The steering appears to stick when temps reach 70 & above and is most noticeable when driving at 60+ speeds. The steering wants to lock up (stick or catch)and become jerky when driving and is difficult to maneuver slight turns to keep vehicle in a straight line.
2005 BMW Z4 steering complaints
Page 6 of 7: complaints 131 to 160 of 173, newest first, as owners wrote them.
2005 bmw e85 with only 9,000 miles. Driving in straight line, steering wheel has unusual amount of 'play' where no wheel direction change will occur. When exceeding the 'play' an amount of resistance is encountered followed by an abrupt wheel direction change. At 40 MPH car will suddenly move 1-2 feet in lane. Vehicle requires constant, jerking correction. This condition has existed since purchase of the vehicle 2 months ago but is much worse on hot days such as the current 85 degree weather. In a close clearance situations at higher speeds or very hot days, this could become very dangerous regardless of driver experience or diligence. Given the large number of complaints, I wonder if it will require serious injury or death to address this issue.
The steering seems to "stick" and release suddenly when turning the steering wheel. This has been occurring for a while. There has not been a complete loss of steering to date but the issue does seem worse on some days.
I have a 2005 bmw z4 3.0i with electric power steering. The steering sticks when I drive it. I have read that this issue has turned into major problems with other owners. I just want to say that I have the initial steering issue too.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 bmw z4. The contact stated that in warmer temperatures, the steering wheel would lock abnormally, then release, followed by a jerking of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the electronic steering column was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact stated that the vehicle was no longer under warranty and was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 42,000 and the current mileage was 66,000.
Steering sticks at moderate to high outdoor temperature. Requires excessive pressure to turn off center and also then back to center. Feels as if it turns in notches instead of smoothly. This causes the steering to jerk from one side to the other as you are simply making small steering corrections. This creates a dangerous driving condition.
Steering on my 05 bmw z4 sticks and jerks and causes me to run off the road. Dealer says nothing wrong despite all these complaints im finding online. Too scared to drive car.
I purchased my 2005 bmw z4 3.0i last year in the middle of winter. Interesting time to sell a car with a major steering defect that is temperature dependent. As the ambient temperature increases the ability to steer and control my 2005 bmw z4 becomes more dangerous. At highway speeds on a day above 75 degrees the wheel appears to be stuck. When it finally does move the result is rapid lane shifting, not safe to drive while doing this. In fact I am uncomfortable driving the vehicle on hot days and leave it home, the steering is not predictable. Spoke with my bmw dealer who states they have not heard of this problem. This seems unusual given the number of complaints I can find on line. This event occurs each and every day where the ambient temperature gets above 75 and will not correct itself until the car cools down. Clearly a temperature related issue.
My 2005 bmw z4 have steering wheels issues. Gps navigation system don't work.
Steering on my 05 bmw z4 gets erratic or sticks is hard to steer when running at highway speeds. Trying to make a small correction results in the steering wheel jerking then more force is required to overcome this problem. This results in over correction which makes the car jerk from side to side.
2005 bmw z4. After driving the vehicle for around 300+ miles the steering start to stick, making holding the car in your lane very difficult. We purchased the vehicle in oct. Or nov. Of 2010 and it had approx. 56000 miles on the odometer. I first noticed the problem in dec. When we went to fla. And last week when we traveled to s.c.
Intermittent failure of power steering at high speeds (above 75 deg f). Steering becomes sluggish and loss of control of vehicle may occur. Severe over/under steer of vehicle under these conditions have occurred on separate occasions.
I have major problems with the steering wheel of my 2005 bmw z4 3i, purchased as a certified pre-owned car from a bmw dealer. It had about 11k miles on it. Since then I have been experiencing this problem described below. I have not had any accident with it, but this is a complaint that there may me a safety issue with the steering wheel of the car. 1)it keeps pulling to the left, or to the right especially at lowers speeds say below 60 mi/hr. It requires constant adjustments so that I could keep the car aligned, or centered while driving. 2) the car pulls me to the left, or to the right suddenly when the road surface is slightingly uneven, especially in lower speeds. I can never predict which way the car pulls me. It can be very struggling to keep the steering under control when stopping at any red lights because of these sudden jerks in the steering, or pulls in the steering wheel. 3) sometimes, the steering feels like it is stuck, or locked in a way that I feel like I could not control it. This usually happens when the weather is hot, or at higher humidity. 4) I took the car to the dealer two years ago when I still had the warranty, and then they replaced the steering column and alignment was made after the replacement. However, the symptoms did not go away at all. I took the car to another dealer; I was told that it just required an alignment which was already done after the replacement of the steering column. So, there should not be an alignment relate problem. If the only problem was the alignment problem, the car should have pulled either to the left, or to the right, not to the both directions. 5) I believe if any elderly person, or someone with slower reflex, tries to drive this car with such problems may end up having a catastrophic crash. Mainly because, the driver must pay lots of attention to keep the car centered, or the steering under control. Otherwise, at any second you may find yourself somewhere off the road.
