Transmission Reliability

[JCL]

Originally Posted by willgabriel

That in NO way removes their responsibility/accountability for the years in which they CLEARLY stated the transmission was "maintenance-free" for the lifetime of the transmission. And with companies like Toyota now facing class action suits for transmissions on their 2001 and newer RAV-4's because of similar issues not addressed properly, the ONLY think that is laughable is some people's blind love for BMW that doesn't hold their feet to the fire for using a transmission on a $60k+ SAV that won't consistently last 150k miles. BMW are the experts. If their advice/rec's prove harmful or wrong, the consumer (the novices relying on the experts) have recourse in expecting BMW to make right what they made wrong.

Exactly what accountability are you speaking of here? BMW warranted their vehicles (and the automatic transmissions) for 50,000 miles. They offered buyers in the US an insurance policy good up to 100,000 miles (extended warranty) for those that wanted to buy it.

Do you have any examples of transmissions failing prior to 50,000 miles that BMW did not stand behind in terms of their warranty obligations? How about examples of people who had BMW extended warranty and were denied coverage prior to 100,000 miles?

If you want to focus on the fluid change recommendations, then it would help if you provided data on transmission failures caused by not changing the transmission fluid.

As for changing the fluid recommendations, wasn't that coincident with changing the transmission design? BMW never retracted or changed their fluid change recommendations to my knowledge, although I certainly could be wrong. What they did was move to newer components, with less data, and reduced the maintenance interval at the same time.

I looked up your Toyota class action example. Seems to be an ECM problem, not a transmission problem. The person that filed the lawsuit stated that their Toyota transmission failed 6000 miles after the warranty expired at 100,000 miles, and that although Toyota offered them a free transmission when it failed again (faulty reman transmission) they turned it down and sued on principle. They didn't just sue for their costs, they want to get on the 'lets screw the automakers' bandwagon and so made it a class action suit. That just seems like shameful behavioiur.

You have suggested several times that BMW should give you a free 150,000 mile warranty that you didn't pay for, but are somehow entitled to. That seems to be the real issue.