2005 R53 S, 192k miles. A few weeks ago the car stopped running, threw a CPS code, ordered a Delphi brand from Rockauto $42, replaced and the car ran great. Then on the way home from work yesterday the car stopped running, would not restart and I had to get a tow home. I replaced it with an old but working one that I had on the shelf and the car fired right up and is back to running great again. Did I really have one go bad and replace it with a new but defective one that only lasted a few weeks and 1,000 miles? Or is it possible that something in my car is killing crankshaft position sensors? Any and all experiences and opinions are appreciated. Thanks

Yes it's possible; I've had bad sensors right out of the box. When you pulled the sensor, was there any contact damage?

No contact damage on either non-working sensor. My hope is that it was bad out of the box. My worry is that some other condition made them go bad but no one has chimed in saying they have run into an issue like that. Twice in three weeks makes me feel a little gun shy about wandering too far from home territory.
Now do I keep running with the old one that's working or spring for an OEM priced sensor? NTK, Beck-Arnley, Mini Genuine?

Odds against two replacements going bad -- pretty low.

You're right. I'll be ordering new oem tomorrow. Thanks!

OEM only …

+1
OEM
I had an intermittent surging issue @ almost full throttle.
I tried a few things (cleaning the sensors, fuel pressure regulator, zip-tie bypass valve etc...) to no avail before biting the bullet and paying $$ for both OEM MAP & TMAP sensors.
Replaced them both at the same time which resolved my issues. Not sure which of the 2wo was the fix though.
I'd read enough stories about the off brand sensors that were either junk out of the box or failed prematurely.