2003 BMW 3 Series: doors won't lock, open or latch

6 of the 73 complaints about the 2003 BMW 3 Series describe doors won't lock, open or latch.

owner complaints: 6
of this car's complaints: 8%
typical mileage: 120,000
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 1 service bulletin covers this area of the car. See below

Doors won't lock, open or latch by model year

2013
1
2009
1
2008
4
2007
13
2006
25
2004
3
2003
6
2002
2
2001
2

What owners say

Filed Jul 20, 2014 · Electrical, Locks · 153,231 miles · TX

Passenger doors would not unlock. All passengers could not get out of the car. Pulling on the door handles did not open or unlock the doors. Interior unlock buttons did not work. Unlock button on the key fob did not work. This is very common issue and can be very dangerous. 4 passengers had to crawl out the driver door.

Filed May 1, 2014 · Body · 51,000 miles · PA

I arrived home with my son who was sitting in the front passenger seat. When he tried to get out of the car, the door would not open. The lock button stayed down and would not open with two pulls on the handle as it should, with use of the interior locking/unlocking button , or with the remote control key fob. It has now remained non-functional. In the event of a crash on the driver's side, there would be no way to leave the car or received help without breaking a window and trying to slither out through broken glass. In addition, someone who was infirm (e.g., back trouble) and could not climb over the console and driver's seat would be stuck in the car. This is a safety and health hazard and from what I have seen on line, is not unique to me. Bmw should be required to make modifications that would eliminate this safety and health hazard.

Filed Jun 30, 2013 · Body, Electrical · 148,000 miles · SC

Driver's side door will not open, either with the inside door latch or the outside latch. The lock plunger goes up and down normally with either the key, the key remote, or the inside door lock/unlock button, but in no case can either door latch open the driver's side door. All other doors operate normally. This makes entering or exiting the car difficult, necessitating either climbing in/out through the window or by climbing across the console from the passenger seat. If there were an emergency, it would be impossible to exit the vehicle quickly. No event appeared to cause this to happen. I entered the vehicle, drove it, exited the vehicle a few times during the morning before driving, parking, stopping the vehicle, and then having the door stick shut.

Filed Jan 29, 2013 · Electrical · 63,000 miles · IL

I was locked in my car for 1 hour. My key fob would not unlock my doors, so I manually opened the door, started the car, closed the door, and tried to warm up the car (it is winter in chicago and my windows were also frozen shut). I then pressed the door lock button twice in an attempt to unlock the doors and at that point I learned I was locked in my car. I tried driving the car a block to see if the locks would reset and nothing worked (neither the door levers, key fob or lock button). I called a dealer and they suggested I drive it to the service center. When I arrived at the service center an hour later, my window was no longer frozen so I handed the key to the agent and although the manual door handles and unlock button would not work, the key fob was able to unlock the doors. The agent agreed that there was a problem that needed to be inspected. I drove the car home. Two days later I tried to start the car and the battery was dead. We jumped it and I drove the car to a dealer. The dealer replaced and programmed the general module behind the glove box. They said that it had caused the problem with the doors and drained the battery. The bmw representatives do not seem surprised by the problem, but I was quite frightened by the fact that I had to drive my car while locked inside the vehicle.

Filed Aug 23, 2012 · Body, Locks · 120,000 miles · VA

The passenger side door lock will not work. The door stays locked and when it first occured the passenger had to crawl out the window. Neither the electronic key lock nor the pushbutton lock control on the console will open the door lock on the passenger side. All other locks work fine, including the trunk. The manual door opener will not open the passenger door either. This is extremely dangerous since, in the case of an accident, the passenger would be trapped in the vehicle.

Filed Apr 28, 2012 · Electrical · 100,000 miles · CA

Doors fail to unlock, either using the keyfob, the inside button or manually by pulling the door handle. This is a very dangerous situation as occupants are trapped inside. No method of opening the door work. This appears to be intermittent and eventually the doors unlock mechanism starts working again. The gm5 module seems at fault. This could be very dangerous in an emergency situation.