The steering on my 05 bmw z4 gets choppy or sticks or very hard to steer when running at highway speeds and city speeds. This problem occurs every time I drive the car. This is a safety hazard . If steering locks bad news nothing has been done to correct the problem because of the cost the dealer wants to repair it. I don't drive the vehicle much because of fear of steering locking up and causing an accident, vehicle only has 25,833 miles on it.
2005 bmw z4 steering sticks in hot weather. Very dangerous. Returned from summer trip and felt the problem repeatedly. Now afraid to drive the car in hot weather.
I just bought a used 2005 bmw z4. The vehicle seemed to "pull" to one side before I bought it so I had the dealer do an alignment as a condition of sale. The car drove fine the first couple of times I drove it, but now off and on it sticks either pulling to the left or to the right. In other words, the wheel won't return to center.
Repeating problem. The steering on my 2005 bmw z4 3.0 will occasionally stick when driving at highway speeds. The linear feedback disappears and I can move the steering wheel but the car doesn't react initially. Then it will suddenly "give" and catch up to where I had the steering wheel. This is alarming as often it will cause an over correction which could eventually lead to an accident.
The steering wheel on my 2005 bmw z4 3.9 liter 6mt tends to stick when the outdoor temperature is high. This reduces the smooth motion that is typically displayed by a steering wheel. The stickiness makes it very hard to maintain the car in a straight line and causes a delay in response to steering wheel input. I read online that many other people are having the same problems.
2005 bmw z-4 power steering failure 7-5-2010 car has 7,000 miles on it, backed out of driveway ,lost steering.
Started engine on hot day and had no power steering. Turned off engine and restarted and power steering was back as normal. If this had happened while driving the possibility of an accident are great.
I'm experiencing very stiff or stuck steering. It seems to only occur during the summer months, but mainly when my car is left out in the sun at work, the drive home is quite an adventure. Keeping the car driving straight is no easy task, trying to make a small correction results in the steering wheel moving a great distance as one has to apply more force to the steering wheel to overcome the "stuckness". This results in a over correction of steering and pushes the car to opposing lanes at the extreme, or otherwise just makes the car jerk from side to side. I've had niello bmw of sacramento look at this, and they found nothing nor admitted this was a problem. As the summer months come around, my steering is going back to it's usual jerkiness.
Sticking steering has occurred when temperatures rise, typically above 85f. Steering becomes difficult to detect the way in which the car will react and the level of resistance that will occur and need to be dealt with.
I experience a loss of power-assisted steering. The steering wheel sticks, binds or locks up, requiring increased steering effort to maintain control and increasing the potential to over-steer the vehicle.
When my bmw z4 2005 has been standing in warm weather it develops a concerning habit. When I start driving I feel resistance in the steering wheel - it needs more force to be turned and to be turned back to straight ahead. It is concerning to feel that the steering feel changes characteristics - with one thought in back of my head: what happens if it chooses to stick all together? Depending on the temperature the symptoms will be more or less bad.
The steering feels notchy and hard to turn most of the time. At times it's hard to maintain the car in the lane that I'm driving in especially when there are slight curves on the road and it gets worst when taking big curves. I have to slow down to avoid driving in between lanes when cars are on my left and right therefore I am not able to control the car due to the erratic steering and which might cause an accident. The steering at times locks or stays in one spot and it's hard to straighten it without forcing it back to the center. One dealer told me that it was normal, I've driven many cars in my life and never felt so unsafe driving a car like I do with this one.
2005 bmw z4 problem with sticky steering. Occasionally the steering will stick when the temperature is warm outside. Car becomes difficult to move off line.
I have a 2005 bmw z4 3.0i and have 'sticky' steering at speeds above ~40mph (mainly highway). On warmer days when the car has been sitting in the sun, going past ~40mph the steering will begin to 'bind' or 'stick' causing me to use excessive force to move the steering wheel. Once the vehicles steering stops 'sticking', the adjustment is too much and can sometimes lead to lane wandering and other unwanted characteristics.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 bmw z4. While driving 45 MPH the power steering became stuck in position and as it was forced to move it made the vehicle lunged. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that they would replace the steering column at the contacts expense. There were no related recalls. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure and current mileages were 26,500.
Steering sticks on 2005 bmw z4.
2005 bmw z4 power steering failure. Steering wheel tends to stick in place and not want to turn. Started acting this way on july 3, 2010. Temperature was about 93 and the problem was noted at many different speeds. Was at a restaurant in panama city, fl. Came out, started the car and heard strange knocking sounds from the front of the car like someone knocking on wood. Pulled out of the restaurant and noticed that the steering didn't want to turn unless additional abnormal pressure were applied to the steering wheel. This was an in-town situation but has continued since. Drove the vehicle approximately 70 miles to get back home and could feel the abnormality the rest of the trip which included freeway speeds up to 70mph. Have driven the car 3 times since then and the problem still exists as of july 7th, 2010.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2005 BMW Z4?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history