2009 BMW M3 transmission problems

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 Feb 22, 2010 · Transmission · 2,258 miles · CA

With the dual clutch automatic transmission in d mode, when slowing from 50 or 60 MPH to 15-20 MPH the transmission will not downshift and stays in 6th or 7th gear. Even with the accelerator to the floor the car will not select an appropriate gear which makes the car barely accelerate at all creating a safety hazard. This car has little to no torque (by design) at very low rpms, and it basically just sits there and doesn't move. A driver often slows like this when making a left or right hand turn and having the car just sit there under those conditions presents a huge safety issue in terms of being either rear-ended or being hit by oncoming traffic. The entire nature of the automatic program on this car is unpredictable; in some cases it will downshift, in others (as described above) it will not, which adds to the unsafe nature of this defect. It does not behave like any automatic transmission I've ever owned. The software controlling the transmission was updated in december 2009. Prior to that, in either manual or automatic mode the car would downshift into a lower gear, but there was a 1-2 second pause before any power was delivered (the engine would not "go" even accelerator to the floor). This issue hasn't recurred, but the situation is still not rectified (as noted in the description above) as the "new" issue with failing to downshift in d modes has surfaced.

Filed Feb 22, 2010 · Transmission · 12,011 miles · AZ

1. When slowing down for a red light that turns green, then trying to accelerate before actually stopping, the car hesitates or lags. Could get rear-ended or t-boned if turning in an intersection. Someone is going to get killed due to this ongoing, ignored, serious safety flaw. 2. Can routinely reproduce this hesitation/lag. 3. Bmw refuses to resolve the problem and has told it's dealers it is a normal response.

Filed Feb 14, 2010 · Transmission · 15 miles · CA

2009 bmw m3 with dct - issue present from the date of purchase. The problem occurs frequently when in automatic mode and slowing such as at an intersection prior to a turn and the transmission shifts into the lower gear (usually 2nd). When the accelerator is pressed, there is often no response for up to 2 seconds. When the vehicle does respond, the application of power may be gradual and not directly proportional to the accelerator pedal position. On several occasions, this has resulted in a near-accident situation. When making a left turn with oncoming traffic, or merging right with traffic that is making a left turn, I have had to take emergency action to avoid collision. It is only a matter of time, until someone is injured or worse when the vehicle fails to respond as expected. There are numerous complaints of this issue in the net discussion boards, yet bmw north america has issued a statement claiming that it is normal transmission behavior. There is a safety issue when your vehicle fails to respond in a reliable/timely manner in real traffic situations.

Filed Aug 3, 2009 · Transmission · 7,000 miles · TX

The dual clutch transmission (dct) in my car, a 2009 bmw m3 routinely hesitates when pushing the accelerator in 2nd gear. The hesitation is long enough to have put me and my passengers in grave danger. In fact, it has almost caused a number of accidents when merging with highway traffic. This is unacceptable and needs to be immediately corrected before someone is seriously injured or killed.

Filed Aug 2, 2009 · Transmission · 3,000 miles · CA

Hello, I recently purchased a 2009 bmw m3 with the dct transmission. The transmission acts like a sequential manual shifter, allowing the driver to shift up and down at their will. These shifts happen instantaneously, within fractions of a second. Additionally, when coming to a stop, the car will downshift to 1st gear on its own, instead of relying on driver input, as a matter of convenience. All of this is normal, advertised, and expected behavior. There are times, however, when the car is decelerating but not coming to a full stop (when taking a turn at an intersection, for example), that the transmission will begin its automated downshifts but then become incredibly unresponsive. In these cases, if I press on the accelerator before coming to a full stop, I'll notice a significant lag before the engine actually revs up. Basically, pressing on the gas won't do anything -- the transmission is ostensibly "deciding" which gear is the optimal one and will ignore all manual gear changes and gas pedal input until it makes up its mind. At times, this lag has lasted as long as 2-3 seconds. This lag is bothersome, at times dangerous, and alarmingly, was not as noticeably bad when I first purchased the car a few months ago. This behavior occurs on a daily basis, and can be reproduced at will. Incidentally, this lag doesn't happen if I manually downshift through the gears to 3rd, 2nd, or 1st rather than letting the car perform the downshifts for me.

Filed Jul 21, 2009 · Transmission · 200 miles · NY

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-skid control. The occurs frequently.

Filed Jul 21, 2009 · Transmission · 7,000 miles · NY

M-dct transmission lag. When you're turning and cars may be coming at you there is no power, causing serious endangerment.

Filed Jul 1, 2009 · Transmission · 4,600 miles · IL

I was driving on a two-lane street (one-lane each direction) and as I was approaching a stoplight I turned on my left turn signal and started to move into the dedicated left-hand turn lane. As I did this I needed to downshift as I slowed down for the stopped traffic ahead at the light. When I shifted to second gear and pressed the accelerator to move into the turn lane my car would not engage into gear. I was almost rear-ended from the cars behind me but luckily my car's transmission engaged at the last second and I cleared the lane I was in. But because I was pressing the accelerator so hard to try to get the clutch to engage, when it finally did I shot off across the left-hand turn lane into the lane of on-coming traffic. I was able to steer clear before being hit head-on by on-coming traffic but the experience left me very uncomfortable with the transmission in my vehicle.