Quote:
Originally Posted by ajob
Reading the various posts, I must say that I feel great sympathy towards the OP Bankerbry - what happened to him could have happened to any of us and the current response by BMW & associates looks to me unacceptable.
His car breaks down spectacularly, no obvious owner's mishandling appears evident and the seller's response seems to be: "bad luck, we have no clue about what happened and are not interested to find out, therefore our best recommendation is: please buy a new engine".
The scarce data supplied by the shop as posted here is ludicrous - our cars have sensors and memories just short of a space shuttle, the breakdown mode that happened is seriously worrying as and the disinterest by BMW & associates to understand and tell the customer what happened is outright indignant.
Just by scanning a full data dump, any decent BMW engineer should offer a highly likely description of what has happened - and not by looking only at the engine data; ABS wheel speed sensors vs engine rpms vs accelerator position vs MAP vs etc. etc. should reasonably cast light why the ignition was cut, the drivetrain disconnected and the engine restart electronically inhibited. F.i., even certain "voting failures" among the multiple accelerator position sensors could cause such a sudden "stop & stay stopped" outcome - and the engine would not even need to be damaged!
So, remembering "don't get mad, get even!", I would submit for consideration, before engaging any costly legal action, to write to both the federal NTSB and its State equivalent, with copy to BMW NA, BMW Germany and the car seller, something along these lines, in a cooperative (non-confrontational) tone:
"Ladies and gentlemen,
On (date, time) I recently suffered on my wife's car (type & registration) a potentially serious and still unexplained incident in (place) on a public 4-lane highway with my car . Maintenance records are available.
The car unexpectedly lost power (add chain of events with all details) and was then towed to (place).
Initial sensor and car data analysis by (...) has not yet allowed to identify any conclusive mechanical or software cause, which adds to my worry as the unexplained incident may repeat in less forgiving traffic circumstances.
Considering the traffic risk potential of this incident I hereby respectfully ask you to assist me in determining the still unknown causes so as to take the appropriate remedial action if necessary.
The car may be inspected at (...) until (...) unless you kindly advise otherwise.
Thanking in advance for your assistance, (salutation, etc.)"
The purpose of such action is to wake up the "BMW higher ups" and have them order some action.
Who knows, the OP may discover that the engine is fine and it was really a rare software cause 🤞!
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Thank you so much for the extremely helpful post!
I agree 100%, and will take these steps immediately.
Just a brief update: I still haven't heard anything from the BMWNA rep, but the servicing dealer called yesterday and they expect to hear from them today.
The purchasing dealer in CO, (Sill-Terhar Motors) texted me yesterday and explained that due to the fire in CO they were evacuated yesterday. They really have been ess than helpful, and just buying time hoping BMW will step up so they can wash their hands of it.
I will let every know if I hear anything today.
I'm extremely frustrated that we are down a vehicle, have increasing service fee's and we've really gotten absolutely no answers or time line. And nobody cares.