Consumer Complaint Detail

BMW / 3 SERIES / 2000

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 004293050 Incident Date: Jul, 09 2004
Consumer's City: SAN DIEGO Consumer's State: CA
Vehicle Transmission Type: MAN Manufacturers Name: BMW of North America, LLC
Model Name: 3 SERIES Model Year: 2000
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Structure:body
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Aug, 12 2004 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Sep, 30 2002
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 6 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: A horrible creaking noise starting developing in the rear of my 2000 bmw 323ci (with 82000 miles) while driving. the noise has gotten worse with time, and after a thorough search online on the www.e46fanatics.com forum website, i found many other owners of vehicles with the same chassis experencing the same problem. further searching lead to a common problem that has been linked to the failure of the driver side rear subframe. this section of the chassis fails under prolonged stress and a crack in the chassis of the vehicle develops, exposing a bare component of the rear suspension and ultimately damaging the suspension system, causing the vehicle to be unsafe to drive. the problem is not recognized by bmw of north america, however the problem is recently beginning to surface among many late model bmw cars owners as this part seems to fail after an extended period of time. nonetheless, this is a dangerous problem that is not isolated to a select few vehicles, but enough to raise alarm and suspicion. i was very surprised and dissappointed to find that my vehicle has experienced this exact failure just out of warranty. *ak