2018 BMW 440I problems

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

There is already an SIB 513316 out on similar defects. Sloshing noises/water in pax compartment due to rain water intrusion that has caused damage in electronic modules in the trunk due to a defective drainage system--holes are not large enough. Failure of control units located in damaged area--which are no longer functioning such as convertible rooftop will not fuction, radio system, check engine light are just a few we have noticed togther with the recent battery replacement we made. Water is pooled in the luggage comparment and rear pax area. Poor drainage resulting from vehicle design defect. BMW needs to remove or modify the drain outlet to prevent repeat flooding. The warranty and extended warranty never checked for this-- drainholes functionality which results in electronic malfunctioning and safety concerns. 2019 SIB should have enforced extended warranty to investigate and cover this design defect in this vehicle. We are submitting complaint to the office of defects and investigation and requesting a good will repair and replacement of faulty systems and mold abatement which will require replacement of the damaged and mold in the pax and rear trunk areas. I can not give a date as this has been an ongoing concern and I have only recently been able to address. I made an approximation only.

NHTSA complaint #11735249 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

STRUCTURE:BODY

There is already an SIB 513316 out on similar defects. Sloshing noises/water in pax compartment due to rain water intrusion that has caused damage in electronic modules in the trunk due to a defective drainage system--holes are not large enough. Failure of control units located in damaged area--which are no longer functioning such as convertible rooftop will not fuction, radio system, check engine light are just a few we have noticed togther with the recent battery replacement we made. Water is pooled in the luggage comparment and rear pax area. Poor drainage resulting from vehicle design defect. BMW needs to remove or modify the drain outlet to prevent repeat flooding. The warranty and extended warranty never checked for this-- drainholes functionality which results in electronic malfunctioning and safety concerns. 2019 SIB should have enforced extended warranty to investigate and cover this design defect in this vehicle. We are submitting complaint to the office of defects and investigation and requesting a good will repair and replacement of faulty systems and mold abatement which will require replacement of the damaged and mold in the pax and rear trunk areas. I can not give a date as this has been an ongoing concern and I have only recently been able to address. I made an approximation only.

NHTSA complaint #11735249 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

There is already an SIB 513316 out on similar defects. Sloshing noises/water in pax compartment due to rain water intrusion that has caused damage in electronic modules in the trunk due to a defective drainage system--holes are not large enough. Failure of control units located in damaged area--which are no longer functioning such as convertible rooftop will not fuction, radio system, check engine light are just a few we have noticed togther with the recent battery replacement we made. Water is pooled in the luggage comparment and rear pax area. Poor drainage resulting from vehicle design defect. BMW needs to remove or modify the drain outlet to prevent repeat flooding. The warranty and extended warranty never checked for this-- drainholes functionality which results in electronic malfunctioning and safety concerns. 2019 SIB should have enforced extended warranty to investigate and cover this design defect in this vehicle. We are submitting complaint to the office of defects and investigation and requesting a good will repair and replacement of faulty systems and mold abatement which will require replacement of the damaged and mold in the pax and rear trunk areas. I can not give a date as this has been an ongoing concern and I have only recently been able to address. I made an approximation only.

NHTSA complaint #11735249 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

- My car started having intermittent electrical issues. The first warning something was wrong was always the cars instrument cluster would start flashing, and the audio system would also drop in and out. Then later other malfunctions would start to show up on the center Nav Screen, some of the warnings are listed here : ○ Audio/speakers would cut out randomly while listening to music ○ Air Conditioning instrument cluster display lights would flash going in and out ○ “Parking assistance malfunction” warnings ○ "Increased Steering effort required" warnings (one time the steering locked while driving ~30mph for half a second) ○ Transmission malfunction warning (I have the transmission ‘jerk’ suddenly 1 time when I was slowly backing up in a 3 point turn), ○ Drivetrain malfunction warning. - My safety was put at risk because the power steering locked once, sometimes the steering would become difficult, and the engine jerked while driving - I brought it into a mechanic: they originally thought it was something wrong with my alternator (Invoice 1), but they couldn't really figure out the problem since it was intermittent. The alternator ended up not fixing the problem. I brought it back to them after the alternator was replaced and the same issues were present. They ended up checking the battery and saw that the positive battery cable had come loose (Invoice 2). Once they replaced the positive battery cable the issues went away. - I did research on the NHTSA Safety database and it looks like this has been a problem for ~400,000 BMW vehicles over the last ~15 years. See references: SIB 61 06 17, SIB 61 09 18, SIB 61 11 19, SIB 61 14 12 - The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives. It was brought into an independent service center - There were warning lamps and other symptoms that showed up after the instrument cluster started flickering while driving (that was always the first sign). I attached screenshots of those warnings.

