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 have had a major fire on my car due to an oil leak coming from my valve cover. I have been reading on the internet that there has been alot of complaints with this issue involving valve cover leaking oil on the exhaust and creating a fire on the car. I was driving when my engine started to smoke and a fire happen. This happen while driving on the highway.
This is still not resolve and I am looking coolant and there is not answer other than to replace. It costing me to much to keep reviewing this issue, I think it should be done for free
Valve cover oil leaking onto exhaust manifold that causes fire. It was turned off and stationary. Asked BMW to change in 80K but they said just sweating oil. Safety hazard ignored. Common amoung BMW 3 series engine
I was turning on to a highway, as I accelerated to match the speed of oncoming traffic and merge, the engine power abruptly degraded. I had to swerve out of the lane to avoid an accident. The vehicle had a flashing service engine light and was not producing any power. I had the vehicle towed to park ave. BMW in NJ. The dealer diagnosed my vehicle with a failed dme (engine management computer or ECU) at less than 60K. After doing some research I found many others BMW N54 engine owners online who had encountered the same dme failure. It turns out an electrical component that costs a couple of cents was prematurely failing. This was known to BMW in 2007 when the vehicle was being sold. The BMW service builtin si B 12 18 07 clearly indicates that this is an unexpected failure and is caused by a defective diode. Further more the issue can damage coils and fuel injectors costing thousands of dollars. Replacing coils, injectors, and the dme can exceed $5000. Further more BMW chose no to be proactive and replace the component, instead they put peoples lives at risk, at best their benefiting from their own lack of quality.
High pressure fuel pump & vacuum lines tank 1 & 2 failures. Turbocharger & waste gate failure as well, fuel sending units developed hairline fractures that cause fuel to leak on exhaust manifold likely to case a fire was told not to drive car luckily the mechanic notice the leakage. No more need to to say, you guys are aware of this do some about it please! I never purchase a BMW ever again!
- Austin, TX, USA
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The contact owns a 2007 BMW 335I. While accelerating, the vehicle shuttered and the check engine indicator illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact also stated that the vehicle idled roughly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the fuel injectors, spark plugs, and ignition coil would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 102,000.
There is a serious defect with the engine and fuel pump. It takes a long time to accelerate when driving especially on the highway, the car will shake, jolt and the engine will start to make a weird noise. There is oil leaking constantly and the check engine light is constantly coming on even after just being repaired. The car goes into limp mode and has shut down on me numerous times while driving. I've had the fuel pump replaced numerous times and yet it needs to be replaced against. The car will overheat at times and and just shut down. I was driving on a busy city street when the car just shut down, I couldn't steer or brake it just died in the middle of a busy street. It was extremely unsafe and put my life in danger as well as the other drivers on the road, especially since they were driving at fast speeds.
BMW 335I 2007 has (X3)three times now, the vehicle was traveling during the daylight hours at highways speeds of 65-70mph in the number 1 far left lane of (ca 101 fwy) in may of 2016 when the vehicle displayed 'engine temperature was high, and that the car needed to be driven at a moderate speed'. immediately took my foot off the accelerator and began to coast in idle state to the shoulder (ca 101 fwy) 5 lanes over. Before I was able to move to the 3rd lane the vehicle stated 'engine to hot', turned off, lost power (much like if you run out of gas), and I frightfully merged creeping along to the shoulder narrowly missed being hit by several other trucks and vehicles. I went to lift the hood, expecting to be overwhelmed by heat and conditions that would cause a BMW to disable suddenly and lose power. I observed no conditions of heat or unusual to cause a shut down. I was able to turn car on again in 10 minutes with no problems the temperature was no different or warmer than I have ever felt before, conditions were 72/, traffic was moving along at a good flow, with light cool bay area breeze. This has occurred 3times now, I have filled the coolant, I have had the starter and battery replaced and yet the same occurrence comes up. 'department of Consumer Affairs, 'better business bureau, 'us department of transportation, 'national transportation and safety administration, 'abc nightline reported: (abcnews.go.com/thelaw/BMW-admits-fuel-pump-flaw-turbo-cars/story?id=11968495 ), 'dateline nbc reported: (www.nbcnews.com/business/BMW-recalls-134-000-luxury-sedans-over-tail-light-problem-4B11215107 ) 'NY daily news filed a story : (www.nydailynews.com/news/money/BMW-recalls-150-000-cars-faulty-fuel-pumps-article-1.192673 ), 'national highway tsa with safercar.gov.
Red electric steering wheel lock icon on screen and car will not start or turn over. Radio works and everything else but car will not start. When battery died, and I charged it full, then went to start the car and this red electric steering wheel lock came on. Had to get car serviced
2eff4 map thermostat, mechanism check engine, in the morning is on and off but is not hot the engine, the car is running with no problem but the light is on for the emission system
Battery died. Jumpstarted, drove for a bit. Turned off, turned back on drove home. Parked the car. Tried to restart and the red electronic steering wheel lock indicator was on. Plenty of juice in the battery, car will not even attempt to turn over. Can not get into neutral to tow out. Car is dead where it sits because of the electronic steering lock. Thank goodness we weren't in the middle of nowhere.
