2021 BMW X5 — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 161 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Electrical system33 (20.5%)Official recall records for this system: 19, covering model years 2007–2021.
• Engine31 (19.3%)Official recall records for this system: 26, covering model years 2001–2020.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)26 (16.1%)Official recall records for this system: 15, covering model years 2000–2023.
• Driver-assistance systems17 (10.6%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2019–2021.
• Air bags (restraint system)7 (4.3%)Official recall records for this system: 45, covering model years 2000–2026.
• Brakes6 (3.7%)Official recall records for this system: 29, covering model years 1999–2025.

Other / uncategorized: 17 classifications (10.6%) 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 (6,228 records, model years 2000–2026) are most frequently classified under: engine, air bags (restraint system) and electrical system.
• Safety recalls (298 records, model years 1999–2026) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), brakes and powertrain (transmission & drivetrain).
• Transport Canada recalls (300 records, model years 2000–2025) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), engine and brakes.
• Manufacturer communications (7,467 records, model years 1999–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, equipment & accessories and engine.

"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

• 25reports included a mileage
• 35,731average 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. 1999 36 records for 1999 36
2. 2000 118 records for 2000 118
3. 2001 254 records for 2001 254
4. 2002 180 records for 2002 180
5. 2003 178 records for 2003 178
6. 2004 155 records for 2004 155
7. 2005 175 records for 2005 175
8. 2006 281 records for 2006 281
9. 2007 261 records for 2007 261
10. 2008 481 records for 2008 481
11. 2009 434 records for 2009 434
12. 2010 468 records for 2010 468
13. 2011 629 records for 2011 629
14. 2012 591 records for 2012 591
15. 2013 434 records for 2013 434
16. 2014 511 records for 2014 511
17. 2015 576 records for 2015 576
18. 2016 449 records for 2016 449
19. 2017 388 records for 2017 388
20. 2018 245 records for 2018 245
21. 2019 689 records for 2019 689
22. 2020 500 records for 2020 500
23. 2021 411 records for 2021 411
24. 2022 240 records for 2022 240
25. 2023 198 records for 2023 198
26. 2024 314 records for 2024 314
27. 2025 147 records for 2025 147
28. 2026 43 records for 2026 43

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

• 9mention a crash
• 3mention a fire
• 7mention 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 12
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 288
• Investigations NHTSA 1
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 8
• Owner complaints NHTSA 102

Explore the underlying evidence records