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 2011 BMW 328I. While the contact was parking the vehicle, it lost power without warning and failed to restart. The vehicle was jumpstarted by aaa. The vehicle was later taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the module under the driver's seat failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact to take the vehicle to a dealer. A dealer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 92,000.
Before any prompts on the navigation screen ever came up, I would often sometimes smell something burning or giving off a hot rubber smell which I addressed as soon I purchased the vehicle from queens auto mall auction, they said it was nothing to worry about if I did not see the check engine light on. While I was driving my BMW 328 xi 2011 the car suddenly lost power and a fuel pump malfunction display prompted on my navigation screen. The car stopped on a bridge in the left lane without me being able to pull over. The car would not start up again at all after several attempts. I waited about 30 minutes and the car started up again. I drove it back home 5 min away and got my vehicle towed to the BMW of manhattan where they say they took care of the problem. Once I picked up the vehicle, I drove for approximately 25-30 minutes before the same exact thing happened again and I was barely able to switch into the right lane so I can pull over and have another tow come and take my car to BMW of manhattan just an hour after I had it serviced. I had the recall for the PCV valve heater replaced at that service so I know the same fire/rubber burning smell can't possibly be from that valve recall. I have seen online many people have the same problem with their 3 series, and I am concerned this may be an underlying issue with all 3 series BMW 2006-2011. In both of these separate instances I was driving and was very scared that I could have gotten into a serious car accident in New York city
After getting my car serviced at tom bush I had several new alerts go off for sensors going out and electrical issues that resulted in more than $3,000 in repairs I was required to pay out of pocket. I came to find out these elements were caused by 2 of the open recalls because the vehicle kept overheating and caused sensors etc to burn out. I called the number provided in documentation I received after repairs had been made and was told there was no remedy available. I asked the customer service rep what to do since my vehicle was already affected and I had to pay out of pocket. The rep said to contact the BMW service center for assistance. I called the service center several times and even called and left voicemails for the general manager of the service center only to never receive a call back from anyone. This ordeal lasted several months and I eventually traded the BMW in for a new car because I was not receiving any communication back from BMW or the dealer service center and could not afford to keep paying for costly repairs due to recalls with no remedies available. This is the first complaint I am submitting related to my 2011 328I BMW. The other complaint I have to file next is for the airbag recall which also caused major damages to the vehicle.
For several months my air conditioner had been blowing warmer air than normal but was tolerable. A week ago, while driving on the interstate I smelled a burning plastic smell. Almost immediately my air conditioner shut off. Following that the radio and display shut off as well. I pulled over to the shoulder of the road and put the car in park. At that point I noticed white smoke coming from the vents in the dash. I grabbed some things and got out of the car. Within 2 mins of notching the burning smell, flames began coming out from under the passenger side of the dashboard. My car was totally engulfed within several minutes before the fd arrived on scene. The car is a total loss with the fire contained from the dashboard back through the cab of the car. After reading about the blower motor recall, I suspect the ac not functioning properly was in direct relation to the issue. I never received any recall notifications about potential fire issues. It was not until my car burned and I started researching that I came across many reports of very similar issues.
My BMW was parked and turned off when it started on fire. It was parked in a soccer field at camp minikani on July 1, 2018 in richfield, Wisconsin. The fire department said the fire was caused in the blower motor under the dash. BMW had a recall on this car, at the time of fire, which they refused to fix. I received an initial notice from BMW in November of 2017. After receiving the notice I phoned BMW who said they did not have a solution to the problem and would contact me when they did. In the meantime my car was a total loss due to the fire.
- Colgate, WI, USA
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2 recalls for risk of fire filed in Oct 2017. 17V676 & 17V683. Notice received 12/02/ 2017. To date 8/28/2018 no remedy available! both known fire risk and no action from BMW 9+months later.
After 3 separate recalls, all BMW defects. Now changed battery, and windows and directionals wont work. Now defective footwell part costing 800plus. BMW will replace, but only if I take time off work and huge expense to drive 4 hrs each way to nearest dealership, because they refuse to tow, even tho their part went bad. They are forcing me to drive (cant afford to tow) a car with 2 safety recalls and a bad computer system to another state with no viable options.
