10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
98,062 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

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problem #8

Jun 072022

328

  • miles
Central locking module failed, car will not lock unlock

- North Providence , RI, USA

problem #7

May 012021

328

  • 270,000 miles
1999 BMW 328I. Vehicle is registered and is a daily driver in Massachusetts. While driving the vehicle on 05/01/2021 in the boston area on a smooth road at night, the driver side door & side curtain airbags deployed. No accident, no potholes, nothing out of the ordinary, just driving and then an explosion from airbags and the vehicle was also immobilized at the battery.

- Squantum, MA, USA

problem #6

Jun 142019

328

  • 166,500 miles
On June 14th, my car was parked, stationary, key position off, unattended, interior caught fire and destroyed the car. Appears to be an interior fire believed to be electrical. Car was factory original. Thank god the car was in the yard and not in the carport or my home would have been destroyed.

- Winder, GA, USA

problem #5

Jun 072002

328 6-cyl

  • 24,000 miles
GM5 control module door lock failure. Intermittent failure, usually in hot or humid weather, causes door unlocking to fail using either the key fob or the console button. When this occurs, the doors cannot be unlocked from the inside. Only the driver door can be unlocked using the physical key inserted from the outside of the door! there are entire websites, message boards, and even micro-businesses dedicated to fixing this flaw in the GM5 control module, but I feel this is also a very dangerous safety issue as passengers cannot exit the vehicle when this malfunction occurs. In an emergency, the only option will be to roll down the windows and crawl out or break a window if the window controls also fail, as some people also report.

- Saint Lucie West, FL, USA

problem #4

Sep 292012

328 6-cyl

  • 108,000 miles
Car parked in the garage over 24hrs ignited and resulted into fire. No known issue before the incident occur, from the looks of the car the fire started in the interior of the car and could have been caused by electrical. No after market installed equipment, no equipment left inside the car that have caused the fire. Almost burned down my house.

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #3

Jul 022012

328 6-cyl

  • 155,000 miles
All doors lock on their own and the windows and sunroof close leaving you locked inside the car.

- West Hartford, CT, USA

problem #2

Jan 102011

328

  • miles
The door locking mechanism (GM5 module) is malfunctioning as it fails to open the door locks. The door locks will not open manually and there have been times when we cant exit the vehicle. Only after multiple attempts does the door finally open. This is a serious and dangerous problem especially if there is an accident or the temperature rises that requires immediate exiting of the vehicle.

- Pomona, CA, USA

problem #1

Sep 062010

328

  • 61,000 miles
I have a 1999 BMW 328I (E46 body). Within the past couple of years, I have had recurring issues, usually on hot or cold days, where the door locks and windows will not function properly. In addition, when locked, the car alarm will go off at random intervals. I've even had one instance where the windows rolled up automatically and the doors locked while I was still in the car and the only way I could get out was by unlocking the doors with the electric key fob. Neither opening the door handle or unlocking from the center console worked. Some research shows that these symptoms are common indicators of a faulty GM5 module and that this problem is well known. Getting it fixed would require a service visit, perhaps multiple diagnoses, and close to $1000 to fix. I feel that BMW should address this issue as it is a fairly severe safety concern. I would not want to find myself locked in my car with no way to exit.

- Seattle, WA, USA