My 2012 bmw 528i stalled twice 2 wks ago when I was slowing down at a traffic signal. The display showed either "drivetrain malfunction" or "transmission malfunction". Immediately I turned on the hazard lights, slowly changed lanes slowly and come to a halt, by which the warning was gone and I drove home at less than 15 MPH. The next morning the car seemed fine and I was able to drive it to a local mechanic, who advised a bmw service. I took the car to an authorized service center (asc) for verification and was directed to come back in few days; within that week it happened again. I went to another asc to have it fully diagnosed. It was determined that faulty guides in the timing-chain caused it. I had no idea it was design flaw until I read about it in online. The service manager also said they have seen it happen in many cars and sometimes under 30k miles and in few instances needing entire engine replacement for $15000. I see several customers with n20 and n26 engines having this issue same as with n63 engines. I contacted bmwusa and lodged a complaint about this for reimbursement referring to the federal safety agency tsb 110614, but was denied. I was told bmw knew of this issue and extended the warranty to 7y/70k. I was not aware of this and mygarage on bmwusa is not showing it. I have received several marketing info on new bmw and leases instead. Class action lawsuits have been lodged in north america and deaths in ireland requiring a court order for mandatory recall. 1) williams, et al. V. Bmw of north america llc, et al., case no. 2:17-cv-1156. 2) gelis, et al. V. Bayerische motoren werke aktiengesellschaft, et al., case no. 2:17-cv-07386 3) www.strosbergco.com/class-actions/bmw reference: invoice, bmw mygarage page, blog, nj lawsuit etc. Www.bmwblog.com/2013/09/29/bmw-recall-2012-14-models-n20-n26-engine www.thejournal.ie/cars-sold-ireland-bmw-recall-4002999-may2018
2012 BMW 528I transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 20 of 20, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 bmw 528i. While driving at a low rate of speed, the drive train malfunction warning indicator illuminated. The contact pulled over to the side of the highway and shut off the vehicle. The vehicle would not restart. The contact had the vehicle towed to an unknown bmw dealer where it was diagnosed that the engine failed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.
Defective drive train - on march 11, 2019 my drive train malfunction and which damage my engine. This is an safety concern because my car stop on the freeway while I was driving. Bmw mfg knew about the defective drive train prior to me purchasing car from fields bmw on july 2013. Bmw north america offer to pay 21,000 for the engine replacement and they want me to pay 6,000.00 and I feel bmw know about the faulty design in 2012 and did not inform the consumer. When I purchase the car, it had 18,000 miles on it and I put 62,000.00
Last week I was on the nj turnpike when all of a sudden my car stall and lost power, I barley got off the turnpike when the car came to a completely stop. No warning messages or noises just stopped. Fortunately no accident occurred due to this but could have been an ugly one. The car would not start and was towed to the bmw dealer. The car was inspected, oil was clean, no water damage, however they tell me I need a new engine (13k) has the engine seized without telling me what caused it.the car has 83k miles. I've been a bmw owner for 19 years. I now have mixed feelings about bmw and the way I feel now I will nevery buy another bmw as I'm not getting the attention I thin I deserve. Any advice is greatly appreicated!
I was driving down the highway and my 'low oil pressure' light came on so I pulled over to the side of the road immediately and shut the car off. I had the car towed to a certified bmw repair shop global imports. The bmw service center confirmed the failure was the drive chain causing the engine to seize and needing to be replaced. As I researched the issue I found thousands of similar internet stories elaborating on the design flaws in the engine that uses plastic flywheels for the drive chain/oil pump chain. Bmw extended the warranty for this issue beyond their normal 4 year 48,000 miles to 7 years and 70,000 miles. I am at 76,000 miles just out of warranty. It is odd they extended the warranty years by 3 but only extended the warranty miles an additional 22,000 miles or an average of 7,333 miles per year. Who only drives 7,333 miles a year. Bmw's other extended warranties usually offer an average of 12,000 miles per year on the additional years it is extended. The other extended warranties for this engine were extended 10 years and 120,000 miles. I was diligent in changing the oil long before the recommended change intervals issued by bmw. There is no reason an engine would seize at 76,000 miles when the regular maintenance was followed unless there was a major engine design flaw. Bmw has already acknowledged the engine design issues by extending the warranty on the 'timing chain and oil pump drive chain', 'engine oil feedline' to the turbo charger and the 'fuel tank leak diagnostic module (nvld)'. With this being a known design flaw and the number of issues there should be a recall on this engine so the fly wheels can be replaced with a better part or at very least bmw should be forced to extend the warranty and miles as they do with other warranty extensions. This design flaw caused the engine to stop in the middle of the highway which is very dangerous.
