By model
Generations, and their common electrical faults
What tends to go wrong electrically, generation by generation. Not every covered generation is documented here yet — the scope line is the authoritative list.
Coverage: BMW 2010+ · Mini 2010+ · Rolls-Royce 2007+
01BMW11 documented
E70X5 · 2007–2013
Same module family as the E90 — FRM, JBE and CAS — plus a tailgate wiring loom that works itself to death, and the first FlexRay bus in a production car.
E903 Series sedan · 2005–2011
The generation where BMW moved the body electronics into modules — and where the most famous module failure of the era lives.
F017 Series · 2008–2015
The flagship the first Rolls-Royce Ghost was built on — FlexRay across the car, CAS4 and FRM3, and a gateway that records which module kept it awake.
F105 Series · 2010–2016
The F-series comes to the 5 — CAS4 and the FRM3 footwell module carry the body electrics, one step before the F30 merged them into the FEM.
F15X5 · 2013–2018
The X5 skips the FEM and goes to the body domain controller (BDC) — one of the first BMWs with it — plus the familiar tailgate loom.
F25X3 · 2010–2017
The X3 on F10-generation electrics — CAS4 and the FRM3 footwell module, not the FEM — with the tailgate loom as the known mechanical weak point.
F303 Series · 2011–2019
The networked generation — the FRM is gone, replaced by the front electronic module (FEM), and more of the car sits on data buses.
G01X3 · 2017–2024
The X3 on the G-generation body domain controller — with a BDC hardware change in mid-2021.
G05X5 · 2018–
The current X5 — body electronics in the BDC until the 2023 facelift moved access and the immobilizer to the Basic Computing Platform (BCP).
G203 Series · 2019–
The current 3 — the newer generation of BDC body electronics from launch, and module replacements that need programming.
G305 Series · 2016–2023
A 5 Series built around the body domain controller (BDC) — and the BDC hardware changed partway through production, in mid-2020.
02Mini4 documented
F56Mini hatch · 2014–2024
BMW's front-drive platform under a Mini — the same body domain controller (BDC) as BMW's front-drive cars, and programming-first module swaps.
F60Mini Countryman · 2017–2024
The second-generation Countryman on BMW's front-drive platform — the F56's body domain controller (BDC) in the family-SUV body.
R56Mini hatch · 2006–2013
BMW-era Mini — the FRM3 footwell module came along with the platform, and so did its failure mode.
R60Mini Countryman · 2010–2016
R56-family electrics in the bigger body — the same FRM3 footwell module and the same failure on a voltage drop.
03Rolls-Royce4 documented
CullinanRolls-Royce Cullinan · 2018–
The Phantom VIII's Architecture of Luxury under the SUV body, with all-wheel drive.
GhostRolls-Royce Ghost · 2009–
Two generations: the 2009–2020 Ghost on an adapted BMW 7 Series structure, and the Ghost from 2020 on Rolls-Royce's own aluminum architecture.
PhantomRolls-Royce Phantom VII · 2003–2017
The first BMW-era Rolls-Royce — on its own aluminum spaceframe rather than a BMW platform.
Phantom VIIIRolls-Royce Phantom VIII · 2017–
The current flagship — the first car on Rolls-Royce's aluminum Architecture of Luxury, later shared with the Cullinan and the second Ghost.
Yours on the list — or not yet?
The scope line above is the coverage promise; the index grows as each generation gets written up. If the car is inside the years, it is covered — tell me what it is doing.