BMW Recalling One Million Vehicles in North America

Several readers share a report: BMW said Friday it is recalling about 1 million vehicles in North America for two separate issues involving fire risks and said it may expand the recalls to other countries. One recall covers 670,000 2006-2011 U.S. 3-series vehicles to address a wiring issue for heating and air conditioning system may overheat and could increase the risk of a fire. The second recall covers 740,000 U.S. 2007-2011 vehicles with a valve that could rust and lead to a fire in rare cases. The recall includes some 128i vehicles, 3-series, 5-series and X3, X5 and Z4 vehicles.

Re:

[alex67500]

Acutally it's sensible. They know there's an issue, and they're doing something about it. Continuous improvement.

Re:

[TWX]

What's not sensible is the undeserved smug sense of superiority that is prevalent among German engineers. Even the quality stuff usually isn't so much better to justify the attitude, and there have been many cases in the last few years where their automotive quality in particular has gone downhill compared to the level it used to have.

Re:

[TWX]

They're great until the odometer hits 100,000 miles.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow - what a fanboy. Don't know where you live but in the USA nobody wants a BMW, Audi, or MB once their warranty ends.

Here in Europe German cars are extremely popular as second-hand cars because of their long average lifespans and high reliability. This is also why resale values are higher and why lease rates are lower for a VW than for a similarly priced car from e.g. Renault or Ford.

Just check the depreciation on a 10+ year old BMW; a 2004 335i that was $48k new is worth less than my 2004 Mach 1 which cost $29k.

I have no idea what a 2004 Mach 1 is, but only a very rare and expensive-when-new car will be worth more than a few thousand Euros after 13 years. Cars lose most of their value in the first few years and a large part of that when you drive th

Re:

[bobschneider8]

Gaskets, too! I just got rid of my 2008 5 series with 90K miles I'd owned from new, because of gasket issues. In January I paid $2500 to fix some oil leaks, including one from behind the alternator mounting bracket (a known issue with this engine!). Then in June I paid $2000 to replace two rubber gaskets from the cooling system (these were in the bottom of the V in the V8, and so could be expected to fail, but the intake manifold had to come off to get to them!). And last month I was quoted another $190

Re:

[boudie2]

Let's see ... 2004 Ford Mustang ... 6 recalls including one for a leaking fuel filter which could cause a fire, and one for a sticking throttle pedal.
http://www.fordforumsonline.co... [fordforumsonline.com]

Re:

[Duhavid]

I'm a fanboy. 1992 E34 ( 525i ) and 2000 E46 ( 328i ).
Easy to work on ( no, really ), within the era's I have owned.

BMW has been trying hard to make their later model cars harder to work on, it seems. But the older ones are great, in my opinion.

To be clear, the water pumps have plastic impellers, they are not made of plastic entirely. And they do tend to fall apart after a while. Get a Graf replacement pump with metal impeller blades ( unless you want to do the Stewart pump at about 200.00 ), remove ser

Re:

[geekmux]

Acutally it's sensible. They know there's an issue, and they're doing something about it. Continuous improvement.

I'll believe in continuous improvement when we start actually punishing greed and corruption that often creates these problems in the first place.

That would also include the NHTSA, not just car manufacturers. A damn good example of this would be when NHTSA allowed Takata to continue to install defective airbags well after they fined them $70 million for it.

Defects will continue in record numbers. Why? Because greed has proven it's worth it.

Re: That's german engineering for you

[Type44Q]

Yeah, no shit... imagine if japanese, Korean or American cars ever required a recall - we'd be up in arms.

That's the difference between software and cars

[plopez]

Cars have to be recalled. If there is a serious defect cars get recalled. In software it gets swept under the rug and when a fix is available you have to pay extra for it. "Software Engineering" my ass.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

Off-topic, but the end of your comment made me think there's probably an "Ass engineer" at RealDolls.

Re:

[Chrisq]

Off-topic, but the end of your comment made me think there's probably an "Ass engineer" at RealDolls.

That job title might make finding another job a little difficult

Re:

[geekmux]

Off-topic, but the end of your comment made me think there's probably an "Ass engineer" at RealDolls.

That job title might make finding another job a little difficult

Especially if you want to get paid an assload of money.

Re:

[plopez]

The term is buttload. ISO standard buttload.

Re:

[geekmux]

The term is buttload. ISO standard buttload.

Ah yes. I stand corrected.

