2007 BMW 3 Series: doors won't lock, open or latch

Filed Nov 11, 2018 · Electrical · 73,000 miles · CA

Stationary in parking lot. Front passenger door will not lock/unlock with any method attempted. Drivers door will only unlock using emergency key from exterior.

Filed Jul 25, 2014 · Electrical, Locks · 144,500 miles · AZ

The left passenger door lock has ceased to operate on my 2007 bmw 328i. It does not unlock with either the key fob or the main unlock switch. This is very dangerous if there were any kind of emergency involving this door needing to be opened.

Filed Jul 2, 2013 · Body, Electrical · 50,311 miles · CT

My wife was attempting to exit car when she noticed that she was not able to open any of car doors - all the locks would not operate ! Also, the door handles would not open the doors from the inside the vehicle. This issue is safety issue that needs to be looked at asap. I was able to see on line that number of like and kind complaints with the 2007 328 xi models ...

Filed Jun 11, 2013 · Body, Electrical · 85,000 miles · KS

Doors will not unlock using the key fob or central locking button. Locked doors will not open from interior of vehicle, no way to unlock the rear doors and front passenger door when they are locked. Only way to exit vehicle is through driver's door if manually unlocked with key. Passenger doors will not open and gas door will not open.

Filed Jan 8, 2013 · Electrical, Locks · 21,000 miles · LA

The doors will not unlock; from the exterior, only the driver's door can be opened with the key. From the interior, only the driver's door can be opened; none of the other 3 doors can be opened manually or by using the unlock buttons either on the dash or on the key. I think that this creates a very hazardous situation-if this failure occurred while the vehicle was occupied, passengers would only be able to exit through the windows or through the driver's door. This could result in injury or loss of life in some accident situations. I spoke to bmw north america about this problem and they said that they "probably would not be responsible for repairs" to this potentially dangerous situation.

Filed Oct 9, 2012 · Locks · 35,000 miles · CA

Door locked in position, unable to get out of car. No manual way to get out of car. Huge safety issue. Finally able to unlock using key. When speaking to bmw service center (walters of riverside) about issue, they said if key would have been in ignition the car would have unlocked. Now episode happened again, but unable to get out of car. Key does not work even if in ignition. Luckily, the passenger door was unlock and I was able to crawl out. Now doors are lock so I will have to have the car towed. I am unable to get into the car.

Filed Aug 14, 2012 · Electrical, Locks · 68,000 miles · PA

Doors will not unlock or open. I was literally trapped inside my car in a parking lot. Drove vehicle home, had to put down window and have someone use valet key at my house to open the driver door. None of the other three passenger doors can be unlocked. Luckily no passengers in my vehicle. Was told there is a tsb related to this, however it is not recognized as a safety issue. Cannot understand how this is considered "safe" when if my vehicle was on fire and I had my children in their car seats in the back seat, there would be no way to open the doors to get them out. Bmw is aware that the actuators are pulling too much current through the fuses and that the actuators need replaced. They are making tons of money off of charging people to repair this known problem as this is not something you can avoid having repaired unless you are willing to gamble on your own life or those of family/friends who may be in your vehicle when this occurs. There really needs to be a safety recall on this issue before someone loses their life as a result. I find it quite absurd that the federal safety agency does not recognize this. Does someone need to die for this to be remedied? Just because I drive a used bmw does not mean I have the money to have this repaired, yet I've got two very young children who ride in the backseat of this car on a daily basis. Looking at the number of complaints that have already been filed, obviously it appears that neither bmw nor the federal safety agency seem to care about my safety, my family's safety or that of any of the other thousands of bmw owners who are having the same issue.

Filed Jul 7, 2012 · Body · 68,000 miles · TN

First occurrence of problem happened back in may 2012. Me and my fiancee were exiting the vehicle but only my driver door would open. My fiancee was forced to climb over the middle console of the vehicle and exit through my door, with a short dress on. I later looked online on a bmw forum to find the culprit to be the lock actuators blowing fuse 56. I replaced fuse 56 with the appropriate fuse, increasing the 15 amp to a 20 amp at that time. On 30 june 2012 I experienced the same problem with the vehicle while on vacation in ogunquit, me. Once again my passengers were all locked in the vehicle. There is no manual override for the 335i's doors once the fuse blows. All three passengers were forced to climb through the driver side door, creating a dangerous and uncomfortable situation. This time I replaced fuse 57 and it seemed to work just fine afterwards. Lastly, it happened two days ago with just me in the vehicle. I brought it to the bmw dealership (in rhode island) and they told me all door lock actuators were defective/faulty. They said I would need to replace every single door actuator on the car, totaling a cost of $1600. I called bmw of na and they said they were unable to help me, despite the obvious safety hazards of a blown fuse in this vehicle. I despair when I think of the problems this could cause during an accident. The absence of a manual override would cause passengers to break open windows in order to escape during an accident or fire.

Filed Dec 4, 2011 · Electrical, Locks · 53,000 miles · TX

Electric door locks failed on all four doors with no symptoms prior to complete system failure. Key fob and central locking system button inside car would not unlock any door. Doors would not open by pulling on interior door latch handles. The only way to enter/exit vehicle was by using key on exterior driver's side door to unlock the door, or through the windows. This seems like an extremely dangerous single point egress failure that could result in unnecessary injury or loss of life in emergency situations. I replaced the blown 15a fuse (#57) with a 20a fuse per si b51 19 07 twice. First functional test by pressing the central lock system button resulted in the new fuse blowing immediately each time. Further troubleshooting and repair will be necessary to resolve issue (likely by replacing faulty electro/mechanical door latch/lock/actuator mechanism).

Filed Nov 15, 2011 · Electrical, Locks · 20,000 miles · ND

Door locks would not open on 3 of the doors; had to crawl from backseat to front seat to start car. Once got home, had to crawl back out via the back seat. Extremely hazardous safety condition due to if there was an accident, myself nor my passengers, especially young children, wouldn't be able to escape. Took vehicle to local bmw dealer and he stated this was not the "1st" time he had seen this type of issue. Approximate cost is between $700 to $1,000 to fix. Contacted bmw customer relations and they are investigating issue.

Filed Nov 9, 2011 · Electrical · 55,000 miles · VA

Using the key remote would only lock the driver's door. Then when using the key remote to unlock the door, the lights flash and the lock "clicks" but the driver's lock wouldn't unlock. I used the metal key in the key fob to manually unlock the door and tried it all over again. Same thing happened...key remote would lock only the driver's door lock...key remote to unlock would flash the lights but not unlock the door...requiring me to use the physical key in the driver's door to unlock the driver's door. Thinking that the car was not registering that the other three doors were not locked, I physically locked the doors while inside the car by depressing the locks on the top of each door. Bad idea! Nothing would work to unlock the car (with me inside!)...unlock button on the key remote...nope...lock/unlock button on the dash near the vents...nope....pull on the door handles of all the doors from the inside (multiple times)...nope. Ultimately, to get myself out of the car I had to roll down the driver's side window and used the physical key in the driver's door lock to manually unlock the drivers side door only.

Filed Sep 12, 2011 · Electrical · 52,000 miles · MI

Bmw 2007 328 xi door lock fuse #57 blew. None of the interior doors would open from the inside. I had to roll the window down from the driver side door, use the key fob to unlock the door from the outside. I then had to pull my kids from the car through the windows as the other three of the four doors would not open. Forget the toyota "accelerator"; this seems like a real safety issue.