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 contact owned a 2008 BMW 335I. While walking to the parked vehicle, the contact noticed smoke coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The contact opened the door and saw flames coming from the floorboard. The contact extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher. The contact stated that the blower motor caught on fire and melted through the dashboard and glove box. The dealer (hansel BMW of santa rosa, 2925 corby ave, santa rosa, ca 95407) stated that they had to wait to hear from the manufacturer before they could make any decisions on how to handle the failure. They also directed the contact not to touch anything in the vehicle. The manufacturer was contacted and stated that they never heard of the blower motor catching on fire. The vehicle was destroyed. The contact stated that the vehicle was included in NHTSA campaign number: 17V670000 (engine and engine cooling). The approximate failure mileage was 115,000.
While driving at 35 mph in an area where there was no pull off and a blind turn and the temperature gauge was well within the normal range, an overheat engine light indicator came on and the car immediately lost power leaving us in the middle of the road obstructed around a turn. The time between the warning and the car last power was a few seconds with no other warning. This was an extremely hazardous and dangerous situation. After about 5 minutes, we were able to restart the car and get it about 1/2 mile, thus removing it from the middle of the road, again losing power with no warning. A qualified car repair center said it was a faulty water pump (the car has 56,000) and they said that many other BMW owners with my type of car are having the same issue; in fact they told me another owner had their car in for repair with the same issue and BMW was not cooperating. I researched both complaints on this site (which confirm the same issue) as well as BMW owner's forums which likewise confirm the same issue as well. I called BMW and they said there was no recall and that they would not address the issue. This is a dangerous and unfortunate position for BMW to take. Not only is it unacceptable for BMW to ignore a known water pump issue that fails prematurely, but the car looses power without time to react. For the sake of safety, I ask this please be addressed.
My model car has a recall on the fuel injectors. My vehicle's fuel injectors have misfired and have cause the check engine light to remain on in my car. I have contacted BMW several times about this issue. They have told me multiple stories as to why they will not honor my car under this recall. One reason they give is my VIN #, even though my car is the same make and model as the recall with the same issue. Then they say my car is out of warranty. I thought the purpose of a recall is that it repairs your car even if it's out of warranty. I have spent over hundreds of dollars trying to correct this problem, and the problem still exists. BMW will not reimburse me or fix the car under the recall that I know my car falls under. The recall is even listed on my failed dmv inspection report, and they are still not cooperating. Is there something you can do? my car will not pass inspection, and it's the only car I have.
Why driving my vehicle, I received a yellow warning followed immediately by a red warning. While trying to understand the issue the car began to lose power, causing unsafe highway handling. Once I was able to get over, it was determined that the car was overheating. The water pump failed rendering the car disabled. I have driven quite a few cars and have never seen a water pump disable the car so quickly and create a dangerous condition. Upon doing some research, talking to repair mechanics this problem appears to happen all too often in BMW's.
When travelling on harlem river drive middle lane, my car all the sudden displayed an engine overheat light yellow that turned red within 3 seconds and started losing power (from 50-60 mph to 1 mph) within 5 seconds...the car had to be towed to the nearest dealership. This is an extremely dangerous situation, as I did not have enough warning time to pull to the shoulder. The dealership is stating that this is a water pump failure. I am aware that there are recalls on X5S but not on my car. My friend who owns the same car and year had the exact same problem resulting in the same cost of repair ($1600). My vehicle already has many recalls including seat belts, air bags, and high pressured fuel pumps. This should not happen to a car that has been maintained by BMW and just out of warranty (less than 60000 miles). Not even 4 years yet. I have owned many bmws and other cars and never had a water pump failure that caused a danger of this magnitude... I would appreciate if you would investigate the situation to prevent this from happening to other owners.
- New York, NY, USA
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My 335I 2008 has had three recalls all related to the fuel system. With 24,000 miles it now has issues with starting.I recently have taken it back to my dealer, left it for four days, picked it up with "cannot duplicate customer complaint". in less than a week the start up has gone from three to five un, un, un, un, uns to crank. The car is about to go out of warranty and I believe that BMW knows there are serious problems and is refusing to repair until they are able to get repairs income. I guess I should have cancelled my special order when two weeks before delivery they called and said my car had arrived in us but would not be released due to "engine compression problems". all other issues I have asked to be repaired are not with dealer noting "cannot duplicate customer complaint". an accident waiting to happen. I have called and emailed BMW and dealer no one responded. And let's not even get to the tires!
2008 BMW 328I stalls while driving. Once stalled under power as I was making a left turn across traffic - dealer said no code was thrown so they were unable to address. The other stalls have not during slowdown period, not as critical but they come with no warning whatsoever which is dangerous! no accident from it yet but I no longer feel safe driving this car. First occurrence in 2010, two more recently Dec 2010 & Jan 2011.
After starting my BMW it occasionally will run fine for between several hundred feet and three quarters of a mile and then briefly stall. This has happened while on the highway. It seem to happen after it has been parked for a short period of time (anywhere from a few minutes to a little over an hour). One time I had to coast off the road and re-start the car. The other two times the car has briefly stalled (all the dash lights come on as if it has been shut off with the key on), the car slowed down and then the motor caught again and began running normally. My car has been into the dealer several times. The last time they replaced the #4 spark plug and this seems to have fixed another problem I had with the car running with low power for a few moments, however it has not cured the stalling issue. I am reporting this because I think that it could be very dangerous if someone were passing a car or in heavy highway traffic when this happened. I am hoping that the dealer will eventually be able to fix my problem. I have approximately 44,000 miles on my car so I have about 8,000 miles left in warranty.
I purchased a 2008 BMW 335I. Since 2008 it has been serviced at least twice for engine service light which resulted in replacing hpfp. In August 2010, the engine service light along with a slow and rattling start, odors of gas, and shaky rough ride -since then, my 335I has been serviced six times without avail. BMW na recall and BMW fairfax, va mechanics replaced the fuel module after the seventh service appointment since Aug 10. The car expectedly looses power while driving on the highway.
On three occasions since I purchased this vehicle new, while driving and accelerating the engine cuts out and RPM's suddenly drop. The date referenced below was the first time this happened. This has happened twice since then. I have taken the vehicle in all three times. They changed some parts, but this continues to happen. At one time, I was try to get through an intersection with oncoming traffic, although there was not an accident, it was scary. Another time was changing lanes on a highway. This seems to be intermittent problem.
We were driving on the Florida turnpike for ~100 miles and then exited. At the first red light the car stalled and refused to run normally. It sputtered and stalled repeatedly. We were fortunate that a dealer was within 1 mile and was able to effect repair. The problem was failure of a pressure pump which we were told is a known problem with car. BMW has not despite the frequency of this problem put out a safety recall. This is a very unsafe problem. Had the pump failed a few minutes earlier we would have stalled on the fl. Turnpike while traveling 70 miles per hour. The government should require BMW recall all vehicles with this pump. Our car had only 4400 miles on it at time of failure and was in fro servicing 3 weeks prior. There is no excuse for this condition. When we contacted the dealer on the phone who repaired our vehicle he diagnosed the problem on the phone. Obviously this is a well known to BMW and frequent problem.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Calistoga, CA, USA