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.
Car gave a Drivetrain Malfunction error and I was able to get the car to the mechanic I've used on the car since it was purchased. I was informed this week that there is now debris in the oil from the timing chain.
Car just wouldn't start one day. Drivetrain malfunction warning indicating timing chain replacement. Car just sits in my driveway. Will cost 6 grand to fix. Timing Chain failure probably effected my engine.
While driving my car at about 30 miles per hour the engine suddenly seized up. There was no warning at all. I had it towed to the dealer, Baron BMW in Merriam Kansas. After evaluating the car they determined the engine failed and it was an issue of lack of oil. I had taken the car to this dealer prior to buying the car to make sure there were no problems. After their inspection I went ahead and bought the car. It had 40,528 miles. I had taken it to the same dealer for service for 3 years prior to the engine failure When the engine failed the mileage was 95,444. I talked with the dealer and let them know that I felt BMW should pay for replacement of the engine. They refused to do this so I was stuck with having to pay for another engine. After researching this issue I found out that there numerous issues with the engine and that several people had had the same problem. BMW was aware of this issue and chose not to do a recall as they should have. Instead the went ahead and made the decision to not do the recall and deal with the engine failures when the engines failed. This would be less expensive to do rather than do the recall which they should have done. So what they did was to sell the 528i model and let people drive the cars, knowing that a certain number of cars engines would fail. Since your organization is concerned about safety issues, shouldn't you have taken some action once you became aware of the engine failure issue I would hope you could consider some kind of fine or whatever against BMW for putting a car out on the road knowing a certain number of engines would fail while people were driving. They were more concerned with profits rather than the safety of the public that would be driving their cars. While you are at it it would be good if you could fine BMW and have them reimburse the owners of these cars in which the engines failed! Thank you for your time and consideration. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
- Overland Park, KS, USA
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With no prior warning or issues my car displayed a drive train error followed by a low pressure error and immediately lost power. The timing chain blew and destroyed the engine.
Picked up from a stop light no aggressive but normally and a few seconds after going around 20-30ish mph the car stalls and goes into neutral. I was really confused and panicking of what happened, the cars behind me almost crashed into me and I was trying to manage to pull the car over to the side of road and thankfully I did. This could have caused a serious injury to me and others. As I was able to pull off to the side of the road I try to start my car back up and it cranks and cranks for a few seconds which it normally never does and finally when it starts back up the car just starts miss firing like crazy and the check engine light comes on and the car is throwing codes all over the place like drive train malfunction, engine malfunction, low oil pressure, check engine oil, auto stop start malfunction. I was super confused so I shut it off and tried to start it again but it didn-??t help at all. I drove slowly into a parking lot and got it towed to a independent repair shop to which they diagnosed the timing chain guides breaking and falling into the oil pump, clogging the oil pump then causing further damage due to no oil going to the top of the motor. I was very confused how all of this could have happened since I took care of my car. If the car had given me a service warning light I would have went and got my engine serviced for this job. Now The thing is these timing chain jobs aren-??t cheap and replacing the oil pump chain is even more expensive since it requires lowering the sub frame. Now In my case the timing was so bad to where the engine did something to the cylinders as of what my mechanic said. So my engine is toast and I need a new engine. Car has a hunk of metal parked in my driveway now that I-??m still paying off. Good job BMW. I really want to sue bmw for this bs. The car is poorly designed and I-??m super thankful this issue did not occur on the freeway because I could have died. I looked into the bmw warranty and it-??s only covering up to 100K.
