The 2008 BMW X5 has 12 recalls, the most serious being Takata airbag inflators in both the driver and passenger frontal airbags that can explode and send metal fragments into the cabin, causing serious injury or death.
Several of these airbag recalls are tied to vehicles registered in high-humidity states and territories, where moisture accelerates the risk of inflator rupture, though prior repair attempts did not fully resolve the issue across all affected vehicles. On the fuel system side, a fuel pump connector can loosen, melt, and cause a fuel leak, and separately, the fuel pump itself can wear prematurely and stop working, stalling the engine while driving. There is also a fire risk from the positive crankcase ventilation valve heater, which can short circuit and melt surrounding components even when the vehicle is parked. On the suspension side, a small number of vehicles were fitted with a sport-suspension rear stabilizer bar instead of the correct standard unit, which can cause the rear end to swing wide unexpectedly during fast lane changes. One recall covers a bilingual labeling error on the tire and loading information label and has no safety consequence.
