2004 BMW 530I: headlights failing or too dim

Filed May 11, 2021 · Electrical, Lights · 132,000 miles · FL

Nearly every bmw suffers from failed wiring in the headlights. This should be addressed as a recalled oint of failure as it involves everybody on the road.

Filed Feb 14, 2019 · Electrical · 205,000 miles · FL

The wire harness for both headlights in this vehicle are completely frayed. Bare copper wires can be seeing and the lights are inoperative. In addition to night driveability being and issue, the potential for a short circuit and fire under the hood exists. A cursory internet research shows that this is common issue with several bmw model years, potentially affecting thousands of drivers.

Filed May 13, 2017 · Electrical · 98,000 miles · MS

The wiring inside the headlights are all crumbling and exposing the copper within creating an electroncal fire or shorting of the system. This appears to be very common on the e60 series bmw and should be addressed.

Filed Oct 11, 2015 · Electrical · 150,000 miles · AL

The headlight assembly produced by hella contains apparently defective wiring. The insulation on the electrical wires to the high beam bulbs and the parking light bulbs deteriorates and crumbles off leaving exposed electrical wires in the headlight assembly. Moving the wires during removal and replacement of bulbs caused the insulation to break off completely. The problem was just discovered, but was obviously in a state of decay for a long period of time.

Filed Sep 27, 2014 · Lights · 97,000 miles · FL

I had a bulb failure warning illuminate on the dash. I bought the parking light bulb, went to replace it, and found all of the wiring inside of the headlight housing crumbling to bits. There were literally bare wires crossing on top of one another, which is clearly a fire hazard. When I asked my bmw dealer about this, they said it is a common problem, is not covered under warranty, and I have to buy new headlights. I had never heard of internal headlight wiring being considered a wear item, but bmw says otherwise. I have a 30 year old car with all of its wiring intact; this bmw had this problem before it had hit 10 years old. I spent approximately $2000 for new headlights. Clearly this is a major design flaw that the manufacturer should be responsible for, as it presents a clear fire hazard. I do know of one person who experienced a vehicle fire due to this defect in a '05 525i.

Filed Apr 29, 2014 · Airbags · 87,437 miles · WI

I am writing to see if I can obtain some assistance with a problem I have been having with the safety equipment on my 530i, specifically the passenger side airbag. Early in 2012 I noticed that when my wife sat in the passenger seat the air bag light on the overhead light unit would occasionally come on. It would not stay on for long but would come on and off periodically. I made an appointment with bmw on may 12 to have the issue looked into. The car had 87437 miles on it at this time. They told me there was no problem with the system as no codes were stored for a problem with the airbag. They could not explain why this was occurring. Since this time the frequency of the light coming on has increased. I returned to concours bmw on march 24, 2014 for the same issue. I was told that the air bag may not work and to fix it would cost $1724.00. Bmw said the safety information module was bad.

Filed Nov 10, 2008 · Electrical · 80,000 miles · CA

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 bmw 530i. On three separate occasions, the windshield wipers moved back and forth, the headlights flashed on and off, the odometer dial moved from side to side, and the alarm sounded. All of the failures occurred automatically. The instrument panel read, "vehicle malfunction, see dealer immediately". The vehicle was taken to the dealer twice. The first time they could not duplicate the failure; however, the second time they stated that the instrument cluster needed to be replaced at the cost of $2,000. The current mileage was 89,000 and failure mileage was 80,000.