I was driving appx 40mph while on a local road slightly uphill, engine shut off without warning, lost power steering and brake assist. Luckily no cars around me so I was able to barely roll over to the roadside. Car would not start again, was towed to dealership. Replaced ECU for a total cost of $2K.

- Greenwich, CT, USA

Incidental finding of huge crack on left rear lower control arm discovered by mechanic who was servicing the vehicle. I have photos and the part in question.

- Murrieta, CA, USA

The 2003 BMW 540I power steering pump spool valve was found (disassembled and judged by BMW technician) to jam at lower RPM thus causing complete loss of power steering assist, especially in reduced RPM turns off highways. On several occasions I nearly crashed into the median-wall because of it. I sent a letter to BMW but all they told me is that it would be forwarded but that I would never hear back from them again. I consider this a material/part flaw that BMW has to consider as serious and offer some form of repair/replace plan or customer-directed action as it can lead to serious crashes during turning maneuvers!

- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Problems throughout ownership of vehicle with plastic parts and wiring of vehicle, a 2003 BMW 530I. Wiring to brake lights which were repaired early on under warranty. The vehicle now has approximately 97,000 miles. Most of these issues have been going on since the 50,000 mile mark. I drive 20,000 miles per year to and from work. Another problem included the vehicle suddenly dropping acceleration to just a few miles per hour. With my pedal to the floor, I made it up a hill and pulled over. After shutting down the engine and restarting, my vehicle performed normally. The service advisor at the dealership indicated that the underwire harness needed to be replaced and presented a safety issue. The cost of this service was around two-thousand dollars. I've yet to do the service and have put many thousands of miles on the vehicle since. The control arm bushings were found to be cracked at just over 50, 000 miles and therefore not covered under the warranty. I've been told that they should last longer. They've never been replaced though steering seems to be affected. An interior light console simply fell out of the body and dangled by its wiring. The plastic around the clips appears to be decayed or melted by the heat of the bulbs. I wrote to BMW North America describing all these issues and was told that the light would be replaced. I asked for this in writing. This was never done. After several phone contacts, I was told that the service manager at my dealership would be my contact. He indicated that he had received communication that I should receive a free oil change (already covered under my current extended warranty). Weeks of my messages and no return calls made me suspicious that something more was going on. The last message I left was that a NHTSA complaint would be filed and finally elicited a response. No recalls have ever occurred on this vehicle.

- Huntington Beach, CA, USA