Car engine caught on fire while driving today and stopped. No smoke or other issues prior. Worried this is related to the recall issued by BMW recently, however my car is not covered under the recall yet. The car is currently located in Vancouver Canada. It was purchased in Tulsa,
While driving on the Grand Central Plwy, Queens, NY, a drive train motification came on and stated to drive moderately, right after the oil light came on. We were near a gas station, and added a quart of oil. The oil light went out, the car started without hesitation. We decided to go home, we got off the highway about a mile out, the car just stopped went into park and could not start again. It would crank over, but not connect. We were on a four lane road, luckily there was no one behind us, it could have been a terrible incident. The car was towed to a BMW dealership in Great Neck, NY and we were told it was either the engine or the timing chain and it was not worth fixing. The car was then towed to my mechanic, who stated there was a technical warning #N20 & N26 regarding the timing issue. Hoping something can be done
Casually picking up from a stop light when my car just randomly decided to turn off on the middle of the road and go into neutral. I lost power steering and brakes. I was able to manage to pull over and restart the car and I was welcomed with a bunch of check engine lights and many other malfunctions. Got the car towed and comes out that the timing chain has failed as well as the oil pump and resulted in damage to the camshaft and cylinder head of the motor. This is just insane how all of this happened in just a few seconds. I took care of my car did oil changes on time, coolant, brakes, transmission fluid. I took care of my car. Bmw put me in a very unsafe condition that day and I-??m very upset because that could have ended very bad for me. The n20 motor has been very well known to fail at any time without any warning and bmw has yet to recall this motor. It became very bad to the point to where they even got sued but only limited the warranty up to 100K miles. Many people experienced this problem before 100K and some experienced it earlier. Their is no given time when this timing chain can fail on you. In my case so many things were damaged in the engine and I even contacted bmw NA and they didn-??t even care to help. Bmw put me in a very bad spot and they want me to replace the engine and pay labor and pay more than what the cars worth! Bmw is crazy for this and I hope all of these engines get recalled and get replaced free of charge without worrying about how many miles you got on the car.
I own bmw 528i 2012. These engines are straight up bad. Timing chain failed at 149K miles with no signs of failure. Just driving down the road when suddenly the car just turns off and goes into neutral on its own. I simply pulled over restarted the car to cylinder misfires, car struggling to accelerate, smoke out the exhaust, and a loud rattling sound. I pulled over had the car towed. I had my car taken to a independent shop for repairs and diagnostics and what I got told was absolutley crazy. The timing chain guides broke off the timing chain, went down into the oil pump and those pieces settled into the pump restricting oil from going to the top of the motor causing the timing chain to start slacking and breaking from the top. He also said one of the Camshaft caps also has a crack in it.The car has been parked in my driveway for 6 months because repairing the motor would cost a ton, and putting in a remanafactured motor with labor cost would cost just as much as buying the same car again. BMW had a lawsuit about the N20/N26 but thats only covered upto 100K miles. Considering my car was running good I had no reason too change anything on this car. Oil changes were done almost every 3-5K miles and the car had no sounds no lights on the dash. I tried to claim the SULEV/PZEV Warranty which is covered upto 150K miles and the dealerships either never contacted me back or they just said no. I even contacted the HQ of BMW and they also refused any repair even with SULEV Warranty. BMW knows 100% these motors have a bad timing chain issue and that these timing chains can fail at any moment. What type of motor fails at 150K miles. Im a college student, my dad gave me this car for graduating high school. I maintained my car so much just for it to fail out of no where and the way it failed could have caused someone to crash into me. Im really upset that BMW isnt taking responsibility for whats wrong and wont recall these timing chains or motor no matter the mileage on the car.
in 2020 the engine started malfunctioning at 76,000 miles. I took it into the BMW dealership to get it inspected and they stated that it was a valve issue and charged replacement. After replacement, the engine lit would come on and I called the representative. He stated that it would need time to reset so I continued driving it. Eventually the light did not come on for some time. A year later in 2021 after driving to work the engine started to stall on my way to work on the highway. I since taken it back to BMW stating that it was less than 10,000 miles since the repair and I'm having engine troubles again. After talking to the BMW service representative, they stated that I will need a new engine because it is now blown. The engine only has 84,000 miles on it and I requested root cause analysis on the engine. After reviewing online, I discovered that this engine is mounted on multiple platforms BMW sold and is known to have issues since 2017 and a lawsuit in 2020, the same year I took my car to the BMW dealership for repairs. They neglected to inform me of the issue with the engine when I first took the car in and put my car back on the road with a faulty engine. Gross negligence by BMW.
The contact owns a 2012 BMW 528xi. The contact stated while driving 80 mph, the vehicle shut-off. The contact pulled over to the side of the roadway. The contact stated that message read "do not stop vehicle, maybe unable to restart; charging error" was displayed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with needing the serpentine belt to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and informed the contact that they were unable to assist. The failure mileage was approximately 127,000.
