10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 1 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 23,546 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.
I loved my BMW until I realized it has a faulty engine. I noticed the drive train malfunction light once when I went through a car wash. I turned off when I restarted the car. My car was up to date on all oil changes etc, I take it to BMW specialist only. I noticed a light tick sound and reported it to BMW at my last oil change. They disregarded it and said they did notice oil on the gasket. No changes requested at that time. My car never showed signs of leaking oil and the oil pressure at times showed to be low but would always return to normal. I was told it was because the hybrids work differently. On my way home on the frontage road of I35 my car just shut down and never restarted. I was able to guide it into a parking lot and the engine just stopped turning and the drive train malfunction light turned on. I had it towed to a mechanic and they basically said they had to replace the entire engine. A new engine cost $18000 and a used is around 13000. That does not include labor!!! I had to then have my car towed home to just park it. This is the only car I have, I owe thousands on it and the engine completely broke! as I'm doing research I see multiple complaints with the same issues and same result, complete engine failure!!! this needs to be investigated! from what I gather it is related to the drivetrain malfunction light sending a signal to the engine & stopping oil from reaching the top of the motor, leading to vanos complications and leading to metal in the engine leading to a complete damage to the engine. Cheap issue leading to failure of the entire vehicle. I've also gathered there is a fault with the start/stop that causes this issue. I am left with no car, I'm a full time nurse and now in debt with no working car! this could have been prevented had a recall been done a few years ago with all the initial complaints!! several forums including on this site!!
- Austin, TX, USA
The contact owns a 2013 BMW 335I. The contact stated while driving at an unknown speed the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact stated bystanders assisted to push the vehicle to the side of the roadway. The vehicle was towed to BMW of owings mills (9702 reisterstown rd, owings mills, md 21117) to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the transmission was defective and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer did not offer any further assistance. The manufacturer was notified of the issue and offered minimal financial assistance. The contact declined the offer. The failure mileage was 70,000. VIN was not available.
- Baltimore, MD, USA
Same as everyone else reports for powertrain/drivetrain drive moderately car goes into limp mode message drivetrain affected drive moderately when.really struggles vehicle was just changed comfort to sport and 3/4 acceleration happened almost immediately
- Mooresville, NC, USA
While driving on the freeway going to work, around 5:30 in the morning, the power train warning light came on the screen.., while on sport mode selected I noticed that my RPM was close to 3K doing 65 mph., the vehicle slowed down to 45 miles per hour and had no power.., I was able to pull over the shoulder and tried several times to re-start the car to no avail., I had the car towed to the nearest BMW dealership, and they diagnosed it as a bad high pressure fuel pump. They replaced the pump the same day, test drove it and everything is back to normal. The repair was covered under warranty, I sent the towing expenses to the BMW road side assistance for reimbursement., said it will take a few weeks to get it in the mail..
- Las Vegas, NV, USA
Drive train malfunction has occurred twice in which the cars output is minimized. We were on one highway, connecting with another and went to accelerated to merge with traffic and the car would not accelerate. Top speed was 40mph. The second time we could at least do 65mph. Occurred 7/5/16 and 9/19/16
- Foxboro, MA, USA
While parking car turning wheels to left, car suddenly accelerated on it's own without any warning, causing car to jump over parking bumper, through concrete block wall and continued to Ram into private home, making home unsafe to enter. All this caused $14000 damage to the car, not including the cost of damage to the wall and building. BMW dealership will not look into the accelerator cables etc...says can't be an issue with this incident. This should be investigated further as safety of occupants / pedestrians and other vehicles could be in jeopardy! P.S. we have not driven the car yet since it has been at the BMW body shop since December 8 2015. Car is second owned by us. We bought car at 6K miles and now has 10K miles. Kind of scared of getting behind the wheel and driving the car.
- Port St Lucie, FL, USA
Driving the vehicle on a highway with normal speed limit. Vehicle started to sputter and drivetrain malfunction warning light came on. Vehicle was losing power and speed decreasing quickly in the middle of the highway. I did have a chance to pull over safely on the shoulder. Wife and children was scared and so was I. had the vehicle towed to the nearest BMW dealers/service station. Diagnostics so far was bad fuel. Online forum suggested otherwise. Any help is greatly appreciated.
- Ladson, SC, USA
The car has displayed "drivetrain malfunction, drive moderately" twice now in less than one year of ownership. When this display has occurred, the car goes into "limp mode" and can only be driven at low speeds or with very sluggish acceleration. This is a safety hazard, as it becomes easy to be rear-ended by another driver when it slows substantially.
- Arlington, TX, USA
My car started shaking vigorously, and a message was displayed (drivetrain malfunction).
- Oakley, CA, USA
Second problem with drivetrain malfunction, first problem back in Nov 2013 bought the car in August 2013.
- Oakley, CA, USA
"limp mode" is a very well known issue affecting 2012-2014 BMW 335I models with the M sport package. After accelerating from a stop to 60-65 mph, and merging into traffic, I experienced limp mode. The car would not accelerate, the rpms would not rise above 2500 or fall below 2000. The oil temperature was approximately 200 degrees. During the sudden loss of acceleration and power, no matter how hard or far I pushed the accelerator, the car would not accelerate- the car completely lost all power and the ability to accelerate. As I was coasting, I tried pumping the gas and shifting gears (shiftable automatic) to no avail. There were no warning lights on the dashboard or other warning messages displayed. While traffic zoomed past me, I coasted for a good 30-60 seconds gradually slowing to about 15 mph. After roughly 60 seconds, I pushed the accelerator down again and the car bucked, lurched and jumped and the rpms began to rise. I was able to accelerate normally again though the temperature did rise to roughly 240. I made an appointment immediately to have the car checked by my local BMW dealer. They replaced the aux cooling fan and applied a software update as is the case with "limp mode". this is the same "fix" applied to countless other 335I owners which simply doesn't work. My dealer opened a puma case with BMW to resolve the issue. Standard operating procedure is to replace the fan and apply a software update the first time, replace the fan relay the second time and apply a software update the third time. None of these work!! check F30 post, bimmer world and bimmer fest forums. Dealer was great, but I wanted them I will fight for a buyback if it happens again. Had this happened a few seconds later, while pulling out in front of cars traveling 65+ mph, I would not be here now. Recall this piece of crap!! when my lease is up or if I can get out of it, I will. Not safe.
- Bluffton, SC, USA
Rattle noise coming from engine compartment or inside of dash upon acceleration (2000-2500rpm) on cold starts. Can change noise based upon acceleration. Goes away after motor warms up (usually 15 minutes) so getting diagnosed at the dealer is difficult. Repeatedly get "can't reproduce problem" back from the dealer. Widespread problem across multiple platforms (2012+ 3 series, 2014+ 4 series).
- Newport Beach, CA, USA
Transmission problem resulting in violent shuddering of the vehicle body and abrupt engine stops resulting in dangerous driving conditions. Fluctuations in the tachometer when the car attempted to stop and the car would automatically change gears to neutral or park.
- Iselin, NJ, USA
Heard noise and the car starting shaking and then car died on me and service on middle of nowhere and I starts the car back but it got stalled many times and it was shifting the gear to neutral it was a bad experience I could had an accident brand new BMW.
- Saint Louis, MO, USA
The subject vehicle accelerated unexpectedly when the car was slowly turning into a parking space in a parking lot. The driver had to suddenly press very hard on the brake in order to stop the car.
- Mclean, VA, USA
- Cathedral City, CA, USA