall records for this system: 26, covering model years 1999–2026.
• Seats61 (13.1%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2004–2016.
• Seat belts34 (7.3%)Official recall records for this system: 10, covering model years 2004–2021.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)32 (6.9%)Official recall records for this system: 17, covering model years 1998–2023.
• Engine26 (5.6%)Official recall records for this system: 36, covering model years 1995–2023.

Other / uncategorized: 7 classifications (1.5%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (7,860 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: engine, air bags (restraint system) and electrical system.
• Safety recalls (256 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), electrical system and powertrain (transmission & drivetrain).
• Transport Canada recalls (243 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: engine, electrical system and air bags (restraint system).
• Manufacturer communications (7,705 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, engine and equipment & accessories.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 277reports included a mileage
• 92,232average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1995 74 records for 1995 74
2. 1997 127 records for 1997 127
3. 1998 109 records for 1998 109
4. 1999 101 records for 1999 101
5. 2000 129 records for 2000 129
6. 2001 123 records for 2001 123
7. 2002 132 records for 2002 132
8. 2003 156 records for 2003 156
9. 2004 432 records for 2004 432
10. 2005 302 records for 2005 302
11. 2006 520 records for 2006 520
12. 2007 416 records for 2007 416
13. 2008 587 records for 2008 587
14. 2009 263 records for 2009 263
15. 2010 615 records for 2010 615
16. 2011 958 records for 2011 958
17. 2012 793 records for 2012 793
18. 2013 715 records for 2013 715
19. 2014 642 records for 2014 642
20. 2015 480 records for 2015 480
21. 2016 389 records for 2016 389
22. 2017 627 records for 2017 627
23. 2018 520 records for 2018 520
24. 2019 305 records for 2019 305
25. 2020 293 records for 2020 293
26. 2021 220 records for 2021 220
27. 2022 102 records for 2022 102
28. 2023 94 records for 2023 94
29. 2024 131 records for 2024 131
30. 2025 97 records for 2025 97
31. 2026 10 records for 2026 10

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 7mention a crash
• 50mention a fire
• 18mention an injury

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 8
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 96
• Investigations NHTSA 1
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 6
• Owner complaints NHTSA 321

Explore the underlying evidence records