Driving down the street when all of a sudden car says drive train malfunction I was stopped at the light on a one way street on 11/20/2020 when the car just died no warning just shut off wouldn't start couldn't put it in neutral blocked traffic for about 90 minutes before I could get a tow truck to remove my car. I have a 2012 BMW 528xi with about 90K + miles on it I was so scared because it could have happens to me on the highway or in the middle of the street and I would no have been able to get out of harms way.
The vehicle lost power, while in motion, in the middle of the road after accelerating. The car gave an error code of drivetrain malfunction. My car lost power in the middle of a busy city street, and it could have easily led to a terrible accident. Possibly related to NHTSA campaign number: 16V746000 but my car was not included in the recall.
When turning my car on and while driving on the highway, my car displayed a drivetrain malfunction error. I took the car to my local BMW dealer on August 3, 2020 for service and they diagnosed the car with a computer error. They made a repair to the computer and told me it was fixed. This cost $350. On August 7, I drove from Maryland to South Carolina and received the same drivetrain error message and the oil service light warning came on. We had to add a quart of oil and drive slowly per the drivetrain error message. As soon as I returned to Maryland, I took the car back to BMW of annapolis. They told me that the front end of the engine was gone and that they would need to rebuild the motor including new timing chains, chain tensioner, chain guides, and exhaust vanos unit (a $6000 repair). The car only had 72,000 miles and I had never missed a service appointment. BMW North America offered to pay half of $6000 after being contacted by BMW of annapolis. However, I thought that BMW North America should have paid the entire amount because this is a known problem with the 2012 BMW 528I and I could have had a major accident. In addition, this car has had 2 prior major recalls. I sent BMW North America a formal complaint, but they still only paid $3000.
I was going about 40 mph when I heard like a popping noise coming from the front of the car, as soon as I heard the noise my car lost all its power, about 2 minutes after I noticed my car was leaving a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust.
My 2012 528xi has 117K miles on it. While I was on a long road trip, driving on I-95 at 1am on a Friday night, without any weird engine noises or anything out of the norm, the car displayed a warning message that said "drivetrain malfunction" immediately followed by warning "engine oil pressure low" warning. Within a few seconds, the engine shut off and the car told me to pull over safely. Luckily, there was a nice big shoulder and there was no traffic around, so I was able to safely coast to a stop. Had the car towed 100 miles to an independent mechanic, and he said there was no oil pressure, so there was too much friction due to lack of lubrication, which seized the camshaft and caused jumped timing. I've had a lot of "very unusual" (mechanic's words) issues with this car, of course all out of warranty. And now the engine is completely fried. I can spend another $11K to put a brand new engine in there, but the car itself isn't worth $11K anymore. Lots of other people have the same issue. Hasn't been reported to NHTSA but can find it on BMW enthusiast forums (like bimmerfest dot com).
Vehicle messaged me while driving that oil pressure was low. Stopped, and restarted with no issues. Investigated online and discovered that the engine had a well known problem with the timing guides becoming brittle and disintegrating sending parts into the sprockets and the oil sensors. Also chain makes a whining noise if affected. Had the vehicle towed to dealership where the timing chain guides were diagnosed as being the problem. Out of extended warranty (7yr/70K) by one year and 5K miles. BMW knows of the problem and refuses to voluntarily recall affected vehicles. Could result in catastrophic engine failure at highway speeds and result in a serious accident.
I bought a certified BMW and had continuous issues with my engine, constantly refilling the oil, even after service. After taking this to the dealer, I was told that everything was fine and there weren't any issues. All of this finally came to a head-on Sunday, 6/21/2020 when my car finally came to an abrupt stop. After towing, I was told that this is a timing chain issue and would cost me $7,400 which wouldn't necessarily remedy the issue, I heard this could reach towards 15-20K. I find this hard to believe after having only driven this car on avg 8K/year and having roughly 84K miles in total. My experience with BMW has since been painful to say the least since. I've had this towed twice in 2 days, been given an ultimatum on either fixing the vehicle or buying a new one - when asking for a loaner, I was told that I needed contact enterprise and reserve one on my own. I've owned multiple german cars and never had to deal with this level of unprofessionalism.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- ??, CA, USA