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BMW Recalling One Million Vehicles in North America (reuters.com)
Several readers share a report: BMW said Friday it is recalling about 1 million vehicles in North America for two separate issues involving fire risks and said it may expand the recalls to other countries. One recall covers 670,000 2006-2011 U.S. 3-series vehicles to address a wiring issue for heating and air conditioning system may overheat and could increase the risk of a fire. The second recall covers 740,000 U.S. 2007-2011 vehicles with a valve that could rust and lead to a fire in rare cases. The recall includes some 128i vehicles, 3-series, 5-series and X3, X5 and Z4 vehicles.
Cars have to be recalled. If there is a serious defect cars get recalled. In software it gets swept under the rug and when a fix is available you have to pay extra for it. "Software Engineering" my ass.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Oh, when I saw BMW recalling 1 million cars, I was sure it was going to be because their turn signals didn't work. Because, you know, BMW drivers never freaking use their turn signals.
... since the bug only triggers when the driver uses the turning signal.
Log in or piss off.
This is a pretty standard recall - I imagine that a thousand or so of these notices go out every year from all call manufacturers.
You make an appointment to take the car into a dealership, they fix it and you're on your way. Easy peasy.
Somewhere people have gotten the idea that recalls are a primary indicator of poor quality/design when in reality, supplier parts don't meet specification, specifications are wrong and basic mistakes are made.
The certification process does an excellent job of ensuring the vehicles are safe, recalls generally come out after a few million hours of operation in which something wears out or rusts (which is what happened here).
So, why is this story worth the bandwidth here?
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You know, since BMW drivers are assholes who can't drive.
Imagine Apple or Google(well LG, sammy...) fixing a 10 year old phone, or just keeping the software updated.
Acutally it's sensible. They know there's an issue, and they're doing something about it. Continuous improvement.
I'll believe in continuous improvement when we start actually punishing greed and corruption that often creates these problems in the first place.
That would also include the NHTSA, not just car manufacturers. A damn good example of this would be when NHTSA allowed Takata to continue to install defective airbags well after they fined them $70 million for it.
Defects will continue in record numbers. Why? Because greed has proven it's worth it.
They're great until the odometer hits 100,000 miles.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Gaskets, too! I just got rid of my 2008 5 series with 90K miles I'd owned from new, because of gasket issues. In January I paid $2500 to fix some oil leaks, including one from behind the alternator mounting bracket (a known issue with this engine!). Then in June I paid $2000 to replace two rubber gaskets from the cooling system (these were in the bottom of the V in the V8, and so could be expected to fail, but the intake manifold had to come off to get to them!). And last month I was quoted another $1900 to fix a couple of more minor oil leaks. These quotes were all from a good independent shop, not inflated dealer prices. I passed on the last repair, and dumped the car. I'm driving a Ford now, after 15 years in BMWs. Half the money to buy, still good to drive and lots of safety features. I did go for an 8 year warranty, though, in case it's no better built than the Bimmer.
I'm a fanboy. 1992 E34 ( 525i ) and 2000 E46 ( 328i ).
Easy to work on ( no, really ), within the era's I have owned.
BMW has been trying hard to make their later model cars harder to work on, it seems. But the older ones are great, in my opinion.
To be clear, the water pumps have plastic impellers, they are not made of plastic entirely. And they do tend to fall apart after a while. Get a Graf replacement pump with metal impeller blades ( unless you want to do the Stewart pump at about 200.00 ), remove serp belt, remove 4 bolts, push out with provided threaded eyelets ( coolant will spill, catch it ), Vaseline up the o-ring on the new pump, pull it back in with the 4 bolts, top up with proper coolant ( different than "green", dont buy the premix ), put the serp belt back on, go.
On the 2000 328, the coolant overflow tank ( different than most, ) will split and fail, if run too long. replace it.
Few seem to fault Honda for building engines that are interference ( valves will hit pistons if the timing belt gives out ) and electing to use a belt, guaranteeing that you have to service something that requires major disassembly every 60k to 100k miles, or risk your engine being ruined. Ford elected to use plastic for the thermostat cover on a 1996 mustang I owned, which gave way and ruined the engine when it ran itself out of coolant. Ford then turned around on a car that was maybe a year old and few miles and replaced the engine with a rebuilt unit, not a new one. Point being all manufactures have issues.
Hoping to get an M3/M5 at some point, had the use ( free, for about 2 years ) of a mustang. The one with the coyote motor. Loved the go. It could not corner for anything. Either of my BMW's would have dusted it in any cornering heavy track. And been left waaaaay in the dust on a drag strip... :-) So, the M would have the handling I am used to, with something close to the power level of the mustang.
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