While driving, the car stopped accelerating and a transmission malfunction warning came up on. The fan on the engine also came on very loud and there was lots of exhausted coming out. I drove slowly to a shop. Once at the shop they stated they could not get the car to shift into gear. They did diagnostics on it and said it was a shift module that needed replaced, I had it replaced and it did not fix the problem. They then said it needed a reset that could only be done at the BMW dealership. BMW performed the reset and that did not fix the problem. BMW diagnosed that the transmission pump was out and a $9K transmission needed to be replaced. The car continues to not be drivable, not stay in gear. It has also started spitting out milky substance from the exhaust like the coolant is leaking into engine. In addition the paint on the hood and roof of the car has become dull for no apparent reason, like it has reacted to a high amount of heat from the engine. A car with only 132,000 miles on it should not need a transmission replaced and the paint should not be wearing like it is. There was coolant recall on all models except the 535I, this coolant problem could have been what caused the transmission to go out very prematurely. The car is now not drivable, will not stay in gear. I believe there is something wrong with the car that is due to a failure or malfunction of the car itself and not wear.

- Orcutt, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2008 BMW 535xi. The contact stated that after exiting the vehicle and touching the handle to lock the doors via the keyless entry feature, the contact failed to realize that the passenger had not exited the vehicle. The passenger was unable to unlock the doors and remained trapped in the vehicle with the windows up for approximately 15 minutes until the driver came back to unlock the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was explained that what the contact perceived as a failure was a security feature of the vehicle and was not considered a defect. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.

- Ambler, PA, USA

While driving at 55mph not close to the vehicle in front of me and with no oncoming traffic, and with the sunroof closed, there was a sudden "explosion" above my head. It was a very loud noise and my first thought was that the sunroof had been shot. Before I had time to pull over, the shattered glass of the sunroof blew off the roof onto the road behind me. I did not see anything come off the vehicle in front of me, there was no oncoming traffic, and I was not going under a bridge of any kind. It was as if the sunroof spontaneously exploded. Had the sunroof curtain not been closed, all that glass would have come into the car and caused significant injury.

- Matthews, NC, USA

Left side of the center dash trim continues to pop off. Occurs every 4 months at $40 a repair. Repaired 3 times; once under warranty and twice out of warranty. The trim pops out on its own, however the BMW dealership continues to state that excessive force is causing the problem. That is not the case. This is not a characteristic to expect on this class of vehicle. An owner should not expect to maintain the dash trim.

- District Heights, MD, USA