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 coating on the angel.eye wiring is made to deteriorate (environmental purposes) but leads to shorting out. Now my angel eyes don't turn on. Wiring needs to be replaced. Could possibly cause a fire I would assume as the live wires have no coating. Multiple forums talk about this issue and lots of drivers experience this. It is a hazzard and possible fire instigator the same as the blower motor wiring which does have a recall.
Vehicles equipped with the Xenon Headlight option that have spent time in warmer climates have very poor quality wiring inside the headlight itself, whose insulation degrades and falls off, exposing bare copper that shorts, causes lighting faults, and disables headlights. This happened in my own car, the driver side headlight Daytime Running Light just stopped working one day, first with no fault codes, then eventually fault codes started appearing as more parts of the headlight stopped working, including the low-beam while driving at night. Obviously the headlights ceasing to work randomly is extremely unsafe on roadways at night, like what happened in my case, but beyond that, wiring shorting inside the headlight can causes electrical fires as well. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request, and has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer, due to testimonials I have heard from many other owners of cars with the same headlights, that BMW dealers and BMWNA are refusing to help at all with this issue. As previously stated, warning lamps did not initially appear, but as more of the wiring insulation began to degrade headlight fault codes did eventually appear.
My daytime running lights bulb failed. Upon opening up the sealed headlight bucket, I discovered that the positive and negative wires' insulation was brittle, cracked, and missing in places, potentially allowing for a short to and possibly a fire to occur.
I know it is a fairly well known issue as looking into a few forums and you can find for yourself. I have a 2007 335I coupe E92 with a around 104K miles and as I know it is far out of warranty the problem I am having should not be something that should happen. Inside of the headlight housing all of the wires start to wither away and short out against each other causing your headlights not to work. This is all happening inside of a sealed unit that isn't supposed to be serviced almost all of the wires coming from the harness are compleatly bare and withered away and I do not have any moisture leaking issues so that couldn't cause any of the problems that are happening either. I believe it is from faulty wiring used inside of the headlights themselves that cause them to deteriorate more rapidly.
Replaced blower motor twice 4 months 1st one made noise and stop blowing air out vents now second one is making loud rattling noise. Constant tail light bulb issues display tail light malfunction.
- Carrollton, TX, USA
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Passenger turn signal bulb was thought to be out. Brought to local BMW dealer and had them tell me I need a whole headlight since the turn signal burned inside.
The wiring inside the headlight housing is deteriorating. The plastic sheathing has become brittle from the heat, and is falling apart, exposing the conductor. This is creating the risk of an electrical fire or damage to the electrical system.
Wiring insulation cracking degrading leaving exposed bare wiring causing shorts and possible fire in headlight wiring harnesses, wires are stationary do not move. Insulation is craked and falling off wires. Noticed failure during bulb replacement. Made this complaint after reading about numerous other BMW owners noticing same fault
Insulation failed on wiring inside headlamp assembly, crumbling off and creating multiple exposed bare copper wiring. Discovered during lamp replacement procedure Nov 21, 2015. I overlaid all accessible wires with electrical tape in hopes to prevent a short and fire. Since then I've read of similar problems reported by several BMW owners on bimmerforums.com, with attached correspondences from BMW denying any problem. Dealers and reputable independent repair shops are very aware of this issue.
Xenon adaptive headlights - the wire inside my xenon adaptive headlights is brittle and the insulation is flaking off. I discovered the problem when I opened one of my headlight assemblies to replace a bulb. Significant amounts of wire insulation have flaked off and exposed copper wiring. I have lots of pictures. I am fortunate that I did not have a short or a fire. This is a safety issue and completely unacceptable. BMW must already know that they have a wiring defect in their cars. BMW replacement headlight assemblies are $2600 plus labor. I am the second owner of this 2007 BMW 328I E92 with 48,000 miles. BMW would not stand behind their product and replace the headlight assemblies.
Upon car system notification that a headlight malfunction was noted I open the headlight access door on the dynamic projection headlamp to inspect and replace the bulb. At this time I noticed large amounts exposed wiring going from the connector to the main harness. As I continued to inspect the wiring the insulating material around the wires continued to crumble exposing more wiring. This is true for both left and right headlights, both headlamps have sealed access doors and is concerning for.electrical short or fire hazards in/near the high heat generated from.the lamps and or engine compartment.
Shielding on daytime running lights has frayed and is peeling. Addressed this matter with dealership who in turn referred me to regional brand manager. Brand manager indicated that the wire just doesn't fray and I must have modified my vehicle to cause the problem. My vehicle is completely stock except for a K&N filter has had all services performed at the dealer until about a 10 months when the factory extended warranty expired. I still take it to the dealership for major services but perform oil changes and spark plug changes on my own. Brand manager offered to discount a new set of headlights by 20% to resolve the problem but at over $1K for each headlight assembly it seems unreasonable for a manufacturing defect. I'm addressing this problem now as my drl bulbs (H8's) have blown on each side twice over the past four months and the shielding drl harness has completely peeled away. A potential fired hazard as both negative and positive leads are exposed. Having the hid adaptive headlights in such close proximity to the exposed harness seems like a potential for a short which may result in a fire.
Left headlight control module unit for xenon bulb stopped working on 2007 BMW 335I which caused the low beam xenon headlight bulb to go out at night. Many other BMW owners are reporting the same problem on the same side (left). Type in BMW 335I headlight control module and someone posting that their left side went out, is the first hit on google and many other posts I have seen also state the left side control module failed and their left headlight went out. It is a safety issue and a consumer protection issue as the cost to replace is $1100+.
On 20 Feb 2013, we were driving on a highway in san francisco. Traffic in front of us slowed to a stop and we also stopped. We were then struck hard from behind by another car that hit the right-rear part of our bumper. Immediately after the impact, all interior and exterior lights in our car flickered and became very dim. We discovered later that the impact had damaged the car's battery, evidenced by electrolyte leaking out of the underneath, rear of the car. After the collision, traffic began moving again and the other driver moved his car off the roadway, leaving us sitting in the middle of a busy, 5-lane freeway after dark with no lights of any kind in or on our car. The emergency flasher flickered dimly, but was not working. All the head and tail lights were dark. Police eventually arrived and pushed our car to the shoulder. I waited inside our car while the driver spoke with the police. As I waited, the door locks suddenly latched and the alarm started. It was impossible to unlock the car from the inside. The door handles were completely non-functional. The windows would not open. I was trapped inside the car. People outside the car were unable to help me escape. A tow-truck driver asked me to release the hood latch. He attached a battery pack to some terminals in the engine compartment and when the interior lights came on, I was able to unlock the door and leave the car. Then he disconnected the battery pack and the car went dark. If there had been a fire or an injury, this would have been a very serious situation. As an engineer I see two, no-cost solutions to this problem. (1) surround the battery with a strong barrier and move it farther away from the rear of the car. (2) include a mechanical link to the door latches so that the doors can be opened from the interior of the car when the battery is disconnected.
After being service by dealer for 4 days which included the replacement of right headlight and ABS and brake system the car caught fire which seem to be related to electrical system. While driving the car heavy toxic smoke started coming out of ventilator of ac system. I immediately step out of the car and in a few minutes smoke and flames located in the engine in front of passenger seat burn the car. Flames and black plastic were coming also under the glove compartment right in front of passenger seat. Dealer quoted $25000 for repair and insurance company declared it total loss. Car was delivered to dealer who has kept it for a month, engineer from BMW North America came and inspected but no report has been issued by them or dealer. This company has no concern for safety of consumers and should be penalize. After having owned six BMW's I feel these autos are not safe.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Madison, GA, USA