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 parked the car and when I got back in to drive away, I couldn't back up after putting it in reverse. Engined revved but would not move. I had to push car out of parking space. Dealer wants $ $5000 to fix, what they say is a common problem with 2000 BMW 328I's.
Rear driver's side subframe mount point failure. The car has gone through class action suit in 2009, and was inspected by BMW in 2010--was told everything is ok and it will not fail since only ones with visible defect will fail. But mine failed anyway 5 years later. This shows even if the damage/defect is not visible it can manifest itself at any time. I was driving about 20mph on city streets going straight, accelerating from a stop, shifting gears from 2nd to 3rd when a loud explosive bang was heard from the rear with an alarming jolt that triggered an interial lock on seatbelts, made all occupants scream in shock and children crying. Inspection of undercarriage revealed that the floor pan where the rear driver side subframe attaches to has completely shattered, leaving driver side of the subframe, differential, and rear axle floating with chunks of sheetmetal from mount point missing. I have been advised by two independent mechanics that this is a dangerous failure and I should not be driving the car, and the only reason of failure is defect in the car. Mechanics believe this failure poses serious safety hazard saying it can easily separate the rear axle and if this happens while driving, the separated rear axle will pull on the emergency brake cable and lock it up, immediately stopping the car. If this happens on a freeway it can cause catastrophic collision incident, endangering lives. They were shocked the car was never formally recalled for safety. Hundreds of cars are affected and this is just one glimpse of the extent of the failures: forum.E46fanatics.com/showpost.php?P=16850066&postcount=1473 it is appalling that such dangerous defect that is so well-known and prevalent in 1999-2000 BMW 3 series has never been recalled to make BMW accountable. Repair estimate min. $5000
I own a 2000 BMW 328 ci. It also has had a rear end sub frame failure that they have been found at fault for by the state of ca in a lawsuit dated in 2006. I brought my car to their attention and they admitted thier failed design, and because someone had to tried to repair it before they sold it to me, of course without informing me about, they refused to do warranty work on it, because a feeble attempt at reinforcing a failed sub frame mount. Fast forward to now, they offered me 2000 dollars on a 6100 dollar repair because they have admitted fault. Now they re-nagged their offer, because rather than doing it their way, I had the mounts upgraded with better steel and mounts rather than use their failed design. They continue to tell me they are doing me a favor, when it is their failed design in the first place, which they admit to. When is it a favor for buying a car that has a failed frame design, and having the company not take responsibility for it when the failure could be the rear end falling out, as has occurred to many people, and something they admit to. This is very dangerous, and also goes against every type of design ethics thought to exist. When companies fail on this caliber, it has the same potential to kill someone for something they know nothing about.
My car year 2000, 328I yesterday reverse went out like all the others, I drove it for a while and tried it, worked for the whole day, this morning turned it on reverse did not work again, I checked the internet find you guys and other sites with class action lawsuit, I called the BMW corporation and talked to them for getting them to pay for the obvious defect they went through there book, to why my car is not recalled.
- Austin, TX, USA
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The contact owns a 2000 BMW 328I. The contact stated that the passenger side air bag warning indicator illuminated. Also, the transmission failed to shift into reverse. The dealer stated that the vehicle was not included in any recalls. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 133,000.
I was preparing to back out of my driveway. The vehicle acted as though it was in "neutral" and did not make any noise or motion. The reverse never showed any signs of trouble. I have been driving the car on a limited basis over the past four months. A short time prior to this, I began to notice a slight vibration in the car while accelerating between the speeds of 25 mph and 30 mph driving forward. It was subtle and actually began to go away. I never experienced any unusual stress, noise, or difficulties while going into reverse prior to finding it completely gone today. I feel extremely fortunate that this occurred in my driveway and did not involve an emergency situation. I fear that it could have put me and my family in great bodily harm, had I not been so lucky. I fear for what this may cost to repair or even evaluate, since many online have expressed a similar situation resulting in thousands of dollars worth of repairs.