The car front and rear tires were of different size and I noticed when I got the car from dealer next day as the car would drift towards one side. It gave "drivetrain error" since its all wheel drive with power not being equally distributed due to different RPM on front and rear. This wasn't the case when I test drove the day before. I kept thinking its a transmission issue but it was tire that was causing it. At high speed (40-60mph) when I take off from gas the car would drift to one side and would stall. This is serious safety issue and could have caused not only passenger life but also major transmission and drivetrain breakdown. The dealer swapped the tires because with mismatched tires the car would have been non-drivable at the time I bought. This awd is very sensitive to tires tread differences. After calling dealer he is denying and saying its "as-is" and not responsible for anything.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 bmw 528i. While driving 20 MPH, the vehicle lost power. The coolant fluid, transmission malfunction, and please have car serviced lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the engine oil filter housing needed to be changed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notifed of the failure. The vehicle was not included in a recall, but there was a manufacturer communication. The failure mileage was 34,000.
Vehicle bought in july 2014 with ~24k miles; still under factory warranty. Maintenance maintained. 9-12 months later, a "drive train malfunction" light came on. I had just left the dealership so I called them and they told me to bring it back immediately; I did. Many tests later, was told my "motherboard died" (dme unit); after a month in the shop...repaired. Now, 4/2016, less than 60k and fresh out of warranty...I was driving home with my son on the interstate, about to get off of my exit and another "drive train malfunction and low engine pressure" light comes on and then all of a sudden my car stopped on the 4 lane off-ramp. After waiting for an hour for the tow truck to arrive and trying to put my car into neutral and about 30 min with the tow truck driver trying to put the car in neutral, I called the bmw dealership and I found out that because my car is all electric it cannot be put into neutral; a week at the dealership and still there as I type'diagnosis: timing chain broke into the engine and now the car needs a new engine which I was quoted to be $21,000. The car is only 4 years old!!!!! Needless to say, it was by the grace of god that my son and I were not injured or killed when the engine just shut off in the middle of traffic. And on top of that, it is absurd that the consumer cannot manually put this vehicle into neutral to move it out of harm's way if it's possible to do so. The only way to put the car in neutral when inoperable is to take it to the dealership. Unsat! And for a car company that is supposed to have a great reputation and high standards, it's absurd that a new engine is needed for a car that is barely 4 years old. I have seen the same issues with other bmw owners all over the internet. Love bmw and have owned 3 of them and it's unfortunate that this one will be my last because I do not feel safe in this vehicle anymore.
Last month my car was approximately 52,200 miles (out of warranty) and leaking oil all over my driveway and under the hood. It cost me $1570 to fix by replacing the fiter casing. Luckily that the oil leak was in my driveway. What if I was on the freeway? This is totally unsafe car to drive. The local shop told me that the filter housing (2012 version) was made of plastic and the current bmw one 2014 is made of metal. The local shop told me to call bmw if there is any recall for this. So before fixing it local shop, I did call the crevier bmw in santa ana, ca and the service advisor told me that there is no recall for the filter housing and my car was out of warranty. I told the bmw advisor that I cannot believe that a 2012 bmw 528i with 52k miles on it and leaking oil all over the place. The bmw advisor told me that I drove too much. What kind of service is that? And bmw will not cover it. So bmw cannot be driven over 50k miles. I also did call bmw corporate and someone from bmw corporate called me back that and said nothing bmw can do about this. Now I found out because of the oil leak, the alternator is having problem. I want to report this incident so that bmw should be responsible to similar cases of their unsafe cars. [xxx] 'information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Driving in the hov at approximately 9pm when an alert message "drivetrain malfunction, drive moderately" displays. Car engine immediately cuts out and we have no propulsion. We are unable to move to a safe location and wind up on a narrow shoulder of the lie in ny. Police come and close down 2 lanes to prevent collision (extremely dangerous road conditions). We were unable to start the car or shift it into neutral. Car was towed. Bmw notifies us that fuel sensors malfunctioned resulting in us running out of gas even thought the indicator showed we had 1/2 tank. However because we were over the 50,000 mile warranty we would be responsible for replacing. . Bmw is looking for us to pay $3,100 to have the fuel sensors replaced. I researched this and found that bmw had issued a recall on its 2011 5 series sedans and 2012 5 series gt for a fuel sensor malfunction that mirrors exactly what happened to us. We purchased our bmw nov 2011. We strongly believe this fuel sensor defect both in design and functionality is the reason behind what happened to us. Put my family and 6 police patrol men in harms way. Notified bmw that they need to extend their recall to other 2012 5 series sedans given our experience. Felt compelled to notify you as there may be other drivers who will be put in harms way if this problem is not reconciled on all 2012 5 series sedans. We were lucky we were not injured. Someone else might not be.
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