When parked listening to music, my brother plugged in the usb adapter and it electrocuted him ever since he's scared to be in the vehicle. Well right after the incident the cigar igniters to plug in the adapters wouldn't work anymore. I had just got this car from a dealer as a trade in 3 months ago and I noticed really strong smells of gas from the back seat and my siblings sit back there and that really concerns me. Along with the smell of gas, my coolant reservoir starting spilling out brownish fluid like if a gasket was blown and oil got into the coolant ! I am very irritated I'm being charged thousands that I don't have and only have had the car for a few months. My warranty would not fix any damages, and dealership is not helping me out. I need to go to work and school and I have no transportation at the moment.
While driving on the hov lane of the freeway during rush hour about 5:15 pm my car suddenly started to rattle when pushing the gas peddle. I took my foot from the gas peddle while still driving with about 60 mph. I tried the gas peddle some seconds later again and experienced still rattling and no acceleration of the car. I took my foot again from the gas peddle. In the meantime I was down to 40mph. About 20-30 sec later from the first rattle the engine light came on and 1 sec later the engine stalled on the highway. At that time when the engine stalled I was still driving about 35 mph. Luckily the freeway had a left shoulder and I turned over to the left with the last remaining speed and slowly stopped the car. I'm so glad that the left shoulder was available. The freeway was very busy and I assume I would have been involved in an accident, if the left shoulder wouldn't have been available. The loss of power was too sudden and entirely unexpected. The stalled engine created a very dangerous moment while driving on a freeway. The BMW shop came back to me today and explained that the high pressure fuel pump failed. A know issue with the car make, model and year.
My car might have turbo charger issue that was settle under class action in 2010. I'm being charged for repairs that will able BMW to make diagnosis for that problem at first for vacuum turbo lines almost for 1000 dollars and today for some other issue another 500. I'm being pressured by BMW to fix it or quit. The extended warranty is only till 82 thousand miles. So either I pay or end up not knowing if my car has this issue. When I was driving and trying to speed to pass another vehicle my engine light came on saying that engine is not working in full capacity and to slow down or stop... pls help me to resolve that issue. Thank you. I called BMW or northern America and spoke with sky and was told that it is what it is and I have to pay since the mechanics know better what needs to be done. When I asked for somebody that is in direct relations with BMW of germany I was told that he is the top of the line person and entity in his self. I feel that anything related to this issue should be cover by BMW not me.
Burning smell in cabin. Changed cabin air filter without any improvement. Dealer. Oil from valve cover gasket leakage is an issue in this model. Did internet research. Apparently not uncommon at all to have this problem. This is a health hazard-smoke inhalation and also a fire hazard. I contacted BMW corporate office and was told this can happen. No further information given.
I was parked, placed my car in reverse and immediately all of my dashboard lights were activated (4X4 malfunction, ABS brake failure, transmission malfunction) then my car lost power. There is a known issue with the set positioning motor failing on these vehicles. The BMW dealer part # is 27 10 7 546 671. There is an internal gear, with in the set positioning motor, made out of plastic that wears prematurely. This is a known issue with BMW's and it should be recalled. My vehicle become disabled with out warning, leaving me stranded which may have caused an accident.
While driving at highway speeds for 15-20 minutes, the yellow engine overheating warning light came on and quickly turned to red, within 5 seconds. The car lost the ability to accelerate and my speed quickly began to slow. There was no response from the car when depressing the accelerator. I had to cross 3 lanes of traffic with no acceleration which nearly caused several accidents. My car was rolling to a stop on he highway. I turned the car off for several minutes and everything seemed to be fine. However, this has now happened multiple times. Each time while driving on the highway for 15-20 minutes.
Engine mount bolts: Was driving our car yesterday and went over some train tracks. They were bumpy but not jarring or excessive. Right after that a strong vibration started going through the car. I took the car home and found the four bolts holding the motor mount bracket to the engine block had all sheared or fallen out. The engine is now sitting at an angle.
While I was driving in a highway traffic, without any warning the car started vibrating severely, smoke coming out of the tail pipe, engine almost dying and I was forced to take the shoulder lane away from traffic. I tried to restart the engine but only white smoke with fuel smell coming out of tail pipe, but I was still able to drive the car slowly to home. Took to mechanic and eventually was told that engine is completely shot - 3 or 4 cylinders were cracked, combustion failure, etc. Mechanic can't fix it without replacing the entire engine which he estimated at least $7,000. Geico won't cover since they considered my car issue strictly a "mechanical failure". BMW concord is unresponsive to my request. I'm on my own here and now I'm paying for the rental car for about 3 weeks now which geico doesn't fully or even partially cover due to the mechanical failure state of my car. I'm the original owner of the car and my usage is less than average. Driving it primarily to work (antioch, ca - concord, ca) and back home which is only approx 40 miles round trip. My driving habits are very good, car was never abused. I took good care of the car, had it serviced and maintained regular basis. I've been working from home permanently for over a year now so my mileage usage is very low and geico knows about it as I provided proof of low mileage usage. I just don't understand why my BMW - a performance car and the ultimate driving machine - with low mileage, never abused, well maintained - could go this worse. Now the car sits in my garage dead, not fixable, not able to trade it. I'm so frustrated and very upset that this happened at a time when I'm extremely busy at work, and just adds to my stress level that I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack from just dealing with this issue. Engine is dead in just 6-1/2 years. Unbelievable! updated 9/25/14 the consumer stated BMW fixed the main problem for $ $3,100. All six of the fuel injectors were replaced and the contaminated fuel was drained. Updated 11/04/
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- El Paso, TX, USA