Read this...it might save your home...or your life

[astroguy]

My wife and I own(ed) a 2002 X5 3.0. We are (were) second owners, having purchased the vehicle in 2005. It has been well maintaned and had only 52,000 miles on it as of last week. We last had it in for BMW dealer service in June 2009 where he brake systems was flushed and a problem with the mass air flow sensor was diagnosed.

Last Thursday, my wife was on her way home from work in the vehicle.
She had run a couple of errands, and had been on the road about 20 minutes. Suddenly, without warning (no alarms or dash lights, etc.), smoke began coming from the passenger side ventilation ducts. Within seconds, the cabin was filled with thick brown smoke. She was barely able to see. Luckily, it was daylight and she was able to spot a driveway, pull the car over, and get out.

Within a few minutes, the vehicle was completely engulfed in flames! Police and fire rescue were summoned to control the fire. The vehicle is now completely ruined, but thankfully, no one was hurt and there was no other property damage. But that is just the beginning.

After returning home, (and both having a drink to calm ourselves) I did a Google search to see if there was any history of this occurance with other X5's. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this site:

BMW X5 Fire - Topix

It seem we were extremely lucky. There are numerous others that have experienced the same "spontaneous combustion" issue. In most, as I believe is the case with our vehicle, the origin appears to be electrical, originating in the fusebox behind the glove compartment. Several X5 owners have had it happen in their driveways and/or garages, casing severe property damange, and threatening lives. I can only imagine what might have happened had our vehicle, or any of the others, had small children, elderly or handicapped passengers. The fire happened so fast, and without warning, that it could easily have been fatal for someone.

If you are an X5 owner, I urge you to have your vehicle's electrical system inspected immediately, and to demand an explanation for these occurances from your BMW dealer and/or BMW NA. As for us, we were lucky...no one was hurt nor did we lose our home. We have made an insurance claim and will count on our insurance company to replace the vehicle (and not with another X5!!!). Others have not been so lucky.

Please don't let something like this happen to you. Take action now before someone gets hurt.

[pski215]

thank you very much, glad your wife is okay!

[JCL]

Thanks for posting. Glad your wife is OK.

I haven't read about any electrical fires with X5s (that I recall) in my 4+ years of posting here. That is after hundreds of thousands of posts on every topic. I did a quick search on "electrical fire" and while I did find 22 references, none of them are about an electrical fire as you describe. The closest is that if the heating pad in the electric seats fails, it can burn the leather and has the risk of an electrical fire (none documented).

I don't think this is a widespread problem. Again, glad you are both OK.

[youry]

After reading your post (I have an X5 and a 325i) I did a search on youtube for "Bmw fire" and I couldn't believe how many Bmw's were caught on fire. Then I did the same search for Toyota , Honda, Mercedes. Hundreds for each brand. To be honest I never thought of a situation like this. Glad your wife is OK and you posted this as a warning.

[astroguy]

Thanks to Youry for pointing out that other automakers are susceptible as well. My original search was confined to the BMW X5, but further research shows that other many other cars are susceptible as well. In fact, I read at one post that there are something over 250,000 car fires in the US each year.

I am not suggesting that the X5 problem is epidemic, but I would feel terrible if I hadn't at least made an effort to make others aware of a potential problem, and found out that someone else had been hurt.

It seems to me that NHTSA and/or car manufacturers should be doing a little more to prevent or contain the problem. For instance, in the case of the X5, why is the fuse box in the occupant compartment and surrounded by flammable materials?? I am quite certain that building codes prohibit the fuse box in a residence or public building from being surrounded by combustibles.

Point is that pubic buildings have sprinklers, and commercial kitchen hoods have fire suppression systems. Cars are equipped with air bags, so why not better fire prevention and/or containment systems??

[FSETH]

Originally Posted by astroguy

Thanks to Youry for pointing out that other automakers are susceptible as well. My original search was confined to the BMW X5, but further research shows that other many other cars are susceptible as well. In fact, I read at one post that there are something over 250,000 car fires in the US each year.

I am not suggesting that the X5 problem is epidemic, but I would feel terrible if I hadn't at least made an effort to make others aware of a potential problem, and found out that someone else had been hurt.

It seems to me that NHTSA and/or car manufacturers should be doing a little more to prevent or contain the problem. For instance, in the case of the X5, why is the fuse box in the occupant compartment and surrounded by flammable materials?? I am quite certain that building codes prohibit the fuse box in a residence or public building from being surrounded by combustibles.

Point is that pubic buildings have sprinklers, and commercial kitchen hoods have fire suppression systems. Cars are equipped with air bags, so why not better fire prevention and/or containment systems??

I agree with others that it is not limited to BMW, nor is this very common, but I think it was good for you to atleast bring this to everyone's attention.

Glad to hear everyone in your family made it out OK.

[statdoc]

Originally Posted by astroguy

It seems to me that NHTSA and/or car manufacturers should be doing a little more to prevent or contain the problem. For instance, in the case of the X5, why is the fuse box in the occupant compartment and surrounded by flammable materials?? I am quite certain that building codes prohibit the fuse box in a residence or public building from being surrounded by combustibles.

Every car I have owned in the past 25 years has had a fuse box inside the passenger compartment, surrounded by flammable materials. I am not condoning this, just pointing out that many manufacturers are doing it; not just BMW.

I would also add that I am glad your wife did not suffer any injuries from this horrible event.

[rocky1536]

Originally Posted by astroguy

Thanks to Youry for pointing out that other automakers are susceptible as well. My original search was confined to the BMW X5, but further research shows that other many other cars are susceptible as well. In fact, I read at one post that there are something over 250,000 car fires in the US each year.

I am not suggesting that the X5 problem is epidemic, but I would feel terrible if I hadn't at least made an effort to make others aware of a potential problem, and found out that someone else had been hurt.

It seems to me that NHTSA and/or car manufacturers should be doing a little more to prevent or contain the problem. For instance, in the case of the X5, why is the fuse box in the occupant compartment and surrounded by flammable materials?? I am quite certain that building codes prohibit the fuse box in a residence or public building from being surrounded by combustibles.

Point is that pubic buildings have sprinklers, and commercial kitchen hoods have fire suppression systems. Cars are equipped with air bags, so why not better fire prevention and/or containment systems??

Some cars do come with fire extinguishers. Cheap, wise purchase that can be hidden in any car...

Commercial and public buildings have system because of fire code and liability. RARELY do private residences have anything other than an detector or alarm. Just the same as a car, buy an extinguisher.

This is definitely scary and I'm glad no one was hurt.

[youry]

I for got to ask you in my previous post. Have you ever had any stereo upgrades, like a sub, an amplifier or ipod cables? Do you recall changing any blown fuses lately? People tend to replace fuses with higher capacity "to make sure" they don't blow again.

[diyanich]

Yeah,it's totally true I owned a 318i e36 and it had a main fuse of 50A instead of 30A ,I guess I was driving a time bomb set by previous owner.
That' the catch when you buy a used car.

Originally Posted by youry

People tend to replace fuses with higher capacity "to make sure" they don't blow again.