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 positive battery fuse cable under the glovebox is placed into a plastic space causing melting. This leads to the vehicle going dead and not even emergency lights will work. This recall has been placed on very few BMWs however it is affecting way more then they are saying. You can see in UK where a man was killed for the vehicle going dead in the middle of the road and emergency lights cannot be used to warn other drivers. How has their not been taken car of already. I am extremely disappointed in our system, and in BMW. My mind is completely blown that this is not cared about.
I have had continuous issues with the electrical system in the front drivers side headlight with burnt plastic housing to the main headlight and the plug for the blinker system. Sometimes it will work and most of the time it won't. I cant tell you the amount of times it has stopped working in the middle of using the blinker. Every time I attempt to change it out, the bulb ends up still in good shape after looking it over. I have always inserted a new one but the issue remains. I have had to replace the whole headlight unit because of the melted plastic not holding the plug any longer and the issue remains. The passenger side seatbelt light has been on for the past several years and will not go off. It shows a light stating the airbag is off. Every time I use the AC unit, I end up with a whole lot of AC condensation pouring out each side of my console soaking the floor of the vehicle and smelling horrible the next day. I don't understand how such a supposedly high quality car can have such stupid problems that cant seem to be fixed. I have had this car since 2013 and barely drive it as I have only put approx 9000 miles over the last 9 years.
Recently had to replace a failed bulb in my 2008 BMW 328i, during the replacement i noticed crumbling insulation within the plastic headlight compartment - basically all i had to do was touch the headlight wires lightly and insulation would crumble and flake off - this insulation is badly degraded, probably made out of improper materials and could potentially pose a hazard if the wires inside were to short out due to lack of insulation. I was able to carefully slip some insulative sleeves around the failed insulation wire to effect a temporary fix (which i don't really trust) BMW should recall and replace this dangerous wiring.
The fotwell modules on these cars are defective..there was an extended waraanty covering this to replace the defective frm(or footwell module)but it does not include this car..the car's headlights, brakelights, domelites stay on with car off, thus drainig the battery. The car then lacks power and can shut off even when driving causing a serious accident. In this model car, these are fmr2 modules that can't be rebuilt. BMW 328I has a supeceeded part and I called them and they wont cover the cost or honor the warranty for this car. Thus I am submitting this as I heard several other BMW onwners with similar models have experienced defective footwell modules..I strongly feel my car should be included as a recall or extended warranty on this part. You cannot replace it as BMW parts no longer carries it, thus how to you get this car to run with the battery draining with lights on?? this poses a danger if vehicle stalls with battery voltage declining as car will no longer run, ,even when driving.
- West Melbourne,, FL, USA
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I had a funny cable or plastic smell inside the car. Couldn't figure out what it was. While driving the smell went worst. I stopped to get a flashlight from my trunk to see if something in my engine was burning. When I opened the trunk I seen that the battery was burning the plastic over the connectors. I have called last year when I purcheased this car yo check on any recals. I was told there wasn't any recals. By BMW vista employees.
Car was parked in the driveway, drove it earlier that day for about an hour, parked it 3pm and 2 hours later neighbor came knocking saying car was smoking. Ran outside and car was on fire. Interior was smoked out. Keyless entry was dead. Broke the window to get the car open, turned the garden hose on to try and stop the car from burning. Called 911 fire dept arrived and had to pry the truck open because it was still sizzling. Fire dept cut the battery cables and said it looked like an electrical fire under the dash. Glove box and passenger side front seat was completely charred. After 22 days, a BMW engineer and allstate ins called it a total loss. BMW engineers report still has not been published. Total loss on a parked vehicle; clearly this vehicle was unsafe and a design fault. Manufacturers are suppose to engineer cars to withstand fires.
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 328I. The contact stated that while traveling various speeds, the passenger front turn signal failed to illuminate. The contact also mentioned that the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 179,000.
The contact owns a 2008 BMW 328I. The contact was driving 40 mph when the power steering suddenly malfunctioned and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was diagnosed and the contact was informed that the battery wires were damaged. The contact was informed by the mechanic that the vehicle was included in NHTSA campaign number 13V044000 (electrical system) however, the contact had never received notification of the recall. Additionally, the driver's side halo light would not illuminate. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 56,000.
Recall campaign lamps in rear quarter panel. Lights on all the time. Took into BMW passport to fix. They charged me $277.75 to fix and now with a recall on the same issue they are not reimbursing me. I have receipts of repair, also recall notice and date I took in, their own receipt shows no fixing as taken care of earlier when they charged me $277.75. Help!
Through out the past month I have had my car towed three times with five occurrences of the car not cranking and the electrical system shutting down leaving me stranded. Over the past year the airbag light has come on at least once a month for less than 5-10 minutes at the time. The first instance it was towed BMW of mobile replaced the battery after several days of trouble shooting even though I had our local police department check the battery to be sure that was not the issue. They charged me over five hundred dollars for this battery. Two days after the battery was replaced I had it towed again to BMW of mobile because the car would not crank again and the lights etc. Would come on. They kept the car for over 5 days running test then stated that "nothing was wrong." I told them that I would not have had it towed if nothing was wrong. Two days later it would not crank again when my 3 year old daughter and I were at a late local highschool football game. This time they said that it was an electrical wire on the passenger side causing the problem causing something to melt near the fuse panel($1,200) to replace).
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.
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- Guttenberg, NJ, USA