10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 1 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 6,331 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
After receiving a very expensive repair quote, I looked on here and read multiple complaints of emergency call system malfunction causing gps not to work/ malfunction due to leaking in the shark fin. This is a major safety concern due to poor design and build quality of the vehicle.
- Portland, OR, USA
The contact owns a 2019 BMW X5. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start as needed. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and a diagnostic test was performed. The dealer stated that a software in the key fob and the vehicle needed to be updated. The contacted had not been notified of the update. The dealer informed the contact that had the vehicle had been brought to the dealer for the last oil change, the contact would have been informed of the necessary software update. The manufacture was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
- Loudon, TN, USA
On the date below, a warning banner and chime signaled that our car's emergency communication system was not functional. Soon after, we noticed that the navigation system was "lost"; ie, showing our car in a different state, sometimes in water, incorrect displays of speed limits being shown, etc. Vehicle was evaluated at a BMW dealership, and the primary defective part was found to be the "sharkfin" on the roof. Water entered the roof structure (not the interior of the car) via this sharkfin, and resulted in damage to the TCB, which reportedly controls many of the car's more-advanced electrical functions. Due to unfortunate clauses in warrantees on the car--both BMW certified pre-owned coverage, and also a 3rd party service contract that was purchased at the time of purchase, from the BMW dealer, as a bumper-to-bumper "platinum" supplement to the certified pre-owned warranty, are currently in effect for this car--this defect is NOT covered. Cost to repair all involvedf parts is approximately $5,000. As a consequence of this expense, it has not been repaired, and likely will not be in the near future. A Google search about this issue yielded numerous identical incidents involving this same model/year of BMW. Several owners wondered if a recall was needed, since it is clearly a manufacturer defect with clear-cut and repeated ramifications, is very costly to repair (so is likely to NOT be repaired, in many instances), and is subject to a loophole in warranty coverage. My impression from this internet search is that other systems in the car might soon stop working. I believe it is a safety issue, now, given the failure of the emergency communication function controlled by the TCB, and might become more of an issue in the future, when/if additional functions fail.
- Fort Myers, FL, USA
Car will not start until many attempts are made. Walking up to the car with key in hand causes alarm to go off. Car remote fails to unlock the door and must be unlocked manually but alarm still does not turn off. Time and date reset to the wrong time and date after turning off car and turning it back on.
- Katy, TX, USA
Seems I have read multiple complaints of emergency call system malfunction causing gps not to work/ malfunction due to leaking in the shark fin. This is a major safety concern due to poor design and build quality of the vehicle. This concern should be up most important that this area is recalled, replaced, and sealed to ensure safety for all.
- El Papa , TX, USA
The contact owns a 2019 BMW X5. The contact stated that while at a stop light, the automatic engine shut off was activated but after releasing the brake pedal, the transmission erroneously shifted to neutral, and the engine did not restart. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on multiple occasions while in traffic. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 55,000.
- Acushnet, MA, USA
Telematics control unit has failed and has water ingress. This causes the onboard emergency sos system to fail and not work, make false calls and risk a driver ability to make an emergency call or for the vehicle to call for help. This also poses a risk in that water seeps into the interior of the cars shell through the antenna. Creating rust, mold and decay. Which will eventually affect the interior of the vehicle, head liner and eventually passengers through environmental factors. The car eventually has to be garaged or covered at all times in event of rain or snow. This has been seen wirh owners of this particular make, model, year series. Unfortunately, more people has yet to experience this issue if theor vehicle is always garaged or covered
- Dumfries, VA, USA
Recently, the display behind the steering wheel has turned off twice while driving on the highway. This display contains the speedometer, meaning there was no way to gauge vehicle speed while driving. The problem is random; no warnings were shown, but keeping the car off for a couple of hours before turning it back on has brought the display back temporarily.
