Here are some news articles you might find interesting:
House Burns Due to BMW in the Garage in Westport
BMW Catches Fire in Gujrat India, Four Burnt Alive
2008 BMW 328i Dangerous Manufacturers Defect Resulting In Fire and Injuries
BMW Catches Fire, Everyone Tries Not To Pay For It
BMW Recalls: Is the Problem Fixed?
BMW Electrical Fires
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It is truly disappointing to see the result of the fire. The thought of a family being in the car during that is a difficult image to bare. I am happy to hear that you and your family were safe from harm’s way. The safety ensured by the car being parked, alarmed (I’m sure), and not in use makes it scary to dedicate a significant amount of money to the purchase of a vehicle. I am the owner of a luxury vehicle and I assure you that I do not own the car for the car note, the luxury tax that I pay every year, the insurance premium, or the status. I purchased my vehicle with the assumption that the good name of the company would help me feel safe in my vehicle and confident that they will stand by their product. I am most hopeful that BMW will do just that. I am curious to read about the determination of this case and will certainly pass this information on to my family and friends, both in and out of the Continental U.S. Please continue to blog about your experience so that all of us can have the information when it comes time to purchase a new vehicle. Thank you and good luck. I hope that everything works out and BMW acts in a responsible fashion and is fair with their decision.
Sofia
Being an avid car lover, it had always been one of my fancies to be the proud owner of a BMW car. I could at last realise this wish of mine in August this year, when after much deliberation and thought I decided to go for a BMW 5 Series Sedan. Being located in Eastern India, I procured the same from M/s OSL Prestige, BMW dealer for this region.
Unfortunately, and I regret to say this, my dream of being a proud owner of a BMW Car was shattered very soon when I observed some very abnormal behaviour in my car. Suddenly, while I was driving my vehicle just a few weeks after owning it, I came across a situation when the car started vibrating and trembling all over, just like a shivering sensation, and I could not decide what to do in the circumstances. Almost instinctively, I braked and stopped the car, letting loose a host of irate motorists behind me taken aback by this sudden halt in front.
I fervently thought that this might have been a one-time aberration, only to realise a few days later, when this behaviour was repeated, that this was not so. Once again, I was totally at a loss as to how to control the car during this abnormal behaviour, and prevent the co passengers in my car from getting panicky about the whole thing.
I haD complained about this to the local dealer who noticed this abnormal behaviour, and was told by them that this could have happened due to the car running in “reserve” mode at that point of time. While I could not logically accept this explanation, I did not wish to argue, but when this happened next time, the vehicle was almost in a full tank condition, making it obvious that the explanation given was only an evasive one.
This abnormal behaviour continues to happen on and off, but with no prescribed regularity, and it has now become almost a nightmarish experience for me to drive my new car. Unfortunately the occurrence is so erratic that by the time I can demonstrate this behaviour once again to the local dealer, either it goes away on its own, or I have to stop the car in between due to traffic compulsions. The fact that the dealer’s service station is beyond the city limits makes is more difficult to demonstrate the occurrence every time it happens.
I am now convinced that this must be due to some very deep rooted defect either in manufacturing or design, and as I am not an expert in automobiles, I would like BMW to investigate this not just for my own comfort and peace of mind but more importantly for the sake of its own international reputation as being the premier car manufacturing group in the world.
While on the one hand I did not receive any response from the local set up of BMW, a new set of problems seem to have cropped in, preventing me, quite frequently, from the use of my car in an uninterrupted or trouble free manner. The latest problem seems to be in the starting of my car, apparently due to battery related issues. This has been pointed out to the local service agencies and they have taken away the car on several occasions, but only to come back with the recurrence of the same problem, signifying thereby, that the problem may be more deep rooted.
Honestly, I have yet to see so many problems creeping up so soon after the purchase of a brand new car within 3 months of time, least of all with a premium brand like BMW. In fact, I have lost all hope that I would be able to have a very satisfying experience with this BMW car.
I had, therefore, proposed either of the following:
a) A full refund of the money spent in the purchase of the car including associated expenses.
b) Replacement of this particular car with a new BMW 5 Series Sedan, along with the payment of registration charges.
To my utter dismay, instead of in any way trying to solve the matter, the local BMW team had the temerity to tell me that they would take back the car and refund me my payments after deducting about 40% of what I had paid for the car. This seems to be a nice way of developing an anciliary business – sell a premium car with defects – do not attend to the defects, take back the car and retain 40% of the costs !
I would like to share this miserable experience of mine with similar hapless victims of BMW’s global manipulation strategy!
Asit Pradhan,
Bhubaneswar, INDIA
6th March 2012