1997 BMW Z3 problems

Filed Mar 24, 2023 · Airbags · 199,000 miles · CA · crash · 1 injury

The contact owned a 1997 BMW Z3 Roadster. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 MPH, there was a multi-car rear-end accident involving two other vehicles after she fell asleep at the wheel and rear-ended the vehicle in front of her. The contact stated that no other passengers were in her vehicle; however, only the driver's side air bag had failed to deploy. The contact required hospitalization and was in a coma. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard and later auctioned. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed the VIN was not included in an air bag recall. The approximate failure mileage was 199,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Jan 23, 2017 · Suspension · 199,000 miles · CA

Vehicle jerks, shutters and pulls to the right. Rear sub frame and differential bushing failure.

Filed Feb 4, 2014 · Seats · 130,000 miles · MI

The seat tracks of both the driver and passenger side of the vehicle allowed the seats to move at least 10mm forward and rearward under braking and acceleration. This movement causes a partial loss of control of the vehicle.

Filed May 30, 2011 · Airbags · 56,423 miles · CA

Upon starting the car the air bag light came on and stayed on. This is the third time this has happened. The first two time it cost approximately $350 to repair. For this to happen a third time is indicative of a design fault.

Filed Dec 18, 2010 · 110,000 miles · NC · fire

I turned the key to start the vehicle. It started normally. I put the car in neutral (5 speed trans.) to allow it to warm-up for about 2 minutes while I checked my voice mail on my phone. As I put the car in gear and looked out the windshield to pull out of my parking space, I saw dense white smoke rolling out from under the hood on the driver's side. I looked at the dash for any warning or indicator lights; there were none. I immediately turned the car off, popped the hood, and got out of the car. I wanted to wait until the smoke was no longer rolling out before actually opening the hood, as I was afraid of introducing a rush of air if something was on fire. As the smoke rapidly increased and progressed to black smoke, I called my facility security from an emergency call box while also calling 911 from my cell phone. During the 911 call, flames became visible from under the hood. Four fire engines arrived to put out the fire. All four levels of my facilities parking deck were filled with toxic smoke which was evacuated by the fire department. The car was a total loss. The fire dept. Told me that night that the car was too badly burned to determine the cause. They supposed it was electrical. After inspecting the car, the insurance investigator did not believe the fire to be from electrical origin, but instead fuel / engine related. The car had been maintained on a regular basis. No service had been recently performed. I had not been experiencing any issues with the car's performance.

Filed Dec 3, 2010 · Seat belts · 131,000 miles · TN

My 1997 bmw z3 had the airbag light come on 2 years ago. The technician said it was caused by the seatbelt tensioner. He replaced it and all was fine. It's back on again. If this is as common to these models as I've heard why hasn't bmw had a recall to fix the problem. This is getting expensive.

Filed Aug 13, 2008 · Airbags · 69,500 miles · CT

Passenger got into front seat and adjusted it down and back with the power seat controls. Airbag light illuminated and has been on ever since. I checked for broken or damaged wiring but found nothing obvious. Bmw is recalling many of their new cars, but it seems their old ones exhibit the same failures.

Filed Mar 24, 2008 · Seats · 88,000 miles · VA

Seat rails do not lock properly thereby allowing seat(s) to slide forward during braking. Can potentially lead to loss of control of vehicle.

Filed Aug 7, 2007 · Seats · NE

1997 bmw z3 with sliding seat problems customer states that the seat would slide forward when he pushed on the brake and slide back when he accelerated**cc the consumer was told the worm gear on the seat bracket had worn out beyond repair and a complete seat bracket was needed.

Filed Nov 23, 2004 · Airbags · OH · crash · 1 injury

The consumer was driving 65 MPH on I-95 when all of a sudden he lost control of the vehicle. The traction control feature on the vehicle failed to work. The consumer hit a guard rail and the air bags did not deploy. The consumer was injured.