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.
The contact owns a 2003 BMW 325I. The contact stated that the tail lights failed intermittently and would shut off while driving without warning. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign id number: 11V438000 (exterior lighting:tail lights) but was advised by the dealer advised that the vehicle was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance. No repairs were performed. The current mileage was 73,346 and the approximate failure mileage was 65,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Xenon lights went out shortly after the 50,000 mark. Shortly after car kept going into fail safe mode, kept getting low voltage readings on diagnostics. One BMW dealers kept telling me I needed to rebuild transmission. All they would do is plug the car into the computer and see the tranny reading on the scanner. The reason there was a tranny reading was because the car was in fail safe mode. I eventually had the tranny rebuilt and I still had the same issue. I would cycle the ignition and restart the car and car would drive fine. It keeps going into fail safe mode everytime I start the car. Its harder to get it out of fail safe mode in the winter with colder starts.
The low beam reflectors on 2003-2004 zkw branded high intensity discharge xenon oem hid headlights on the 3 series BMW from that model year (sedan) were made of some painted material that degraded when subjected to the heat produced by the oem xenon bulbs. This results in a significantly decreased light output as the reflector became scorched. If it's bad enough, there is no light being projected on the road and it is very hard to see anything with the normal headlights. Either the high beams have to be used or the foglights have to be turned on. This is a safety issue. I would imagine that BMW and zkw were and are aware of the defect as the newer, redesigned headlights do not suffer from this problem. Replacement oem headlights cost $1200 for each side.
My current vehicle is a 2003 BMW 325I with bi-xenon headlights manufactured by zkw. Over the last year or two, the light output from the xenon headlights had dropped to the point where I get almost no noticeable illumination of the road at night (in average city levels of street illumination). I turned to using my foglamps to be able to see anything. After researching this problem on online forums, I examined the headlights myself and found that the upper portion of the projector bowls seem burned. They are made of plastic and painted with reflective paint, but the upper ~40% of the bowl is now browned and nonreflective. Apparently this is due to an inability of the paint to withstand the high temperatures generated by the xenon bulbs. Also, this seems to be common to many/all zkw brand headlights utilized in 2003-2004 model years of 3 series (E46) BMW vehicles, according to postings on the BMW-owner forums. For now, I have tried to remedy this by lining the burnt portion of the bowl with aluminum foil and can now notice some illumination of the road at night. This further argues that the burning/loss of reflective coating is what causes the loss of light output.
- Houston, TX, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Brake lights and turn signals randomly not working. 2003 BMW 325I. Replaced light bulbs and noticed burnt wires and light sockets. Researched repair and found numerous other owners of same year and make vehicle with same issue.
I bought my 2003 BMW 325I new. Shortly after the sale I noticed the front drivers xenon light would go out. The only way to get the light back on, is to turn off the car and restart the engine. This works about 80 percent of the time. Another issue I have been experiencing is a false indication that my taillights are out. This is very sporratic and annoying. A third issue I am experiencing is very dangerous relating to my drivers seatbelt. The seatbelt may seam locked, but if you pull with a bit of force, the seatbelt will come out of the locked position.
Got a warning from police about drivers side brake light being out. Took it to repair shop to be repaired. Bulb replaced. In less than 12 hours the lights were out again. Took it back to repair shop they pulled the light panel out lights came on. I drove off and the inside warning light came on again. I was told by the repair shop that if the light went out again it was an electrical problem and the panel would have to be replaced.
Lens cover for head lights on BMW 325 I with only 65K in southern California are severely oxidized limiting vision at night. Called BMW and basically stated warranty has expired.
The contact owns a 2003 BMW 330I. The contact stated that when the brake caution light illuminated, the brake light, tail light and turn signals failed suddenly. The contact replaced the rear bulb several time. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The contact planned to speak with the manufacturer. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000 and the current mileage was approximately 60,000.
I have experienced several times when our turn signal light fails to work and the indicator light of failure is shown on the dashboard. The light will work then stop working in short periods of time. I have replaced bulbs on numerous occasions with some success while other times nothing helps. There appears to be some type of electronic problem with the signal lights, especially in the rear of the vehicle.
Please let this notice serve as a formal petition for an investigation of a safety-related design defect. The rear tail light bulbs aren't working on the driver's side. The ground wire in the connector, connecting to the bulb carrier seems to be damaged due to a bad ground. I have been replacing bulbs for the last two years.
The tail-lights of my BMW 325I have periodically shorted out ever since I purchased the car. The warning light on the dashboard indicates that the light is not functioning correctly, and is not corrected by replacing the bulb. Before my warranty expired BMW replaced the rear tail lamp module which corrected the problem, but already the replacement module has shorted out again. Currently both tail-lights are shorting out.
