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 dropped my wife off at work after lunch and was backing out of a parking stall. I put the car in reverse, let off the brake and was watching for cars behind me. I went to give it a little gas to continue backing up and it revved up as if it was in neutral. I stopped, put the car in neutral, then back in reverse and still nothing. No gear or nothing. I drove home in drive just fine. I put it in the garage. I have tested it since and it does nothing in reverse, but drives just fine in drive.
2000 BMW 323 csi with 81,000 miles. Sudden and complete failure of reverse gear no warnings. Other gears appear unaffected. Car appears to be in neutral when in reverse, engine revs with no effect. Suggested repair: Replace entire transmission for a cost of $6,700.
I purchased a 2000 BMW 323I from carmax in hartford ct. When I purchased the vech it had a little less than 47,000 miles. On Sunday 6-28-09 I attempted to back the vech out of a parking space but to my surprise my vehicle would not move, the reverse gear stopped working. Afterwards I contacted the dealer to voice my concern, to no avail they were rude and not helpful at all. I then conducted some research on line and to no avail I found hundreds of complaints about the 3 series BMW model. I am shocked that BMW could make such a faulty product. Please look into this. Thanks in advance.
I bought a 2000 BMW 323I in 2004 that had been maintained immaculately. At 72,000 miles, the car simply would not go into reverse. My father took the car to BMW dealership closest to my home and they said it was a transmission problem and repairs were going to be about $5000 for a new transmission. Fortunately, he is mechanically savvy, and found a mechanic to repair the transmission for about $2000. After reading online that BMW will do nothing to help replace/repair the thousands of cars that this problem has occurred in, I have to say I am severely disappointed. What once was my "dream car" has turned into a nightmare.
One day in the month of October 2008 my 2000 BMW 3 series with over 100K miles would not reverse, although it would go into drive and move forward. Later that day I was able to put the car in reverse and it moved backwards, then hours later when I put the car in reverse again it did not work. This occurred intermittently until a week later it would not go in to reverse at all. The vehicle was evaluated by a BMW specialist, who stated that it needed a new transmission because the reverse gear did not work. There's no known reason why this happens, it just does. This is a defect in the design. I was quoted over $6000 to replace my transmission, and I have parked my car since then, yet I make a car payment every month.
2000 year model BMW 323I reverse went out at 79,000 miles. No warning, drive still operates fine. No help from BMW. I have had numerous vehicles over 33 years of driving and only one failed before 100,000 miles, a Dodge Grand Caravan and Dodge took care of it. This is sad - there should be recourse. I am not asking for a free replacement since the vehicle is 9 years old but there should be some type of support from BMW. This is supposed to be a sealed unit with "german engineering" no wonder they lost the war.
I own a 2000 BMW 323ci for a little over a year now and I've had to put about $6,000 in repairs into it but all in small problems. Last week, with no warning my car would not go into reverse. I went online to see how much a transmission would cost and to my surprise I found thousands of people with the exact same problem and in all cases BMW never admits to a faulty part and a recall on there transmission. I have always taken my car to the BMW dealer and have gotten my work done there but not this time. It would cost me nearly $8,000 to fix it there.
My 2000 BMW 323I (95,000 miles) would not shift into reverse. Took it to BMW dealership to find out what the problem was. The dealership said it was the transmission and it would have to be replaced, costing $6000. Did some research on the internet and was surprise to find out that the reverse gear failure is a common problem with the BMW cars during my year. Read thousands of complaints from BMW customers with the same reverse failure problem. The company, BMW, is aware that this is a common problem, possibly a defect, and offers no alternate solution other than to replace the entire transmission at a very costly price when the only problem is the reverse gear and everything else works fine. Knowing that I am not the only one suffering with this expensive problem I feel that the BMW should stand by the quality of their product. It does not make sense to purchase a new transmission, as this is our only recourse according to the dealership, when the reverse failure will more than likely happen again! thank you very much.