NHTSA complaint #11557903 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

My husband bought a BMW through the military sales program, had it delivered to the United States, and we took it with us to Germany where we currently live. The car is made to U.S. specifications and I had been driving the car weekly in Germany to keep the battery running while he is away on a deployment. On April 11, 2022, as soon as I pressed the ignition button, the dashboard flashed a strange indicator light which I didn't have time to examine because my attention was immediately diverted when a metal bar next to the right rear headrest deployed from inside the seat and punched through the windshield. It sounded like someone threw a brick into the car. The check engine indicator also lit up but deactivated after a few minutes. According to the owner's manual, the metal bar is one of a set of two rollover protection rods which are designed to deploy in the event of a sufficiently serious accident or if the car's longitudinal axis is tilted excessively (i.e. if the car flips over). But there was no accident... All I did was turn the car on. The car remained in park the entire time. We can't find any evidence of this type of misfire occurring with this model car. The car is currently in the shop for repairs after being towed to a local BMW dealership. They investigated the incident, wrote me an email saying they did not notice any technical defects, and refuse to pay for repairs or take responsibility for this incident. Something like this is dangerous and should not happen at all. I think it meets recall criteria, and I definitely think BMW should pay to fix it.

NHTSA complaint #11461884 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

STRUCTURE:BODY

My husband bought a BMW through the military sales program, had it delivered to the United States, and we took it with us to Germany where we currently live. The car is made to U.S. specifications and I had been driving the car weekly in Germany to keep the battery running while he is away on a deployment. On April 11, 2022, as soon as I pressed the ignition button, the dashboard flashed a strange indicator light which I didn't have time to examine because my attention was immediately diverted when a metal bar next to the right rear headrest deployed from inside the seat and punched through the windshield. It sounded like someone threw a brick into the car. The check engine indicator also lit up but deactivated after a few minutes. According to the owner's manual, the metal bar is one of a set of two rollover protection rods which are designed to deploy in the event of a sufficiently serious accident or if the car's longitudinal axis is tilted excessively (i.e. if the car flips over). But there was no accident... All I did was turn the car on. The car remained in park the entire time. We can't find any evidence of this type of misfire occurring with this model car. The car is currently in the shop for repairs after being towed to a local BMW dealership. They investigated the incident, wrote me an email saying they did not notice any technical defects, and refuse to pay for repairs or take responsibility for this incident. Something like this is dangerous and should not happen at all. I think it meets recall criteria, and I definitely think BMW should pay to fix it.

NHTSA complaint #11461884 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

My husband bought a BMW through the military sales program, had it delivered to the United States, and we took it with us to Germany where we currently live. The car is made to U.S. specifications and I had been driving the car weekly in Germany to keep the battery running while he is away on a deployment. On April 11, 2022, as soon as I pressed the ignition button, the dashboard flashed a strange indicator light which I didn't have time to examine because my attention was immediately diverted when a metal bar next to the right rear headrest deployed from inside the seat and punched through the windshield. It sounded like someone threw a brick into the car. The check engine indicator also lit up but deactivated after a few minutes. According to the owner's manual, the metal bar is one of a set of two rollover protection rods which are designed to deploy in the event of a sufficiently serious accident or if the car's longitudinal axis is tilted excessively (i.e. if the car flips over). But there was no accident... All I did was turn the car on. The car remained in park the entire time. We can't find any evidence of this type of misfire occurring with this model car. The car is currently in the shop for repairs after being towed to a local BMW dealership. They investigated the incident, wrote me an email saying they did not notice any technical defects, and refuse to pay for repairs or take responsibility for this incident. Something like this is dangerous and should not happen at all. I think it meets recall criteria, and I definitely think BMW should pay to fix it.

