The contact owns a 2006 BMW 325xi. The contact stated that when starting that the vehicle would exhibit an abnormally loud noise and vibrate when first started. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where they advised her that all four motor mounts were fractured and the vehicle needed to be taken to an authorized dealer. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they confirmed that the motor mounts were fractured. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 83,400. The VIN was unavailable.

- Howell, MI, USA

Noticed aluminum headbolt had broken off and caused an oil leak close to the front of the head on the oil filter side of the block, causing a burning oil smell as oil found its way to the burning hot exhaust manifold, thankfully, it did not catch on fire but I feel that it easily could while driving and could cause a serious accident should I or someone else panicked as it would have happened, BMW has acknowledged this issue in tsb's and already rectified the issue in the 2007 models of the exact same cars. If BMW does not rectify this issue, my 5th BMW will be my last and I will take my hard earned money to Audi, I find it heartbreaking that a company that used to have such a Focus on quality is refusing to acknowledge such failure and to right the situation over a 3$ bolt that has not only the potential to cause harm to many but also to alienate what have been long time customers and true fans of the brand.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

Heads of head bolts broke off. Normal slow, short commute driving. Exhaust smoking.

- Krotz Springs, LA, USA

Heads of head bolts broke off. Oil leaking & exhaust smoking. Normal driving with no auto modifications and regular maintenance.

- Krotz Springs, LA, USA

There is a clear manufacturer defect concerning the aluminum bolts associated with the valve cover gasket on the BMW 2006 325I's. the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received several complaints regarding this manufacturer defect. The aluminum bolts have been redesigned since discovering the manufacturer defect. Bmwna have had numerous service issues related to these defective aluminum bolts. They have all openly admitted that the bolts in question were defective in nature and production, and that the bolts have been redesigned to avoid future failures. Some of these complaints included, and resulted in, vehicles leaking oil in the engine area causing fires in the vehicle. The defective bolts pose a serious potential risk to the safety of the owners of these vehicles, as well as to other drivers who share the roadway with them. It is my strong belief that this type of public safety risk cannot go on any further without proper intervention from the governmental agencies we employ as taxpayers. I respectfully request that BMW North America issue a voluntary recall of the BMW 2006 325I's affected by this manufacturer defect. I am not privy to what constitutes a vehicle's defective components to reach a "recall status". I have discovered that BMW of North America is keenly aware of the defective aluminum bolts, and has issued internal memos to their staff called "technical service bulletins" (tsb) to forewarn dealerships of this manufacturer defect, and the steps to remedy the issue. I have requested this information from BMW of North America, as well as several dealerships; and I was refused. I have diligently maintained my vehicle as prescribed by the service manuals, as well as the on board computer in the vehicle. My contention is extremely clear; the aluminum bolts are a manufacturer defect! fix them all at no cost to the consumer.

- Hillsborough, CA, USA

My BMW 300 series wagon (2006) had a brake and emergency warning light turn on. There was also a smell of burning oil. My mechanic identified the problem as broken aluminum bolts on the cylinder. He said he personally sees this all the time on 2006 models, that BMW is aware, and that they redesigned the part for later years. Likewise, my BMW dealer is aware of it and a simple google search finds at least 1000 complaints posted at various sites on the web. Aluminum does not hold up in this setting and these bolts cost more than$1200 to repair. I am told by my mechanic that it usually happens after 60K miles which means most are off warranty. BMW is aware and should either do a courtesy repair or be forced to do the right thing by NHTSA.

- Minneapolis, MN, USA

This vehicle has a magnesium engine block, and therefore uses aluminum bolts to fasten the head and the valve cover to the engine block. With normal driving, multiple cylinder head and valve cover bolts spontaneously snap off. This type of failure has the potential to disrupt the timing chain and loss of compression, leading to catastrophic engine failure.

- Irvine, CA, USA

Vehicle service engine soon indicator comes on repeatedly and dealership cannot repair defect after 3 visits.

- Colorado Springs, CO, USA

We had bought a 2006 BMW model # 325I, the vehicle had 33,000 miles on it. Now this car has a head cylinder leakage on it and the dealer needed to replace an engine on it. The fact is that this car was less then 2 yrs, and we had such a major issue already.

- Corona, CA, USA