Car fail to engage to reverse while stuck in an situation. With the zf transmission on the 2000 3 series, the reverse drum is made of aluminum and very easy to crack, each time it cracks, you are not able to engage the car in reverse at all. To have this problem fixed, you either need new transmission or I heard there is a new reinforced drum that fixed the issue, my concern is over thousands of people have the same issue and each time it costs 4 or 5 thousand to fix because of the faulty part inside the transmission, why are there still no recalls yet? this is a pretty dangerous situation when your car can't move backwards and you are stuck in the lot, please read my reference link, as this is my 3rd transmission. Thanks. www.noreverse.orgwww.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/bmw_trans.html.
I own a 2000 323ci and like so many others my transmission has failed, no reverse. This is a major safety issue and I hope someone within this Agency takes some action, like a recall, I mean wtf, R tax dollars in action once again :(
My 2000 BMW 323I has had numerous problems since I purchased it back in January of 2001. I have now replaced 6 or 7 window regulators, the sunroof, the radiator, the cv boots and now the entire transmission needs to be replaced to the tune of $5,151. Oh and did I mention that this car only has 67,000 miles on it??!! apparently the problems with the window regulators and the transmission is a rampant issue with this car and after many complaints, BMW refuses to acknowledge or address the problem. They should not be allowed to get away with this type of negligence.
My 2000 323 ci BMW "no reverse ". with only 69,000 miles on it properly maintained and serviced, on April 5 2009 the cars reverse gear won't engage, its like putting it in neutral but is actually in reverse, the car drives forward without any problems. Brought it to BMW dealership and was told I need a new transmission. Transmission failure rates of the above car is very high that they have a special website for such trany failure www.noreverse.org. BMW needs to address these complaints and maybe held responsible for defects of the above transmission.
The car won't back up at all in the reverse gear. All the forward gears work great, but the reverse gear is pretty much like a neutral gear. The car just revs without any movement.
A year ago, my gas gauge sensor went out. The car had less than 100,000 miles on it. Today, my 2000 BMW 323I has 111,000 miles on it and the vehicle will not drive in any gear without a grinding sound. I almost got killed by a car behind me because I could suddenly not accelerate at a stop light and I had to get out to push the vehicle to safety. Within the past few months the car would drive, but only when it was warm. Now it is completely inop. This car has been well maintained! it would cost me over $4000 to get a new transmission and I still over $6000 on the car. Despite thousands of complaints regarding the 2000 BMW 323I transmission failure, BMW refuses to do anything. I currently have no operable vehicle and I still have to maintain my auto loan payments and find alternate transportation to work. I have spent over $3500 in additional repairs to this vehicle on brakes, new catalytic converter sensors, trailing arm, ball bearings, etc.
I have a BMW 323I that I bought new back in 2000. This has been a secondary car that I have taken very good care of. Recently, at 43,000 miles as I was trying to reverse, the car just idled as if it were in neutral. Once I pushed it out of the parking space it would drive forward only. No warning whatsoever on the dash. Upon further review of this issue I found a website called noreverse.org. Apparently this is a very frequent occurrence with this car that BMW doesn't want to acknowledge. I took my car to the dealer and they told me that because the car is beyond warranty they can't help me. I told them about the complaint website and they told me that they had never heard of it. I can't believe they aren't willing to make this right. This is a defective part without a doubt.
There were no events leading to my cars transmission failure. The reverse failed abruptly and now works intermittently. I have had the car for around three years and it was fine until it hit around 167,000 miles. I have not had the money to fix the problem so nothing has been done to fix it. I have been informed that the only solution is to replace the entire transmission.
Hello- I have a 2000 BMW 323ci. Recently, the reverse function simply failed to respond. There was no event that led up to this failure. I have read numerous (hundreds) of articles/comments on the net of other individuals experiences difficulties with the reverse function of this model car - related to the zf5hp19 transmission build. There must be some help to be provided for what is obviously a recall-worthy malfunction. Please help. Andr bearfield
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Marion, IA, USA