Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||
| 09/10/2012 | 97500 | ||
| Electric steering lock light on my 2007 bmw 328i coupe comes up in red and car won't start... initially thought it was the battery but after getting a jump start and the power flickered off and on on different features in the car the car never started, the key fob kept being rejected from the ignition box and the car eventually went dead. i had to manually lock and unlock doors and left it sitting over night. the car was jump start again the next day and radio, lights, trunk, door locks, and seat belts, etc. appear to be working fine electronically but the car still would not start... the brakes feel tight and the steering column is tight but clicks when turn left and right (feels semi-engaged if that's possible)... was wondering if the battery is just low and doesn't trigger the steering wheel lock? should we disconnect the battery and reconnect or replace to see if it triggers the electric steering wheel lock? the issue with the battery has happened on several other occasions and the steering wheel lock light came up yellow however the car started in the past after jump starting. this appears to be a known problem and i | |||
| 07/20/2012 | 57000 | ||
| A blown fuse caused the door unlocking mechanism to fail, trapping occupants in the car. the doors could not be opened by any means, as the failure also disabled the normal mechanism by which pulling on an interior door handle released the associated lock. the sole exception is that the driver's door could be opened by rolling down the window, and reaching out awkwardly through the window to the exterior door handle with the mechanical auxiliary key. however, the only exit available to backseat passengers was through the windows, assuming the passengers were small enough to fit through them. neither of these modes of egress would be satisfactory if exit needed to be quick. fortunately, this particular failure happened to my family while the car was safely parked. in the event of a collision or fire that required rapid evacuation of the vehicle, however, this would be a potentially life threatening situation. ideally, the locks should be mechanically linked to the door handles so that an electrical failure would not render it impossible to open the doors. absent that, at least having individual fuses for each lock actuator would leave three functioning doors if one failed. | |||
| 05/01/2007 | 3000 | ||
| The door locks would not work with the fob. i was locked in side the vehicle. when i finally got out and tried to open the doors from outside, the doors would not open. this situation has happened many times over the years. i was trapped inside the car during a heavy rain fall on the road last year due to the doors not unlocking. | |||
| 04/23/2012 | |||
| 2007 328i -- i was driving thru my neigborhood in nyc and the car suddenly shut down completely; no power, no brakes, absolutely nothing at all.. and the thing is no warnings ever showed up.. i hope everyone who's had problems like this reports them to bwm because this is unacceptable and extremely dangerous. i'm lucky i was driving locally and there weren't any cars around because it was the scariest thing i've ever experienced driving a car. hope bmw steps up before something catastrophic happens, like toyota had them. | |||
| 04/11/2012 | |||
| Model: 2007 bmw 328i. the electronic door actuators failed. as a result, it became impossible to open any door of the vehicle from the inside, except the driver's door. when these electronic door actuators fail, passengers are trapped in or out of the vehicle. the service advisor at the dealership (weatherford bmw, berkeley, california) explained that he new exactly what was wrong with my vehicle because they received a bulletin regarding this (meaning this is a known issue to bmw with this model car! my question was if bmw has received major complaints about this particular issue, why wouldnt it be recalled...he advised me that are normally pertained to safety, well what would you consider this situation...safe? $900.00 was my quote to have this fixed! ridiculous!!! we strongly suggest that this defect be investigated, and that the subject vehicles be recalled so that the defect can be corrected before deaths or injuries occur. | |||
| 08/17/2011 | 28300 | ||
| Door lock actuator failure: front door lock actuators failed disallowing exit from all doors except the driver's side front door. passengers could only exit the vehicle by crawling out of the driver's side front door. the front passenger door and both rear doors could not be opened by using the interior or exterior doorhandles. furthermore, the electrical system disallowed any unlocking of these three doors as well. fortunately, the car was not involved in an accident during this door lock actuator failure. during the time of this incident, two people were in the car. the consequences of not having doors which can open from the inside of the car could prove deadly in an accident. a letter was written to bmw of north america, llc by the owner of this car in this report and their response on october 7th, 2011 was, we have no response. | |||
| 09/10/2011 | 38200 | ||
| The doors failed to unlock with the key fob. only way to enter was with the key into the drivers door. the other doors failed to unlock from the inside, both by using the handle and the unlock button on the dash. apparently, the door lock actuators are drawing more current flow and burning the 15a fuse installed. a bmw sb says to replace with a 20a fuse, however, the problem still exists. this creates an unsafe condition, in that no passenger(s) can exit the vehicle, and nobody, such as emergency personnel, can enter from the outside. the fuse isn't the answer, bmw knows about this problem and should deal with it in a manner that promotes safety of passengers, not profits for the dealers. | |||
| 04/20/2007 | 49500 | ||
| In october of 2009 my leased vehicle did not start, i had the vehicle towed to a dealer for service in detroit. i was told that the vehicle did not start because of the battery. battery was replaced at this time. in january of 2010 the vehicle did not start again, after testing it was determined that the steering column was defective. this was replaced at my expense. in april of 2010 the vehicle did not start for a third time. i contacted a dealer to have the vehicle towed in; after 5 days the dealer identified the problem as a faulty negative battery cable. i contacted bmw na as i felt that this may have been the original issue and reason for the vehicle not starting. after two weeks of investigation bmw na contacted me and stated that due to mileage on the vehicle no assistance would be grantedthe vehicle is still under lease and was sold to me as a demo vehicle with roughly 9000 miles already on it at time of lease inception. | |||
| 09/24/2009 | 9131 | ||
| Bridgestone turanza tires 225/45r17 dot 4906 - very noisy tires at 9, 131 miles, | |||