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

more like sculptors, actually

Re: That's the difference between software and car

[SuperKendall]

If you're going to compare the two, I'd say it's more like with software, you are on fire every day and the updates just change how you burn. Unlike an automobile where they recall millions of cars on the chance of something happening, instead of 99% of users suffering.

Re:

[froggyjojodaddy]

I would take it one step further. If there's a serious engineering defect, the manufacturer should be on the hook to recall all vehicles affected by that defect AND re-imburse the owner for costs incurred getting it fixed.

I have a BMW that's not affected by this recall but has a serious engineering issue. I'll save you the gory details, but there's a seal on the coolant pipe that fails prematurely. When that happens, coolant leaks out of a weep hold on the front. The cost to fix this at the dealer is

Re:

[bobschneider8]

I had the same issue in my 2008 550i. It cost me US$2000 to have fixed. That was using an aftermarket coolant pipe designed to be replaced without having to pull the engine. The original factory part can only be replaced by pulling the engine and taking it half apart, just to replace a couple of $2 rubber gaskets. The coolant pipe and gaskets are in the bottom of the V of the V8, so they get hot enough that the rubber has to be expected to fail eventually. It takes superior German engineering to make r

Re:

[TWX]

Hmmm. basic code-page 437 punctuation now being handled by unicode?

That seems pretty stupid.

Turn signals not working?

[FerociousFerret]

Oh, when I saw BMW recalling 1 million cars, I was sure it was going to be because their turn signals didn't work. Because, you know, BMW drivers never freaking use their turn signals.

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[fisted]

Oh, when I saw BMW recalling 1 million cars, I was sure it was going to be because their turn signals didn't work.

Hilarious until here.

Because, you know, BMW drivers never freaking use their turn signals.

Ruined it completely by explaining a joke that didn't need explaining.

Re:

[FerociousFerret]

Yep. I blew it.

Re:

[mccalli]

More po-faced than i should but...I have a 2012-era 5 series estate. I hate the indicators - their soft-touch levers are solving a problem no-one has, and I often find that turning them off again I end up indicating to go the other way. I look like an utter idiot.

It's not so bad, though...

[c]

... since the bug only triggers when the driver uses the turning signal.

Discuss?

[mspohr]

Duh.
Why is this here for discussion.
If you have one of these cars get it fixed.
If not, ignore.
What's to discuss?
Stuff happens. They'll fix it.

I thought it was due to the blinkers working

[wardrich86]

Huh, fire issues? I thought maybe they'd accidentally built 1 million cars with functional signal lights.

Re:

[110010001000]

I don't get it.

Re:

[wardrich86]

Either: A) You drive a BMW, or B) You've never been in a car behind a BMW.

Re: I thought it was due to the blinkers working

[Type44Q]

In the mid-90's in the NYC area, Mercedes drivers would consistently fail to signal while Beemer owners, seeming to consist largely of uptight WASP's, would rarely fail to do so. Up here in the mountains of Colorado, the worst - by far - are Land Rover drivers; apparently the marque simply appeals to douches.

Don't make stuff to last anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

As a former automotive tech I realized years ago that automakers even one's who make premium automobiles started cutting corners in obscure places that most people would never know. When you think of how much wiring goes into a automobile these days, its no wonder they try and find ways to reduce its cost. The question is, when something like this happens that you ask yourself why a fuse did not save the wiring before it caused a hazard? As a electrical engineering told me once, if wires get really warm or

Why is this "News for Nerds" worthy?

[mykepredko]

This is a pretty standard recall - I imagine that a thousand or so of these notices go out every year from all call manufacturers.

You make an appointment to take the car into a dealership, they fix it and you're on your way. Easy peasy.

Somewhere people have gotten the idea that recalls are a primary indicator of poor quality/design when in reality, supplier parts don't meet specification, specifications are wrong and basic mistakes are made.

The certification process does an excellent job of ensuring the vehicles are safe, recalls generally come out after a few million hours of operation in which something wears out or rusts (which is what happened here).

So, why is this story worth the bandwidth here?

They should recall the customers

[slashmydots]

You know, since BMW drivers are assholes who can't drive.

Kudo's to auto

[stabiesoft]

Imagine Apple or Google(well LG, sammy...) fixing a 10 year old phone, or just keeping the software updated.

Finally the truth comes out.

[ChrisMaple]

BMWs are re-badged Ford Pintos.

Missing rudeness chip?

[WCMI92]

A BMW without it's rudeness personality chip won't cut you off without signaling, harming the brand's reputation.