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 2007 BMW 328I. The contact stated that the driver side door did not unlock even after manually using the key. In addition, the contact had to exit the vehicle through the passenger side door. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
Door locks would not open leaving me locked out of the car and stranded. Had to have the car towed 300 miles to get it back home where a BMW repair place was available. Had to replace both front door actuators at a cost of $600 just to get back inside my car. If a baby was trapped in the car it could of died by the time it was to get anyone to help get the doors open. The most dangerous design I've ever heard of. Interior door handles will not work and no way to get out of the car if it happened while I was inside.
The electrical door lock failed and prevented the driver's door to unlock from the inside causing the driver to be trapped inside the car. There is no manual way to unlock car door from inside.
The left passenger door lock has ceased to operate on my 2007 BMW 328I. It does not unlock with either the key fob or the main unlock switch. This is very dangerous if there were any kind of emergency involving this door needing to be opened.
I was driving my BMW 328I 2007 and had passengers in the car. Apparently one of the door lock fuses blew. I am unable to unlock any of the passenger doors with the key fob nor from the inside of the car. I am able to open the driver's side door manually but that is it. In other words, the passengers in my car could not manually open their doors at all. They had to crawl through the driver side to exit the vehicle! thank god I wasn't in an accident, there wasn't a fire. I'm now being told that BMW has to "run a full diagnostic" but there is no way to open any passenger doors of the vehicle for entrance or exit unless I potentially spend thousands of dollars on an electrical system issue. Seriously" does this seem safe to the average person"
- Peachtree City, GA, USA
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Driver door will not unlock or open. According to dozens of forum posts, it's a known issue. Very dangerous if this fails in an accident and can't get out of the car. Only way to get in and out is through window or passenger door. It is possible for all locks to fail and only way to get out would be from the windows. Even door handle can't open door.
The door locking mechanism failed, making all of the passenger doors unusable, even from the inside. If there are people in the vehicle, they cannot get out except through the driver's door, representing a major safety hazard. In the case of fire or other emergency, passengers in my car would have been trapped, unable to escape the vehicle because there is no mechanical lock release on the inside of the car. BMW has released a service bulletin to replace fuse 57 with a 20 amp fuse instead of a 15 amp fuse, but this does not fix the basic problem of having no escape from the inside of the vehicle. Even after replacing the fuse with a 20A, it blew again and would have trapped passengers again. I feel very unsafe transporting my family in this vehicle knowing that this safety hazard has persisted so long without a recall.
My wife was attempting to exit car when she noticed that she was not able to open any of car doors - all the locks would not operate ! also, the door handles would not open the doors from the inside the vehicle. This issue is safety issue that needs to be looked at asap. I was able to see on line that number of like and kind complaints with the 2007 328 xi models...
The contact owns a 2007 BMW 328 xi. The contact stated that while parked, the remote key fob failed to unlock all of the doors and the key had to be used to manually unlock the doors. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact that the vehicle was not included in any recalls. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 48,000.
The doors will not unlock; from the exterior, only the driver's door can be opened with the key. From the interior, only the driver's door can be opened; none of the other 3 doors can be opened manually or by using the unlock buttons either on the dash or on the key. I think that this creates a very hazardous situation-if this failure occurred while the vehicle was occupied, passengers would only be able to exit through the windows or through the driver's door. This could result in injury or loss of life in some accident situations. I spoke to BMW North America about this problem and they said that they "probably would not be responsible for repairs" to this potentially dangerous situation.
The contact owns a 2007 BMW 328I. The contact stated that when entering or exiting the vehicle with the use of the key fob or manually, the four power door locks would not unlock however, the front driver's side door would unlock manually with the key. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 38,000.
Door locked in position, unable to get out of car. No manual way to get out of car. Huge safety issue. Finally able to unlock using key. When speaking to BMW service center (walters of riverside) about issue, they said if key would have been in ignition the car would have unlocked. Now episode happened again, but unable to get out of car. Key does not work even if in ignition. Luckily, the passenger door was unlock and I was able to crawl out. Now doors are lock so I will have to have the car towed. I am unable to get into the car.