BMW E46 3 series - zkw headlights- very low light output the zkw headlights have a design flaw in which after 2-3 years of use, they dim to around 20% of the original light output. This is very dangerous when it comes to night driving. Someone driving with this issue is nearly completely blind driving around at night. This is due to the projector reflector bowl being made out of plastic, and melting from the heat. This causes the light to bleed out from the backside of the light into the housing, instead of forward onto the road. BMW noted this flaw by replaced the zkw headlamps with al branded headlamps in all the newer bmws in 2005 and on. The al branded headlights replaced the plastic bowl with metal bowls. However, all E46 3 series sedans from 2003-2004 still have these faulty zkw headlamps. There is no easy fix to this problem, as BMW does not sell the bowls separately. The only solution is to completely replace the headlamps, which costs around $2000. This is a very serious safety concern. I can guarantee that nearly every 2003-2004 3 series sedan with oem xenon headlamps faces this issue. Owners do not fix the issue due to the heavy costs.
The zkw brand of high intensity discharge (hid) headlights equipped in the 2003-2004 E46 model 3 series BMW sedan have a plastic reflector bowl in the projector that has the tendency to have the chrome reflective plating burnt off rendering the headlights all but useless. This makes it dangerous to drive at night because you can barely see the road. The only remedy to this is to replace the entire headlight assemblies for $1200 per side, which is unacceptable for non wear item to occur when the vehicle is between 5 to 7 years old, averaging 50K to 90K miles.
Real light assembly (turn signal, parking light brake light) malfunctions occasionally and none of the lights work thus, posing a dangerous situation when vehicle in motion, turning and especially at night. Problem has been going on for at least a year. It appears that the wire connector in the assembly is burning out thus causing a short, I have temporarily repaired the problem myself by cleaning the burned parts of the wire and reconnecting and protecting with electric tape.
I purchased my BMW 325I in August of 2006. Since that purchase I have only driven it approximately 9-12 months collectively. The car was purchased with 37500 miles and now has 70,000 miles. The problem appears to be the electrical system which causes the lights to turn off and on when they feel like it. This car has been sitting in my driveway for the past 9 months because it is unsafe to drive and will not pass inspection. I have had it to numerous BMW dealerships, they can not find the problem. All the issues seem to be electrical in nature and are very hard to accurately diagnose. The bottom line is I am charged thousands of dollars to repair the car but car is still not safe. The rear lights have burned out and the right front light goes on and off at will. The last incident occurred in Dec 2009 when the car lit up like a christmas tree (the only time all of the lights worked.) however, when you turn the car on, the lights went off again. The car had to be towed to the shop where it remained until January 2010. I was charged $2700 and still can't get this beast inspected. This has gone beyond the point of ludicrous. I am completely disgusted with the "ultimate driving machine". in essence I am paying 650 dollars a month for nothing. The last mechanic that looked at the car recommended that we should replace the front lighting system because the current system that is faulty is not meant to be replaced, so replacement parts are very expensive. In theory the lights should last the life of the car. This is not the case with my car and to replace the xenon lights with the more common halogen lights it will cost an estimated 2,000 dollars. This is not feasible with a car payment and until the car is paid off in 2012. It will sit in the driveway, a waste of a perfect car, my retirement car.
We own a BMW 325I series 2003 sedan. While my daughter started the car she noted the left headlight went out on the driver's side of the car. She was only around 4 blocks away so proceeded to drive home and during the drive she experienced her brakes grabbing and steering difficulties. All the dashboard indicator lights came on. We took the car that night to BMW to drop off for evaluation. The service manager stated that the xenon headlight failed and took at the steering system panel and had to be all rewired. He said they had never seen this happen before. I am concerned this is a safety concern in the wiring of the xenon headlight to effect a steering panel when the headlight goes out. The effect on the steering panel is immediate and gives no time to replace the headlight without further damage to the car. The cost to repair was $1800. This is very concerning. 2 months later the blinker headlight next to the xenon headlight fell completely out of the car held by a wire while my daughter was driving on the highway. It seems like there is an issue with the BMW 325I series headlights that to me is a great safety concern for those driving. I would appreciate your follow up to the make and model. I would be glad to provide my name for you to obtain copies of the service records on these events from our BMW dealership. Thank you.
3/26/2010 - olney, md - 2003 325xi right and left rear light assembly system failing at times, (turn signal and brake light works intermittenly). BMW acknowledged "ground" problem in assemly in tbs:630306, February 1 2007 local dealer in silver spring md, tisher BMW correct the problem only on the right side and completely ignore multipple office visit for the same issue on both sides and refuse to correct problem on the left assembly. At the same time BMW corporate office customer suport refused to offer out of warranty free repair or to initiate recall on previosly acknowledged "ground" problem. I belive this issue is the safty hazard because the "ground" red wire is burning in the connector of tail light assembly. Also people and other drivers can't see when you "braking"
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Durham, NC, USA