I have 2005 545i bmw, last week I received recall on braking system asked to take my car to dealer and get it fix. Took the car to dealer and they replaced the defected part. They checked everything and mention everything is fine. Today at approximately 1:30 pm I have received active steering malfunction message . I was driving the car and while driving message popped up. Fluid level looks fine but did not get it checked by anyone yet. Bmw needs to do something with their cars as they seems to have a lot of issues. I also recently replaced the smg pump as well as engine module.
2005 BMW 545I transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 15 of 15, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I have a 2005 bmw 545i. When I am decelerating and rolling towards a stop and then accelerate before a full stop I will get a large jerking transmission bang coming from the back of the car. In addition while driving the car around 35-40 MPH the transmission slips from one gear to the next and back causing the car to surge and jerk slightly.
I purchased my used 2005 bmw 545i with only 55k miles on it in may 2009. On or about march 2010, the vehicle started jerking during acceleration and sometimes a hard "jolt" as if you hit a large object in the road or hit by another vehicle from the rear. On acceleration, the car will sometimes rev way up, without engaging the transmission, and then slam into action so fast that it feels like being hit from behind. It is life-threateningly dangerous, because when it happens, it is such a shock you are distracted from driving. It normally happens from a full stop, but has happened on the freeway numerous times as I was trying to move from a slow lane to a faster lane. When it slams, the natural tendency is to let off the gas, however, there was faster traffic approaching from the rear, and I almost got hit. After checking popular bmw owner websites such as bimmerfest, I noticed there were countless owners with the same problem with the same model years (2004-2005 545i) which has the v-8 engine and drive train. Bmw has not recalled this defect as of this date and will not unless someone gets killed, seriously injured, or receive major public embarrassment like toyota's accelerator problems. I was informed that there is a software upgrade (fix) available from bmw that will fix this problem, but they prefer customers to pay out of pocket (out of warranty customers) opposed to voluntary recalls forced by the government or bad pr from the media press. The bmw service information bulletin (sib) that addresses this problem is: 24 03 05 software update for transmission. I plan to take this matter to the media press if solutions aren't offered from bmw or the government.
My 2005 bmw 545i has a hesitation, and strong hard downshift present, under factory warranty I complained about this, and now outside of factory warranty I am still having issues, and no one is willing to do anything about it at my dealer basney imports. When calling bmwna they are unwilling to help until a "hard code" is present, even though the service advisor, and technicians have road around with me in the car, and felt the situation.
On may 12th, I was driving my 2005 545i bmw at 8pm with my wife and two children on the highway. The display indicated a windshield wiper malfunction (would not turn off or control speed of wipers). After a few more miles, I noticed there was no communication to any of the steering column controls, nor did the turn signals work (would not stay on unless held down). Almost simultaneously, the airbag malfunction warning came on, seat belt tensioners may not function, and the active steering system malfunction warning came on, indicating that the car's steering wheel may not be properly aligned with the wheels. The car became more difficult (more effort) to steer, with loss of some power steering. I was able to control the car back down to 20 MPH. After stopping at a traffic light, the car entered transmission failsafe program, limiting the car to gears r, n, 1, 2, 3 for the remainder of the trip home. The next morning, the high battery drain indicator came on also. Power windows and remote key functions ceased to work, although I could still control the sunroof. I promptly brought the car into the dealership the next morning on may 13th. The bmw dealership ran a diagnostic and states the szl module in the steering column needs to be replaced. The car is at 51050 miles, and beyond warranty coverage at 5 years old. Bmw na will not cover the costs of repair to the vehicle to correct this safety issue, even though there was a technical service bulletin (si b340506) issued for 2006 models describing similar failures in their products. I am submitting this report so that this would not happen to other drivers and their families with similar cars.
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