2009 BMW M3: engine stalls while driving

Filed Oct 6, 2011 · Acceleration, Electrical · 36,300 miles · AZ · crash

Shortly after purchasing my bmw 2009 m3, I noticed a rare but very disturbing pattern on take off. I had car checked in dealer and I was told it was likely secondary to my driving style! This uncontrolled take off is like hi rev and rapid acceleration periodically alternating with deceleration for few seconds. I had this happen prob a dozen time so far(36k on car). On day of my accident, in stop and go traffic with speed less than 5 miles per hour, car literally went off on me. It accelerated to hit the car in front and then managed to push the car into another 3 cars in front, before it came to a stall. I am not sure if it was exactly like my previous episodes because the distance between my car and next car was short. What I am sure is that I had no control on car.

Filed Aug 20, 2010 · Transmission · 2,500 miles · GA

To whom it may concern, I am very happy to see your organization taking an interest in this issue. It is a very dangerous problem with this vehicle that bmwna is well aware of, but insists that it is "normal behavior" for my car/transmission. I brought the car into the dealer, and they were able to reproduce it, but they were told by bmw that this was "normal behavior." the problem occurs when you slow down- like for a turn, but do not come to a complete stop. The dct transmission seems to have trouble figuring out what gear to select because when you step on the gas to accelerate, there is a very significant delay in the onset of power- up to 2-3 seconds. By this time, the driver is usually really digging into the throttle. The transmission finally picks a gear, which results in the car suddenly lurching forward, sometimes invoking the anti-skip control. The danger in this behavior occurs when making a turn into on-coming traffic after slowing down to around 10-15 MPH. After the turn, the car is positioned in the traffic lane, but you have no power to accelerate into the flow of traffic. The oncoming cars are now closing in on your car at a fast rate, and you're basically stuck. This situation is most pronounced in the "auto" mode of the dct transmission, but also occurs to a lesser degree while in the manual mode when you select second gear in preparation for the turn. It is also very repeatable in both modes. These problems started occurring after a previous recall on this transmission where the engine would stall under hard braking or not shift under hard braking. The recall fixed that problem, but introduced this problem, which occurs almost every day whereas the previous problem only occurred during a specific situation. Thank you for looking into this dangerous matter.

Filed May 27, 2010 · Transmission · 5,600 miles · CA

Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6) dear [xxx], I am very happy to see your oranization taking an interest in this issue. It is a very dangerous problem with this vehicle that bmwna is well aware of, but insists that it is "normal behavior" for my car/transmission. I brought the car into the dealer, and they were able to reproduce it, but they were told by bmw that this was "normal behavior." the problem occurs when you slow down- like for a turn, but do not come to a complete stop. The dct transmission seems to have trouble figuring out what gear to select because when you step on the gas to accelerate, there is a very significant delay in the onset of power- up to 2-3 seconds. By this time, the driver is usually really digging into the throttle. The transmission finally picks a gear, which results in the car suddenly lurching forward, sometimes invoking the anti-skip control. The danger in this behavior occurs when making a turn into on-coming traffic after slowing down to around 10-15 MPH. After the turn, the car is positioned in the traffic lane, but you have no power to accelerate into the flow of traffic. The oncoming cars are now closing in on your car at a fast rate, and you're basically stuck. This situation is most pronounced in the "auto" mode of the dct transmission, but also occurs to a lesser degree while in the manual mode when you select second gear in preparation for the turn. It is also very repeatable in both modes. These problems started occuring after a previous recall on this transmission where the engine would stall under hard braking or not shift under hard braking. The recall fixed that problem, but introduced this problem, which occurs almost every day whereas the previous problem only occured during a specific situation. Thank you for looking into this dangerous matter.

Filed Jun 19, 2009 · Transmission · 11 miles · WA

This complaint is for a 2009 bmw m3 coupe with the dual-clutch transmission (dct). I am experiencing major shift lag trying to reaccelerate after slowing down. Basically, the 2nd gear will fail to catch / engage when I put my foot on the gas pedal causing the car stall for a second or two. After that, the gear will engage abruptly and I will be pulled violently forward. This has resulted in several near-accident situations: 1. I almost rear-ended someone when the gear engaged abruptly with the car jerking forward at a stop light when it turned green as I was approaching, slowing down to 2nd gear. 2. I was almost t-boned at a non-regulated intersection. I was slowing down when approaching the intersection. The car downshifted to 2nd gear for me and about 1/4 way into the intersection, I saw a vehicle speeding down towards the intersection on my left. I tried to accelerate to get out of the intersection but the transmission failed to engage for a full 2 seconds. I barely missed the vehicle t-boning into my car. There is no apparent events that have LED up to the failure. The car behaves like that on the first day I bought it. This failure would happen every time I leave the car in automatic mode, so that the car's computer will downshift for me. I already brought the car to the dealership twice complaining about the issue and the potential safety ramifications, but the dealership's service department claimed that bmw north america has issued a statement claiming that it is normal transmission behavior and there is nothing that they can do to correct it. Obviously, this is a major safety concern for me and I am astonished that bmw will not do anything to rectify its problem.

Filed Jun 15, 2009 · Engine · 2,500 miles · CA

We were driving our 2009 bmw 335i on fwy 5 south at about 65 MPH , the check engine warning indicator illuminated on the instrument pane. It sputtered and stalled repeatedly, we have to drive really slow to get home, next day I got it in authorized dealer, the technician stated that the fuel pump contributed to the failure. The fuel pump was replaced this happened to my 2 times , this is a very unsafe problem could cause accident if we in a mid of passing other car on fwy . The government should require bmw recall all vehicles with this pump,this seam to be the ongoing problem with 335i sean 2007 and bmw still didn't fix it, this is new 2009 bmw 335i only have 2500 miles on it.

Filed Feb 8, 2009 · Transmission · 1,000 miles · 00

In the 2009 bmw m3 sedan with dct (dual clutch) transmission, there is a significant lag or hesitation of at least 1 second between applying pressure to the accelerator and the clutch engaging and giving acceleration to the wheels. This does not happen from a stand-still, but occurs primarily when the car is in motion at virtually all ranges of speed, from rolling stop (5km/hr or less) through standard road speeds of any degree (residential 30-40km/hr, city roads 50-70km/hr, or highway 90km/hr+). I was carefully in the middle of a slow left turn at an intersection on saturday, feb 7, 2009. To avoid an oncoming car prematurely heading in my direction, I pressed on the accelerator to hasten the completion of my turn, but the car did not respond because of the clutch lag. I narrowly avoided being hit. This transmission defect could reasonably result in serious injury or death to the driver or passengers, especially when sudden and unanticipated acceleration out of a difficult driving situation is required. *tr the consumer stated he also experienced unexpected stalls during low speed driving, but not rapid deceleration. Updated 03/11/09.