NHTSA complaint #11461884 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

STRUCTURE:BODY

WHILE DRIVING ON A LOCAL PARKWAY, OUR SUNROOF SPONTANEOUSLY EXPLODED. WE WERE NOT PASSING UNDER ANYTHING AND NOTHING OF ANY NOTICEABLE SIZE STRUCK THE CAR OR THE SUNROOF. THERE WAS A VERY LOUD BANG, AND WHEN WE PULLED OVER, WE DISCOVERED A LARGE HOLE IN THE SUNROOF. THERE WERE SHARDS OF GLASS SITTING ATOP THE SUNROOF COVER, WHICH HAD WE NOT HAD CLOSED, SOME OF THE GLASS WOULD HAVE FALLEN INTO THE PASSENGER COMPARTMENT. A SIMPLE GOOGLE SEARCH MAKES CLEAR THAT EXPLODING SUNROOFS ARE A REAL DANGER.

NHTSA complaint #11373788 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

I HAVE DRIVEN THE CAR NOW ABOUT 900 MILES. AT NO TIME HAS THE FRONT END COLLISION/PEDESTRIAN WARNING SYSTEM GIVEN ME ANY WARNING EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NEARLY REAR-ENDED THE CAR AHEAD AND EVEN THOUGH I HAVE IT SET FOR THE EARLIEST WARNING POSSIBLE. BMW N.A. ASSIST CUSTOMER CARE STATES THAT I SHOULD RECEIVE BOTH VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE WARNINGS BUT ALSO STATES I HAVE TO RELY ON WHAT DEALER SAYS. THE DEALER- DREYER & REINBOLD - STATES THE SYSTEM IS WORKING AS IT SHOULD. THIS CANNOT BE TRUE. SINCE MY 2015 BMW 535I HAD A PROPERLY WORKING FRONT END COLLISION WARNING THAT FREQUENTLY APPEARED ON MY INSTRUMENT PANEL AND HEADS-UP DISPLAY, I KNOW HOW THE SYSTEM IS SUPPOSED TO WORK. THE CURRENT CONDITION OF MY VEHICLE CREATES A SERIOUS SAFETY HAZARD AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE ELSE TO TURN. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).'

NHTSA complaint #11099936 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

I HAVE DRIVEN THE CAR NOW ABOUT 900 MILES. AT NO TIME HAS THE FRONT END COLLISION/PEDESTRIAN WARNING SYSTEM GIVEN ME ANY WARNING EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NEARLY REAR-ENDED THE CAR AHEAD AND EVEN THOUGH I HAVE IT SET FOR THE EARLIEST WARNING POSSIBLE. BMW N.A. ASSIST CUSTOMER CARE STATES THAT I SHOULD RECEIVE BOTH VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE WARNINGS BUT ALSO STATES I HAVE TO RELY ON WHAT DEALER SAYS. THE DEALER- DREYER & REINBOLD - STATES THE SYSTEM IS WORKING AS IT SHOULD. THIS CANNOT BE TRUE. SINCE MY 2015 BMW 535I HAD A PROPERLY WORKING FRONT END COLLISION WARNING THAT FREQUENTLY APPEARED ON MY INSTRUMENT PANEL AND HEADS-UP DISPLAY, I KNOW HOW THE SYSTEM IS SUPPOSED TO WORK. THE CURRENT CONDITION OF MY VEHICLE CREATES A SERIOUS SAFETY HAZARD AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE ELSE TO TURN. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).'

NHTSA complaint #11099936 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.