I was leaving my driveway when all of a sudden I heard horrible noise's coming from under the driver side rear wheel. I then jacked up my car to see if anything was visually wrong and couldn't believe what I saw the rear subframe that bolts to the bottom of my car had riped through the metal. Scary!
This is a follow-up complaint to my NHTSA-ODI 10503685 incident description, which describes a serious subframe failure that occurred to my car. The fortunate survivors of the many subframe failure incidents who filed a BMW 3-series automobile subframe failure complaint have alleged that the failure was caused by a defective subframe assembly design in these cars. According to the NHTSA, all "complaint information will be entered into NHTSA-ODI's vehicle owner's complaint database and used with other complaints to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists." "if a safety-related defect exists in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment, the manufacturer must provide a remedy at no cost to the owner." "we do not have to receive a specific number of complaints before we look into a problem." "we gather all available information on a problem." "your complaint is important to us." This complaint specifically alleges that the many BMW 3-series subframe failure safety complaints have (1) not been used by the NHTSA "to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists." (2) BMW is not providing a remedy at no cost to owners because the NHTSA has either not investigated the complaints at all, or has not investigated them sufficiently to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists (!) (3) these complaints are of the utmost importance to all of us who have filed the complaints. The mission of the NHTSA should be to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists in order to prevent crashes, fires, injuries, and fatalities; not vice versa. NHTSA, I am asking you to promptly investigate these BMW 3-series subframe failure safety complaints in order to determine once and for all if a safety-related defect trend exists.
The rear subframe assembly tore off at the left rear differential/axle mount points, rendering the car unsafe to drive. BMW of North scottsdale (scottsdale, AZ) inspected the damage and verified that the car was unsafe to drive. The failure occurred on a smooth highway. Inspections by BMW of North scottsdale, penske automotive collision, and Mercury auto insurance agents found no evidence of impact. The consensus of expert opinion is that the failure was due to metal fatigue, and that this is a major safety issue with BMW E46 3 series automobiles. The inevitable subframe failure in these cars, in many instances having occurred at low odometer mileage, has the potential to cause a major accident and consequent loss of life. I was totally unaware of this safety issue in my car before the failure occurred, because BMW has never issued a recall campaign for inspection and repair.
Around christmas of 2012 I started to notice a clunking noise in the rear of my car when torque is applied to the body of the car by the differential. This is an indication of the body's subframe failing. BMW needs to issue a full recall for early model E46 cars. I do not have a job and now my car is a hazard to drive due to this issue; this makes it nearly impossible for me to fix effectively.
Great car until parked at grocery store and car would not back up when put in reverse. Only 75000 miles. BMW dealer wanted $6000 to replace with factory rebuilt transmission. Contacted BMW customer service and they refused to participate in repair. Offered to contact dealer and ask for 10% reduction. Never heard back. Last BMW for me. Very frequent failure per the internet and this site.
Heard a squeaking noise from near my rear differential. Lifted the car and found that the subframe had pulled the mount from the body causing the car to become difficult to control and nearly sideswiped a person in the next lane.
The car transmission will not go in reverse. The issue happens suddenly with no warning, and acts exactly as if you were in neutral gear. There is a dedicated site called www.noreverse.org that documents thousands of cases from BMW owners that have the same problem. BMW North America has acknowledged that its transmissions in vehicles 1999-2003 have this issue, but fails to offer any assistance on this huge safety issue. In November, I pulled out of my driveway normally to drive to work. When I arrive at work and attempted to reverse into the space, the car acted like it was in neutral. The vehicle continues to act this way. All other gears work normal (meaning it drives fine forward), it is just that you cannot engage reverse.
The car all of a sudden stopped going into reverse. I had to push it to get our of the parking spot and went straight home. The next morning, the reverse gear decided to work so I decided to take it for test drive again and it failed to go into reverse again. There are thousands of BMW owners that complain about the same problem with the reverse gear. There needs to be a recall from BMW to take care of this issue.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Edmonds, WA, USA