2008 BMW 535XI — Complaint #1028403
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE:BODY:TAILGATE:HINGE AND ATTACHMENTS filed December 23, 2013
NHTSA complaint #1028403 (ODI reference 10557118) concerns a 2008 BMW 535XI and was filed on December 23, 2013. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 23, 2013. The vehicle had 75,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Illinois based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as structure:body:tailgate:hinge and attachments, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same BMW 535XI cohort independently describe similar structure:body:tailgate:hinge and attachments failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2008 BMW 535XI shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I DISCOVERED MULTIPLE SEVERED WIRES IN THE TAILGATE/REAR WINDOW WIRING HARNESSES. THROUGH RESEARCH ONLINE I HAVE FOUND THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THIS VEHICLE OVER SEVERAL MODEL YEARS - SEARCH FOR BMW E61 TAILGATE WIRING PROBLEMS. THE FAILURES ARE CAUSED BY A POOR DESIGN WHERE THE WIRES ENTERING THE HINGE GUIDES (4) FOR THE GLASS AND TAILGATE ARE REPEATEDLY FLEXED AT A SHARP ANGLE UNTIL THE INSULATION, THEN THE COPPER WIRE BREAKS. SAFETY ISSUES - POSSIBLE ELECTRICAL SHORT CIRCUIT LEADING TO FIRES (HIGHEST LOAD IS FOR REAR DEFROSTER); LIGHTING FAILURES (REAR HIGH BRAKE LIGHT, LICENSE PLATE LAMPS AND OTHERS); REDUCED VISIBILITY DUE TO LOSS OF WIPER/WASHER/DEFROSTER; REAR GLASS LATCH OPENING WHILE UNDERWAY, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN LOSS OF CARGO OR INGRESS OF EXHAUST FUMES. THIS IS NOT AN EASILY REPAIRED PROBLEM. IT WOULD BE BEYOND THE CAPABILITIES OF ALL BUT A SKILLED MECHANIC WITH PROPER TOOLS. I DISCOVERED IT WHEN THE REAR WIPER AND REAR WINDOW DEFROSTER STOPPED WORKING. AS I INVESTI
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1028403 |
| ODI Number | 10557118 |
| Date Filed | December 23, 2013 |
| Failure Date | December 23, 2013 |
| VIN | WBAPT73548C |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.