263 NHTSA owner complaints · 0 recalls · data-computed verdict. No opinions — public data only.
Complaints per year on the road: 17.53
Verbatim reports filed with the United States safety regulator (NHTSA) by owners of this exact model year. Public record.
The comfort access door handle, got so hot it started to melt the plastic exterior handle and produce a lot of smoke would have caught fire if i didn't turn off car and disconnect electrical signal to the cas handle
The contact owns a 2011 BMW X5. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was towed to an unknown dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer informed the contact that the VIN was not under recall. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 132,000.
EGR failure where the diesel emissions come into the cabin via the hvac system Dealer said the EGR cooler needs to be replaced. This is a know problem and recall on the 2012 and 2013. This makes the fumes to the driver when first driving the car in the morning dangerous as carbon monoxide and diesel exhaust enter the car. My friend has an exact similar problem and this issue is known on all the BMW boards
What the community is saying right now.
| Campaign | Component | Summary |
|---|
EPA combined 16 MPG · estimated annual fuel cost $4,750
Re-priced automatically from your country's retail fuel, electricity and parts indices — change country in the bar at the top. Estimates; see methodology.
The most-reported issue in NHTSA complaint data is Engine (110 complaints in our indexed sample).
Our data verdict is BUY with a reliability score of 72/100, computed from 263 NHTSA complaints and 0 recall campaigns. See the verdict card for the top reasons.
Fuel, maintenance band and depreciation — computed from public data in 10 seconds.
Open the true-cost calculatorComplaints & recalls: NHTSA ·
Fuel economy: EPA fueleconomy.gov ·
Scoring: our published methodology.
Maintenance bands are industry-average estimates (AAA Your Driving Costs, CarMD index) — labeled estimates, not measurements.
Last updated: 2026-08-20.