Now, eight months later, my situation is the office joke. “Can you believe her car blew up in the parking lot?” Or my personal favorite, “her car went up in a blaze of glory!!”

I am disappointed. I feel like BMW should have done more to help me. As one of their consumers, they should have replaced my car because all the reports clearly proved that the fire was a manufacturer defect.

As much as I might admire the style of a shiny 5 series or 7 series, the first thing that comes to mind is that car is a death trap. I am not the first or the last to go through this situation.

In Long Beach, New York, Rory’s 2003 BMW 330ci with 49,000 miles spontaneously caught fire at 11:35am September 13th, he told us.

“I had not driven the car in two days,” Rory said. “I was getting ready to leave my house when I heard my car alarm going off. As I approached the vehicle I could see smoke inside the car. I quickly tried to unlock the doors with my keyless entry which didn’t work at this point.”

The fire marshal concluded that fire started under the dashboard.

“Basically the car caught itself on fire,” Rory told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I’ve contacted BMW corporate and have heard nothing as to what is going to happen next.” he said.

Click Here for the Entire Article

I am extremely disappointed with BMW’s offer for several reasons.  My family could have been seriously hurt had the situation been slightly different.  If the fire started 20 to 30 minutes later, we would have been in the car and possibly on the highway.  Being distracted by smoke filling the car’s cabin could have resulted in a multiple car accident.  We are all blessed that the car was parked and no one was injured.

As with most people, I need a car for my job and parental responsibilities.  I lease apartments at several different apartment communities in Washington, DC, and I need to travel to these apartment communities when a prospective resident wants to see one.  Not having a car has seriously hindered my ability to do my job efficiently.  This has effected my commissions and my household income.  Moreover, I have a seven-month-old child that needs to be taken to daycare everyday.  Having to borrow a car or use public transportation to get him to daycare everyday since mid-march is the single most frustrating part of this entire situation.  I cannot begin to express the anguish I am going through.  I purchased a luxury vehicle from a reputable dealer, and I expected more from the product and BMW.  I expected to have my car until I was ready to trade it or sell it, and I certainly didn’t expect to lose my car after only 4 years due to a product defect.

Second, I loved my 325i and was excited about having a vehicle that was paid off and reliable.  Having purchased the car in 2006, I was proud of the miles I had put on the car and I was close to paying it off.  Your offer to give me a $1500 owner loyalty rebate is unacceptable, as it is less than 10% of the car’s value.  I’m shocked that BMW is not guaranteeing their product.  As we all know, the car caught fire because of faulty manufacturing.   Fifteen hundred dollars also does not account for the interest I will pay on a new car over the next 5 years and the frustration I am experiencing because I lost my car so unexpectedly.

Lastly, I did everything I was supposed to do when owning a luxury vehicle; I babied the car.  I used premium gas, only let BMW service it, I recommended the car and brand to anyone who asked.  In retrospect, while I loved the car, I see now it’s possible that I expected too much.  I expected to have a car that was safe and reliable.  I didn’t expect faulty manufacturing to put me in this situation.  I feel really let down.  I have been rendered carless and I did nothing to deserve this.  The bottom line is that purchasing another car–regardless of the brand–puts me at an extreme disadvantage.

If this situation has taught me anything, it’s to never take anything for granted.  What you have today can be gone tomorrow.  I know it’s cliché, but when such a huge loss happens to you–it smacks you in the face and it doesn’t seem so trite.  Simple things like going to the grocery store to put food on the table now seem like an impossible task.  I have a baby and no car.  His undeveloped immune system should not need to be exposed to all those people on the bus.  And yet, I don’t have a choice.

AND how am I going to get him to daycare? I hope BMW fixes this!

Please read an excerpt taken from the website:

“If you have experienced any of the above symptoms with your BMW, you should know that most state and Federal consumer lemon laws or warranty laws provide a right to a refund or a new car in any situation where the use, value or safety has been substantially affected. Certainly the above problems can be distracting at best, or lead to disastrous consequences at worst. That consumers can obtain free legal representation from skilled and experienced consumer lemon law attorneys for such claims, is also a little known fact. Why settle for excuses and aggravation anymore?”

Hummmmmm–Legal representation?

Yesterday I went to the grocery store, for some butter and onions.  I came out of the store with 3 bags full of groceries on one arm and the baby carrier on the other arm.  As I stepped off the curb, I had a moment of panic–I didn’t see my car.  Was it stolen?  It took a moment, but relief set in when I remembered that the burgundy rental, parked at the end of the row was the car I was driving.

This morning I went to push the start button.  There isn’t a start button in the rental car.  These are certainly infinitesimal issues when I consider the larger issue of fire hazards and car safety, but they are little reminders that I am dealing with a situation that I didn’t create or anticipate. 

So between the volume of work on the job, the babies’ reoccurring ear infection and all the other things going on, the last thing I wanted to hear this morning was that my car was totaled.

I have no idea what he is saying, but I know what he is feeling…

“The following problems are old and have supposedly been corrected (e.g., by recall and manufacturing changes) and thus should not affect newly produced X5s. I’m really no authority on what is a current vs. a past problem, so treat the difference between the above list and the list below as just a very rough split.

Fire (aux. fan problem)

A small number (3-4?) of X5s caught fire under the hood when an auxilliary fan malfunctioned due to a defect. There was a recall. Many vehicles evidently could have eventually caught fire. This problem affected many other BMW models besides X5s. According to the recall information available from the NHTSA, vehicles produced after 9/2001 should not have this problem. BMW issued more than one recall about this, however, recalling the vehicles that had already supposedly been fixed, so you never know. Here is more info:

The recall notice can be accessed at the BMW NHTSA recalls page using NHTSA Campaign ID Number: 01V206000 or drilling down as follows: vehicle -> 2001 -> BMW -> X5 -> engine cooling system:fan. “