2006 BMW X3
Complaints about this year name seat far more often than the other years of this generation — 39% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 11.1%.
Generation 1 of the BMW X3, which began in 2004 and ran to 2010. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 345 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 96 |
| Involving a crash | 13 |
| Involving a fire | 17 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 17.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- seat — 38.8% of this year's complaints, against 11.1% across the other years of this generation (3.5×).
- lock — 14.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation (9.5×). Owners wrote it as: lock, unlock, wheel lock, column.
- sensor — 19.4% of this year's complaints, against 5.7% across the other years of this generation (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: sensor, covered under.
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.
Also unusual this year
- lock — 10% of complaints, 25× usual
- passenger seat — 19% of complaints, 4× usual
- bag warning — 12% of complaints, 10× usual
What owners wrote
THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT OCCUPANT SENSOR FOR AIR BAG WAS DEFECTIVE. THE AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO DEALER WHO STATED THERE WAS A DEFECT HOWEVER THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS MADE AWARE OF THE ISSUE HOWEVER NO…
WHILE THE PASSENGER SEAT WAS BEING USED, THE AIR BAG WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE OCCUPATION DETECTION MAT FAILED AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V605000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 08V384000 AIR BAGS
How this was worked out
Every year of the BMW X3 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 2006 BMW X3? What happened to yours?
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