2011 BMW X3 problems
Owners have filed 166 complaints about the 2011 BMW X3 with NHTSA. Engine accounts for 18.7% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of engine and engine cooling at 14.5%.
Complaints166
Crashes6
Fires5
Injuries1
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Engine 18.7% · 31
Engine and engine cooling 14.5% · 24
Steering 13.9% · 23
Electrical system 13.9% · 23
Power train 13.3% · 22
Exterior lighting 6.0% · 10
Unknown or other 4.2% · 7
Air bags 3.6% · 6
Severity
Of those complaints, 6 describe a crash, 5 describe a fire and 1 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 15 model years of the BMW X3 in this data, 2011 sits 5th by complaint volume. 2013 draws the most.
Filings are rising — 41 in the last three years against 20 in the three before. For a vehicle this age that usually points to a wear-related failure owners are hitting now.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 72,000 miles.
In owners' own words
I parked my vehicle in front of my house for the night after driving for only about 15-20 minutes. Maybe less. Roughly 3-4 hours later, I was alerted to my car being completely up in flames by the sounds of fire trucks / police sirens. Flames were 20-30 feet in the air coming from the engine compartment area. Fire department / police worked to extinguish the flames, but the vehicle is totally destroyed. Engine
Water pump and thermostat have failed at 63,000 miles. That is an extremely short life span for those items and from general research it appears that this is a common issue with these vehicles. Engine · reported at 63,000 miles
Tail light seems to constantly have problem. I have fixed it multiple times and after few days/weeks my neighbor complains and I have been flagged multiple times on road about running tail light not working. Issue seems to always be there even if I change the whole panel or the led panel. It is an led light that should never go out but it looks like my car behind me always see it as not working tail light. Unknown or other
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…