This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
I had two situations in which my car would unexpectedly lurch forward after coming to a complete stop with my foot on the brake pedal, and another case in which I could not place the vehicle in park with the DCT Shift lever malfunctioning and making the car undrivable.
Sometimes, the car from a stand still or low speed (below 10-15 mph) has a delay between throttle input and actual acceleration. This delay of acceleration has caused many close calls for accidents and/or sudden braking needed because of over acceleration. Between my research on this issue and experiences with this, I can reliably reproduce this issue. But due to the nature of this issue, without proper documentation equipment, I cannot provide any concrete data (besides other data provided by various source with professional equipment.)
Vehicle will "jolt" forward. This issue has happened to me over 100 times. The issue is best described like this. I will drive through a fast food drive-thru line and there will be 1 other vehicle in front of me. I will pull up and brake to a complete stop to order. The other vehicle is at the restaurant window paying so that car is only about 20 feet in front of me. Since the gap between me and the other car are so close I will not give my vehicle any gas, I will only lift my foot off the brake and move forward at idle speeds. Once I reach the vehicle in front of me, I proceed with pressing the brake (usually "pulsing" the brake pedal to scoot forward safely once I'm very close). At that point my vehicle will jolt forward as if I pressed the gas pedal all the way in and out quickly. Since my foot is on the brake "scooting" safely, my vehicle does not have a chance to really move. This drive-thru example has happened countless times. I've also been pulling into a parking space with a side walk in front of it. When pulling into the space with my foot on the brake and moving at idle speeds my vehicle tried to jump forward and someone happened to be walking by and thought I was going to hit them in my car.I've had the issue happen in reverse gear as well. This problem is consistent on BMW forums such as www.bimmerpost, com and www.1seriesonline.com and I've talked with BMW dealerships and they have no fix for it and claim there is nothing wrong with my vehicle. The problem feels to be a fault in the dct transmission. When my vehicle jolts forward, it almost seems like its trying to shift up and then shift down quickly causing it to jolt forward. The problem worsens if I have my A/C on at all.
When moving slowly and then rapidly accelerating, such as when attempting to turn onto a busy road, the car seems to shut off the fuel for a solid 2 seconds, so the car actually slows rather than speeds up. The driver, when trying to turn in traffic, will panic and press harder on the gas and nothing will happen until the 2 seconds is over, and then the car suddenly takes off into traffic. This happens consistently and is dangerous when trying to merge in traffic. BMW has attempted to fix it unsuccessfully and now says it is "normal functionality of the gearbox and nothing can be done to remove this sensation". this car has the dual clutch transmission (dct).
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Sterling, VA, USA