I was driving on a residential street and shifted into 3rd gear. The car began to buck violently. I pushed in the clutch to stop the bucking. I was approaching an intersection. I attempted to accelerate and the gas pedal was non-responsive. The vehicle then indicated that it had a drivetrain malfunction. I was able to pull over, turn the car off and back on and drive 0.5 miles to my destination. While parked, the parking brake also malfunctioned and I was unable to turn it off. The car was towed to the dealership. There is a significant design deficiency with this vehicle. The problem with my car had to do with a broken plastic part on the water channel that leads around the trunk. The plastic cover is supposed to snap into a grommet that is in a hole, thus sealing the hole from water. In my situation, the grommet was missing. Given the design of the plastic part, there is no way to know that there is an issue without removing the plastic part. The hole that the plastic piece snaps into leads directly into the trunk. In the bottom of the trunk are sensitive electronic modules that control the fuel management system and the parking brake. There is no drain in the trunk that would allow water to leave the vehicle. My vehicle was parked in a parking lot during a rain storm. As a result of the design, I got water in the trunk, which ruined these two modules, resulting in the vehicle becoming disabled while driving. I believe that this is a significant safety issue for the following reasons: I) as a consumer, I had no idea that the electronics that enable the vehicle to manage fuel were located in the trunk; II) the design of the water channel around the trunk seems inadequate given that any failure of the plastic shield / grommet combination would lead to water in the trunk and expose these critical components.

- Summit, NJ, USA

Was parking 2011 BMW 550 automatic.car suddenly took off and hit very hard on stone wall.all airbags deployed including lower passenger windows.car electric system failed.lots of damage to car. Also taken car to dealer before due to pullingof car on right while drivig and on applying brakes.

- Duluth, GA, USA

The first time it happened, my wife drove our 2011 BMW 535I to work and the fuel gauge was reading half tank. It's only approx. 20 miles to work round trip to our house but when she came back home the fuel gauge was almost empty and flashing warning light fuel refill is showing. I drove the car for the past few days and I noticed that the fuel gauge indicator seemed to be staying all the time at half tank reading. I drove it this morning to our family physician and to the mall and I still noticed the fuel gauge indicator is not moving and was reading half tank. When I went to the local grocery store to buy bottled water, I decided to leave the car idle and the engine on. When I drove it again, that's when I noticed the fuel gauge needle moved slowly but steadily from half tank reading to almost 1/4 tank. Then my wife drove the same vehicle again to work with the fuel gauge reading 1/4 tank. 10 minutes later she called back by phone because flashing warning lights was showing that the car needs to refueled and she said the fuel gauge is reading almost empty.

- Fresno, CA, USA