Car was parked. I tried to unlock my car with the key fob and nothing happened. I unlocked the door with the key and after getting in the central locking system would not work. After researching the problem I found that the gmiii controls the central locking as well as other items like the windshield wipers, interior lights, sun roof, and rear upper and lower hatch. I orders a new one and when I took the old one out to replace it I found that it had caught on fire and blew fuse 14. It appears a thyristor or tiac got to hot and set the board and case on fire. I had smelt a plastic smell earlier while driving so it may have been burning before I parked. I am attaching photos.

- Maryville, TN, USA

The dashboard went dark, only gauge that worked was the tachometer which I couldnt see because I had no dashboard lights. Stopped vehicle and took the keys out couldnt turn my lights off had no turn signals, the 3rd brake light was on all night long killing the battery I tried every fuse. Also my headlights wouldnt turn off the lighting controls were useless, and just kept smelling an electronic burning smell. I managed to disconnect all the lights except the 3rd brake light. Couldnt disconnect the battery because the lift gate to get into the back wouldn't work and the center console hazards stuck on and door locks didn't work I had to remove the glove box and all the paneling and track down the smell. Turns out the problem with this vehicle is that the rain manages to work itself down the inside of the a frame on both driver and passenger sides of the vehicle on driver side it destroys the obd module but on the passenger side it trickles directly into the lcm lighting control module which completely takes your eyes off the road when you cant see the dashboard your headlights start strobing on and off and then half get stuck on and half just dont work but when you spend the hours getting to the lcm to find out it has melted right into the side of your vehicle and you can tell it was on fire !! and this has happened to numerous people on the BMW forums im just happy my 3 year old son wasn't with me. And the real kicker is that I have no vehicle now and it cost 600$ for a new lcm that has to be programmed to your vehicle which will cost another 300$ when I could have hurt someone else or myself when you cant see but you can smell somethings burning its a hazard to everyone on and off the road.

- West Salem, WI, USA