The report is in response to not being included in a recall of the rear taillight assembly. Some vehicles seem to be excluded for no reason from the recall and replacement of faulty wiring. NHTSA campaign id # 11V438000.

- Tucson, AZ, USA

Tail light, brake light and turn signal on passenger side of the vehicle has repeatedly failed. Bulbs and wires have been changed repeatedly, however these changes have not solved the issue. Far too many experiences where collisions have almost occurred due to the failed rear exterior lamps.

- Modesto, CA, USA

For several years people such as myself with the BMW E46 ('99-'05 3 series) have complained of intermittently defective tail lights, brake lights, and turn signals. Result: No action taken. The following web sites document a mere fraction of the problem, which is likely to affect warm states more than cooler areas. In my case, in hot weather the entire taillight cluster will fail to illuminate--no turn signal, brake light or tail lights on one or both sides of the car. The reason: BMW used a grounding wire which was far too small to carry the current, thus resulting in melted wiring harness connectors on both tail lamp clusters. For details, please see the many photographs and text at these web sites: www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php"T=244598&highlight=taillight+wiring and forum.E46fanatics.com/showthread.php?T=533309&highlight=melted+tail+light and forum.E46fanatics.com/showthread.php"S=0fedaef77A3622F393734ba4B57add7C&T=512469&page=2 BMW has a service bulletin that includes a wiring modification: www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/bulletin_graphic_temp/B630306G.htm despite at least 4 visits to various BMW dealers while under my car's four year warranty, their solutions to this problem never lasted long. Furthermore, no BMW dealer ever installed this special wiring kit from BMW. Now that I'm out of warranty a local BMW dealer is more than willing to charge me $600 to install this special wiring kit so that rear lights will consistently work. FMVSS 108 is pretty clear: Federal law requires cars to have working lights. When there are systemic failures of a safety system such as brake lights, tail lights, turn signals, etc., and the manufacturer fails to step up and fix the problem with a voluntary recall, it then becomes time for the department of transportation to get involved. For details on FMVSS 108, please refer to the various links here: fmvss108.tripod.com/

- Bedford, TX, USA