I own a 07 BMW 328xi, on 10/03/12 I got out of my car and tried locking it and only two doors locked. The doors would not unlock with the fob or the door switch located in the car. In order to get into car I had to climb over the passengers seat and when it was time to get out the same had to happen. I called my local dealer and they told me that it was a actuator problem, so asked if there was anything I could do to get the doors unlocked till my appt. I made. He proceeded to tell me no and upon reading some forums he could have said use the key hidden in the fob to unlock the door or check the #57 fuse which controls the locks. Unfortunately, I pretty disappointed with my dealer because he could have potently put me in a dangerous situation, he could have told me these things but he choice to say nothing to get me in there. This is a know problem with BMW's and could be a dangerous problem if the car was to run off the road in a body of water and the person has to over seats to get because of the drivers door not being able to open.
The contact owns a 2007 BMW 328I. The contact stated that the rear driver's door would not unlock. The contact was unable to unlock the door using the manual key or the electronic key fob. The front driver's side door was also affected. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but a diagnostic was not performed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who was waiting for the results of the diagnostic. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure and current mileage was 63,000.
91 year old person could not get out of the car, fuse 57 failed and all doors were locked and also door handles and key fob were inoperative. BMW should have a mandatory recall for this dangerous safety issue. If an accident occurs, people could be trapped in the car. What a disgrace BMW!
A copy of an email to BMW: I have been reasonably happy with my 2007 328I until the electronic locks failed. I could not get in my car except with a key. I couldn't open any door except the driver's door even from the inside! if I had an emergency both my passengers and I would have been trapped. When I looked online, I found that my problem was not at all unique many others have experienced the same issue with failing actuators. What troubles me is not the failure of a part (though I do expect better of BMW), but the fact that my family's safety was potentially compromised. More importantly, BMW has not addressed this issue with corrective parts and procedures so, I am told that if this happens again, I could still find myself trapped in my car after an accident. I expected better with the purchase of a BMW. I am profoundly disappointed that BMW does not think enough of its customer's safety to appropriately address and correct this issue so that there are always mechanical overrides of the electrical system. Perhaps you have decided, like Ford did 40 years ago with the pinto, that the costs of settling a few wrongful death claims is cheaper than correcting a safety design defect. In lieu of a proactive action on your part, I have filed a complaint with the NHTSA.
Doors will not unlock or open. I was literally trapped inside my car in a parking lot. Drove vehicle home, had to put down window and have someone use valet key at my house to open the driver door. None of the other three passenger doors can be unlocked. Luckily no passengers in my vehicle. Was told there is a tsb related to this, however it is not recognized as a safety issue. Cannot understand how this is considered "safe" when if my vehicle was on fire and I had my children in their car seats in the back seat, there would be no way to open the doors to get them out. BMW is aware that the actuators are pulling too much current through the fuses and that the actuators need replaced. They are making tons of money off of charging people to repair this known problem as this is not something you can avoid having repaired unless you are willing to gamble on your own life or those of family/friends who may be in your vehicle when this occurs. There really needs to be a safety recall on this issue before someone loses their life as a result. I find it quite absurd that the NHTSA does not recognize this. Does someone need to die for this to be remedied? just because I drive a used BMW does not mean I have the money to have this repaired, yet I've got two very young children who ride in the backseat of this car on a daily basis. Looking at the number of complaints that have already been filed, obviously it appears that neither BMW nor the NHTSA seem to care about my safety, my family's safety or that of any of the other thousands of BMW owners who are having the same issue.
A blown fuse caused the door unlocking mechanism to fail, trapping occupants in the car. The doors could not be opened by any means, as the failure also disabled the normal mechanism by which pulling on an interior door handle released the associated lock. The sole exception is that the driver's door could be opened by rolling down the window, and reaching out awkwardly through the window to the exterior door handle with the mechanical auxiliary key. However, the only exit available to backseat passengers was through the windows, assuming the passengers were small enough to fit through them. Neither of these modes of egress would be satisfactory if exit needed to be quick. Fortunately, this particular failure happened to my family while the car was safely parked. In the event of a collision or fire that required rapid evacuation of the vehicle, however, this would be a potentially life threatening situation. Ideally, the locks should be mechanically linked to the door handles so that an electrical failure would not render it impossible to open the doors. Absent that, at least having individual fuses for each lock actuator would leave three functioning doors if one failed.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Delmar, DE, USA