- Northampton, MA, USA
BMW "did not" issue a recall notice for this known issue for my VIN. They were aware of this issue and corrected it based on the latest software update 11/2022.56. The problem is older software versions can cause the battery to completely drain even when the engine is not running and make you deserted anywhere, which is a safety issue. Also, since the battery can be fully drained, your booster brakes also will not work during the start of the engine, which can again cause risk when starting. BMW did not advise customers regarding this safety issue. In my case, My battery was completely drained, and I had to replace my battery. Details of the defect from the latest software update release notes are mentioned below. The concern is why BMW did not issue a recall notice to customers like me. I hope NHTSA can take the necessary action on this and issue a proper recall notice. "Recall of automatic transmission/ EGSsoftware:(USA/CANADA) The current software version of your vehicle may mean that the electronic transmission control continues to consume energy after parking the vehicle and may result in the total discharge of the 12 V vehicle battery. A Vehicle start can no longer be ensured in this case. This malfunction is rectified by the upgrade 11/2022.56. The corresponding special defect code is 0024720100" (Photo attached)
- Moorpark, CA, USA
I was turning left on a residential street when the steering wheel locked, the brakes would not work to stop the car from going straight and the engine would not turn off when I attempted to stop the engine once realizing that everything was failing. The electrical panel went black and I collided with a residential home. Airbags deployed, EMS, fire and Police were called to the scene and the Tow truck driver noted that all systems had failed and the car basically shut off all functionality. They had to manually push the vehicle onto the flatbed tow truck. I am concerned as this issue was a safety concern while I was driving the car and it seemed all systems failed.
- Milford, CT, USA
Vehicle has had the main driver gauges/dash cluster randomly turn off with no warning while driving, multiple times a day now for the last several months, with instances happening at all sorts of speeds and on local roads and highways. There appears to be no way to recover the electronic dash cluster until the vehicle is left to fully shut off for a few minutes and then restarted. BMW service as well as bmwna have attempted to assist in 8+ service visits and have not been able to rectify what's a clear safety hazard, as it has led to multiple near accidents now. This started in January 2020, when the vehicle was relatively new (<2000 miles) and persists to this day (12K miles).
- King Of Prussia, PA, USA
2 months after purchasing the vehicle a rattling sound comes up when I start the vehicle I took it in for servicing and I'm told they don't find the problem, but it sounds like something is loose. Finally, my dashboard goes blue after long drives. Again, this was reported and pictures were taken and I'm told they can't find a problem.
- Endicott, NY, USA
I am writing to ask for your assistance in my matter of my 2019 BMW X5 I40 SUV, which unfortunately has been repaired 6 times for numerous electronic stability control, electrical, and suspension failures serviced at 3 different BMW Colorado dealerships. The vehicle was purchased new with lease June 2019, and continuously reported & experienced failures/issues by owner, numerous passengers, including multiple BMW service managers: Engine buttons not turning off the engine intermittently, or not turning off the vehicle electrical power. After high acceleration on a interstate highway coming to a complete stop the engine would terminate and thereby having to quickly place the vehicle into park to restart the engine, this had to be done rapidly due to high speed traffic. Vehicle would repeat issue on rural roadway stops, but not as often on interstate above 60mph. Gps had software malfunctions after being repaired 2X for electrical stability issues this continued to malfunction then corrected at an alternative BMW dealership. Side assist alerts and notifications were continuing to fail after 4-5 attempts to remedy. Key fab would fail to communicate and fail to lock vehicle after several attempts to fix by BMW. Vehicle software programming would not maintain consistency with various component response for back doors, trunk/tailgate failure to respond most importantly vehicle power overall. Finally, the vehicle has suspension issues, still a concern this could have been caused by the numerous times under BMW repair shops being lifted by pressurized components; or when it was initially delivered off the truck from manufacturer to dealership? the vehicle is defective & has been defective since purchased. This is considered a lemon per the Colorado lemon laws, in addition per the numerous BMW service managers who have repaired the defective vehicle.
- Boulder, CO, USA
Intermittently and without explanation the vehicle cannot be started using normal procedure even though the key fob is on the driver's person. Since the vehicle was purchased new in April 2019, the dealership has had five opportunities to address this problem without success. I have been instructed that should the vehicle fail to start normally, retrieve the fob; lock and unlock the vehicle using the key fob and then start the vehicle using the fob which (dealership language here) has been "awakened." As a semi disabled 73 year old male this necessitates that I exit the vehicle and, in standing position, create the ability to remove the key fob from my front pant pocket in order to follow the procedure to "awaken" the key fob for purposes of starting the vehicle. I can think of any number of situations in which this could create a hazardous situation and am therefore submitting the problem to ntsb for review.
- Rochester, MN, USA
When the car has sat outside and the cold the steering is very loose causing the car to be unresponsive to turning. The driver assist is almost no. Functional turns on and off on its own. Shutting down the blind spot awareness as well as front collision auto braking
- Cassville, NY, USA
- Huntington, NY, USA