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.
There is a clear manufacturer defect concerning the aluminum bolts associated with the valve cover gasket on the BMW 2006 325I's. the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received several complaints regarding this manufacturer defect. The aluminum bolts have been redesigned since discovering the manufacturer defect. Bmwna have had numerous service issues related to these defective aluminum bolts. They have all openly admitted that the bolts in question were defective in nature and production, and that the bolts have been redesigned to avoid future failures. Some of these complaints included, and resulted in, vehicles leaking oil in the engine area causing fires in the vehicle. The defective bolts pose a serious potential risk to the safety of the owners of these vehicles, as well as to other drivers who share the roadway with them. It is my strong belief that this type of public safety risk cannot go on any further without proper intervention from the governmental agencies we employ as taxpayers. I respectfully request that BMW North America issue a voluntary recall of the BMW 2006 325I's affected by this manufacturer defect. I am not privy to what constitutes a vehicle's defective components to reach a "recall status". I have discovered that BMW of North America is keenly aware of the defective aluminum bolts, and has issued internal memos to their staff called "technical service bulletins" (tsb) to forewarn dealerships of this manufacturer defect, and the steps to remedy the issue. I have requested this information from BMW of North America, as well as several dealerships; and I was refused. I have diligently maintained my vehicle as prescribed by the service manuals, as well as the on board computer in the vehicle. My contention is extremely clear; the aluminum bolts are a manufacturer defect! fix them all at no cost to the consumer.
My BMW 300 series wagon (2006) had a brake and emergency warning light turn on. There was also a smell of burning oil. My mechanic identified the problem as broken aluminum bolts on the cylinder. He said he personally sees this all the time on 2006 models, that BMW is aware, and that they redesigned the part for later years. Likewise, my BMW dealer is aware of it and a simple google search finds at least 1000 complaints posted at various sites on the web. Aluminum does not hold up in this setting and these bolts cost more than$1200 to repair. I am told by my mechanic that it usually happens after 60K miles which means most are off warranty. BMW is aware and should either do a courtesy repair or be forced to do the right thing by NHTSA.
This vehicle has a magnesium engine block, and therefore uses aluminum bolts to fasten the head and the valve cover to the engine block. With normal driving, multiple cylinder head and valve cover bolts spontaneously snap off. This type of failure has the potential to disrupt the timing chain and loss of compression, leading to catastrophic engine failure.
We had bought a 2006 BMW model # 325I, the vehicle had 33,000 miles on it. Now this car has a head cylinder leakage on it and the dealer needed to replace an engine on it. The fact is that this car was less then 2 yrs, and we had such a major issue already.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hillsborough, CA, USA