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 17V676000 (electrical system) and 17V683000 (engine and engine cooling); however, the parts to do the repair were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. Perillo BMW (1035 N clark St, Chicago, il) was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not available for the recall remedy. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and was not able to confirm when the parts were to become available. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
Passenger front seat occupancy mat/sensor failed, causing air bags to turn on/off, and trigger false positives and false negatives for minimum weight occupancy, thereby triggering seat belt alarm, and disabling/enabling air bags incorrectly. This was a recall in the same car, model year 2006. I would like my feedback on this subject to help initiate the same recall for the 2011 model year.
The contact owns a 2001 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 17V676000 (electrical system) and 17V683000 (engine and engine cooling); however, the parts to do the repairs were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The dealer (BMW of el paso, 6318 Montana ave, el paso, tx 79925, (915) 778-9381) was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not available for the recall remedies. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and was not able to confirm when the parts were to become available. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328xi. The contact stated that the electrical system warning indicator illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was serviced by BMW of rochester (4250 w henrietta rd, rochester, NY 14623, (585) 598-9213) per an unknown NHTSA campaign number, but the remedy failed to repair the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the electrical system warning indicator remained illuminated after the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 83,479.
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 17V676000 (electrical system) and 17V683000 (engine and engine cooling). New country BMW (1 weston park rd, hartford, ct 06120, (860) 522-6134) was contacted and stated that the parts were unavailable. The dealer was unable to determine when the manufacturer would provide the parts for the recall repairs. The contact noticed a burning odor coming through the vents. The manufacturer was contacted regarding parts and a loaner vehicle option. The failure mileage was not available. VIN tool confirms parts not available. - (recall related incident)
Wheel speed sensors fail under hard breaking happened 2 times car brakes ABS and anti swerve system stop working and breaking is affected hard peddle stopping distance affected. BMW replaced them under warrantee but would not replace the 2 that are working until they fail. My daughter drives this car for school and it is a safety hansard that BMW will not replace. Happened twice once in town the other time on highway had to tow the car to dealer both times.
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 17V676000 (electrical system) and 17V683000 (engine and engine cooling); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were unavailable. The dealer (competition BMW of smithtown, 599 middle country rd, St james, NY 11780, 1-888-861-6280) was contacted and confirmed that the parts were unavailable for the recall repairs. The manufacturer was not contacted. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
Positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) valve heater : this recall involves an engine component known as the positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) valve heater. The PCV valve heater may not have been produced to specifications. Over time, it could deteriorate and, in rare cases, could lead to overheating. Safety risk: If overheating occurs, then in rare cases, this could lead to melting of the PCV valve. In extremely rare cases, this could lead to a fire. Remedy: The PCV valve heater will be inspected and a new part will be installed. If necessary, additional components will be replaced as determined at the time of repair. Recall status: Recall incomplete. Remedy not yet available
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 17V683000 (engine and cooling) and 17V676000 (electrical system); however the parts to do the repair were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs as the recall notice was received over nine months ago. The dealer (taylor BMW, 4180 Washington rd, evans, ga 30809) was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not available for the recall remedies. The manufacturer was contacted several times and was unable to confirm when the parts were to become available. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
Two NHTSA recall numbers: 17V676 and 17V683 since October 2017 for defective parts in engine block and blower connection that can cause overheating that may lead to fire. Since then, manufacturer has not made any sincere effort to give due remedy and ignore consumers' request for the necessary fix to prevent danger and to protect consumers from bodily injury including death.
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328I. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 17V676000 (electrical system); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and advised the contact to call a BMW dealer. The dealer was not contacted regarding part availability. The contact had not experienced a failure. The VIN was not available.
The contact owns a 2011 BMW 328. While driving 45 mph, the contact heard an explosion coming from the air conditioner/heating system. The contact noticed fumes coming from the vents. The contact pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road and turned off the engine. Upon restarting the vehicle, the air conditioner failed to operate. The contact mentioned that during the winter season, condensation appeared on the windows when the heating system was activated. The vehicle was taken to park ave BMW (530 huyler St, South hackensack, NJ 07606, (201) 843-4999) where it was diagnosed that the blower motor wiring needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact received a recall notice for NHTSA campaign number: 17V676000 (electrical system). The failure mileage was 73,450. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Encino, CA, USA