2008 BMW 328XI: doors won't lock, open or latch

Filed Nov 13, 2017 · Electrical · 64,000 miles · NJ

I locked the car doors while driving using the dashboard switch. Upon arriving at my destination and placing the vehicle in park, I was unable to open the driver's door with the dash switch, key fob or interior/exterior door handle. I had to exit the vehicle by crawling over the console between the driver and front passenger seat. Had an accident occurred preventing egress via the passenger door, I would have been trapped in the vehicle. The repair involved replacing a 15 amp fuse with a 20 amp fuse and has occurred with some bmw cars. Bmw needs to address this issue via recall.

Filed Jul 5, 2017 · 26,000 miles · WI

Right front passenger inside door handle broke. Door cannot be opened from inside.

Filed May 10, 2015 · Electrical · 46,519 miles · KY

While driving and exiting a parking lot, vehicle auto-locks engaged. Driver door auto-locked and unlocked repeatedly about 6 times; stopping in the locked position. Once arriving home, driver door would not open with the door handle or the interior unlock button. I turned the engine off and removed the key fob and had to utilize the key fob to lock and unlock the door. The drive door was at this point on the opposite position of all the other doors. When the driver door is lock, the passenger doors are unlocked and vice versa. The next day the driver door would open with the key, but not with the key fob. This is of great concern because the door will not open from the interior of the vehicle. Looking at the database and online forums, this is a known issue that has yet to be addressed.

Filed Jul 23, 2014 · Electrical, Locks · VA

Driver's side door would not unlock. I tried to unlock the door with the fob, central button on the dash, and the metal key stored inside the fob and nothing will unlock the door. The only way to get into the car is to open the passenger door and reach over to the driver side and pull the handle. With a child in the car in a safety seat, my concern is that all of the doors will subsequently fail and I will be unable to get myself and my child out of the car. I've seen numerous reports online about this very same issue for this year model vehicle and two years older - either driver's door only, passengers doors only, or all of the doors - and the only way to get out of the vehicle then is through the sunroof. This is a very serious safety issue.

Filed May 4, 2014 · Electrical, Locks · 58,600 miles · WA

The potential safety hazard reported in this complaint takes place when the passengers cannot exit the car by opening the doors, getting trapped inside the car. It will worsen to a critical level when this failure happens with passengers with limited mobility inside the car or in case there is a baby sitting in a child seat installed in the rear seat. When the described failure mode happens, all passengers will need to exit the vehicle through the sun roof (if available) or through the windows. In case of fire this could be a lethal safety hazard for all passengers. And in case of voluminous persons sitting in seats others than the driver's seat, it will be very difficult for them to exit the vehicle. How the failure happened: after driving for aprox. 10 minutes and having parked, the doors of the car did not unlock. They did not unlock either using the fob, neither the door handle of the driver's door nor the unlock button in the central dashboard. The only way to get out of the vehicle was through the sun roof or climbing out the window. After several attempts the driver's door finally unlock and could be opened. Once outside the car, I could lock and unlock the driver's door (but not any other door) manually with the metal key inside the fob. The other passenger had to exit the car through the driver's door. I have been to a bmw dealership and I made an appointment to repair it. The root cause of the issue seems to be a blown fuse due to over current in one of the actuators of one of the doors. The effect is that the passengers cannot come out of the car as there is not any manual mechanism to unlock. There is other complaints in the federal safety agency about the same issue (for example the federal safety agency id number: 10459121). I recommend that the federal safety agency conducts a safety investigation about this potential safety risk on this or any other affected model.

Filed Sep 7, 2013 · Body · 50,028 miles · CO

Door locks failed, with doors in the locked position. No way to open the 3 passenger doors. Driver can escape by double pulling the handle, but only if there's a person (weight sensor?) on the driver's seat. Passengers cannot get out! Reading the online message boards, this is a common problem with e90 bmws (and a similar one with the previous generation e46). There are hundreds (thousands?) of posts describing this exact problem. A serious safety issue.

Filed Feb 16, 2011 · 53,686 miles · ME

Doors will not unlock using the key fob or central locking button http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/b511907g.htm situation one or more of the doors may not unlock when using the remote key outside the vehicle, or the central locking button inside the car. It is still possible, however, to unlock the door by using the key in the driver's door lock cylinder or by pulling the door handle on the inside of the car. Typically fault codes a6d4 and a6d5 are stored in the junction box electronics (jbbf). Cause this is due to a blown fuse in the jbbf caused by either: an excessive amperage draw by one of the door lock actuators, which is commonly attributed to silicone contamination; or an intermittent, but acceptable, amperage spike slightly above 15a, due to normal variation in the locking system. Correction replace the fuse with one of a different rating. Replace the necessary actuator as well, but only if it is drawing excessive amperage.