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.
On July 9, 2011, I was driving at a speed of 30 mph in the process of exiting the parkway, with my family in the car, when the vehicle suddenly stopped operating! there were no warning lights, and nothing worked in the car. I was unable to put on my hazard lights or more the steering wheel. As the car was slowing down I kept trying to re-start the car but nothing worked. After coming to a complete stop, by using my emergency brake, I was able to push the key in and out and hit the start/stop and the car finally started. I brought my car to rallye BMW to have it serviced and also contacted BMW corporate because I did not and do not feel safe in my car anymore. I was requesting either a new vehicle or full value back on the car. BMW serviced the vehicle and stated "BMW reviewed remotely unable to replicate stalling. No problem found", and decided that my car is safe to drive. I completely disagree and feel this possible life threatening issue should be taken seriously.
Drove my 2008 BMW 328xi sedan to work site about 54 miles away from my home town with no issues. After a long day of work, got into car and started engine. Noticed smoking coming out of engine compartment. Open hood and noticed small fire coming from underneath the intake manifold near some wiring. Small but still on fire. Put out fire by blowing on. Car started up fine with no error codes. Tried starting again, same result. A electrical short with smoke and flame. I put it out again with water. Had the car towed to my local BMW dealer to have a repair. BMW dealer checked it out and said that the car had a electrical wiring harness fire and no other issues. They said it would cost $2700 dollars to repair and was not covered under BMW's warranty. This car has 29000 miles on it. How in the world is this not covered by their warranty. This was a vehicle fire! it is not normal for a car to catch on fire by itself is it not?
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 328I. The contact stated that while sitting in the vehicle with the radio on, the electrical system malfunctioned and completely shut down. The contact was locked inside the vehicle for 40 minutes and was unable to use the horn to indicate that he was trapped. The contact called the manufacturer to unlock the vehicle. The vehicle was then towed to a local dealer, who stated that the power in the battery in the key fob was low, which caused the failure. The manufacturer did not offer assistance. The failure mileage was 180,000.
My 2008 BMW 328I, still under factory warranty, required a new battery. I was denied warranty/maintenance coverage for the battery due to my 'driving profile' - I drove more than 100 trips of less than 5km in the last 36 days. However, I drove a total of 2420 miles in the last 32 days, as indicated on two car repair receipts. Bmwna stated that due to me driving such short distances, the battery was unable to charge properly. This sounds like an engineering defect, not a driver-related issue.
BMW 328xi sportwagon car power lost sporadically while car is in use. 1st time, car stopped at stop sign, when attempting to pull off, car turned off. All power lost only available function - brakes. 2nd time, same day as 1st incident, car moving approx 50mph, hit a bump, all car power lost. Only available feature, brakes. Car would not restart for approx 2.5 hours. Occurred in construction zone, so car and driver sitting in traffic lane. Unsure what was fixed. Supposedly some part near gas pump hole that leaked - corrosion on computer - replaced. 3rd time - car cut off while traveling 10 mph making right hand turn. Brakes worked only. D/T loss of power steering, car stopped in oncoming traffic lane. Replaced "fuel/air intake" modulator? not sure of the name. Old part was at dealership. 4th time - car cut off while making left hand turn in busy intersection at approx 15 mph. Entire onboard computer replaced. 5th time - traveling approximately 25mph. While crossing railroad tracks, car cut off - restarted immediately. Has not yet been repaired. All repairs done under manufacturers warranty. Parts may still be available at dealership. Each incident between 2-4 weeks apart. Dealership kept car during last repair for 6 weeks. Still unable to repair. Regional rep called and serviced car as well. Numerous parts replaced at this point, without resolution. Very big safety issue for obvious reasons. Date of 1st incident 3/9/2010. Date of most recent incident 5/26/2010.
- Durham, NC, USA
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2008 BMW 328I. Consumer states when power is lost to the doors, for any reason, the passenger doors remain locked with no way to open them from the inside or the outside of the vehicle the driver's side door opened from the inside when the handle was pulled.
Go here for the entire story: www.bmwfire.com I purchased a brand new 2008 BMW 328I for $38,000 from sonnen BMW in san rafael, California. The car had a serious manufacturers defect that caused an electrical fire and resulted in my car being totaled. I had multiple issues with the front passengers side fog light falling out of its casing into the lower corner of the bumper which caused three separate fires. BMW has refused to replace my vehicle that had 11,500 miles and is covered under warranty. At the end of June 2008 I first realized this problem happened upon a closer inspection of the exterior of the car. I brought the car right away to sonnen BMW's service department, as I was worried about the safety of the vehicle. I showed them what happened, but they told me that they had no available appointments until two weeks out and that my car was safe to drive. Two weeks later I brought my vehicle to sonnen's service department, they "verified the defect" as stated in their service records. They replaced the complete front bumper and supposedly re secured the foglight. All of this was covered under BMW's warranty as it was a manufactures defect. I asked tom murtha (my service advisor) why this had happened, he told that because there was absolutely no impact damage, the only way this could have occurred was a mistake when building the vehicle at the factory. I thought all of my problems were solved until a foggy day in san francisco, California. On October 25th, 2008 at approximately 4:00 pm. While waiting at a stoplight I turned on my fog lights at the intersection of front & broadway (assuming that the foglight had been secured). It was foggy out and my passenger and I could not see the smoke that was coming from the passenger side fog light because of a small fire it caused. I was made aware of this when a pedestrian walked up to my car and alerted me that there was a fire. I pulled over right away and I dumped the contents of a large water bottle on the flame.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Astoria, NY, USA