Consumer Complaint Detail

BMW / 328I / 2000

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 006077510 Incident Date: Jun, 30 2006
Consumer's City: FENTON Consumer's State: MI
Vehicle Transmission Type: MAN Manufacturers Name: BMW of North America, LLC
Model Name: 328I Model Year: 2000
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Structure:frame and members
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: WBAAM5331YE Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: Aug, 31 2006 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Aug, 19 2004
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 6 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: At about 112k miles i noticed a creaking noise coming from the rear suspension. upon inspection, the drivers side rear differential mount had multiple stress fractures and separations at the point where the mount was welded to the unibody. this vehicle has had all required maintenance inspections at normal intervals. this car is driven on the highway 90% of the time and the rest in residential streets. it is a family car and has had no modifications period. the car was purchased with a bmw na cpo warranty that has since expired. the dealership refuses to cover any repair costs ( estimated at >3000 dollars) bmw na has ignored repeated requests from owners to fix this dangerous condition. in fact, bmw germany has known about this problem and covers the cost of repairs, they even have a method of repair. this situation is very dangerous and requires immediate attention. the suspension should never separate from the body because of torsion forces from the trans/diff. it is clear that this is a design flaw. i personally have a list of over 100 names with documented subframe cracking/failure of the e46 body years 1999-2000. the overwhelming majority of these have subframe damage at the same rear drivers side diff mount, in other words, out of four possible failure points, the rear drivers side is nearly always the failure point !! i implore the nhtsa to address this issue immediately before someone dies !!*jb