10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 63,091 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.
2014 X1 X28I w/ N20 engine, 3/2013 production date, 6/2013 in-service date, 86K miles, bought as cpo. Have maintained per cbm, almost exclusively at dealer. As a "class vehicle" owner, I have received notification of the class action lawsuit settlement regarding the timing & oil pump chain systems on the N20/N26 motors. Starting to hear the timing/oil chain whine, but this is a difficult thing to quantify. Have noticed timing chain can be quite slack as observed through the oil fill cap. Took to dealer, they listened but said "nothing heard at this time." Refused my request to endoscope for debris through oil drain pan or fill cap, wanted several hundred $$ to check via oil level sensor port instead. Also wanted another several hundred $$ to check timing chain tension, an excessive fee for 30 minutes of labor. Quoted me nearly $6K for upgrading the timing and oil chain system parts per their tsb, and said it would not be subject to the cost sharing terms of the lawsuit settlement. Very frustrating to not get better support from a luxury brand for a known and acknowledged problem. It is obvious they are encouraging the owner to wait until the problem gets "bad enough", but by then the clock might have run out, and much more damage and dangerous situations are more likely to occur. This is not a nice way to treat your customers, BMW. I'm sure you don't want your aircraft mechanics thinking about maintenance the same way, do you?
- Breinigsville, PA, USA
My vehicle caught on fire on 12/05/2020. There were no known recalls. Total loss.... stopped on the side of the road, southbound I-95 in brevard county, fl. BMW of North America has indicated that the damage was so severe that they cannot figure out the cause of the fire and will not accept any liability!!
- Sebastian, FL, USA
BMW has reported and extended the warranty for a timing chain and oil pump drive chain. I have seen several posts online that say the engine failed completely. What I do not understand is why this had not been a recall. I have seen other manufacturers recall cars, recently one even said that it may have to replace the engine because of potential failure. We don't have a lot of miles on the car and it has been maintained by our dealer but am really concerned about failure on a highway. I am sorry, I had to put a date below in order to go to next page.
- Fletcher, NC, USA
Check engine light came on - codes set for fuel level sensors and engine thermostat and sensor. I was driving and check engine light came on never ran vehicle out of gas and always serviced at the dealer. Had to replace both fuel level sensors, fuel pump kit and thermostat
- Upland, CA, USA
Completely out of the blue at 82,000 miles, my 2014 BMW X1 would not start. My mechanic diagnosed the prob and my engine was defective, as it was made with a plastic timing belt cover, which degrades over time & destroys your engine between 70-85K miles. There was a class action lawsuit which ended 2 years ago, which required an extended 7yr/70K warranty. There is also no preventative maintenance plan for the timing chain and they are approximately $3-13,000 each. This defective engine was out in supercharger BMW engines between 2014-2017. I performed every oil change & pm on my vehicle and it just died, when I was operating the vehicle on the freeway. I'm still driving a 2000 BMW Z3 with 168K miles. They sold me an engine they knew would fail and they will not help me repair my car, because it's out of warranty. I was also taking it to BMW service centers for service and it was never mentioned about the timing chain wearing out. Very dismayed & disappointed. I could have broke down anyway and been unsafe.
- San Marcos, CA, USA
I have been alerted by the dealer (BMW) that the timing chain on the vehicle is coming loose. The vehicle has less than 100,000 miles, is six (6) years old and averages >14,000 miles per year. It has had no other maintenance issues except a thermostat, which was replaced twice at cost to the manufacturer. I was informed that BMW provided a warranty of 7-years/70,000 miles on the timing chain, however the car in question has surpassed the mileage constraints. I went online to research and have noticed hundreds of complaints by other BMW owners that the N20 engine installed in a few different models are having the same issue---meaning that BMW is aware of this defect, but is not informing consumers, and instead, passing along the cost and potential harm.
- Columbia, SC, USA
Faulty engine - undrivable conditions. No previous faulty codes until sudden issue and now non drivable
- Austin, TX, USA
- Burlington, VT, USA