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  #11  
Old 08-19-2010, 04:32 PM
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rrental is on a distinguished road
First off all, kudos for having the towing guy sign for it. Lots of people will forget about that in a stressful situation, and loose their case before it even started.

When I just had my 2010 3.5 diesel I did notice a burning smell from underneath the car. It was so bad I even came back from watching the world cup final at my friends house to check on it. Called the BMW shop the next dy and told me its the car burning off particles. It did not smell plastic like. (and being a RC racing guy, burning many esc, I do know that smell) . more like a paper lit on fire.

Never smelled it again.

Good luck and hopefully you will be on the road soon again.
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  #12  
Old 08-21-2010, 01:17 AM
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Vlado is on a distinguished road
>>Has anyone else heard of a 35d smoldering,

Our 2009 X35d burned in 3-4 minutes.

18000 km, got it as a demo at 9000 km.

My wife had been driving it for 10 min in a winter morning. She could smell "trouble", opened the windows and pulled over, by the time she was getting out of the vehicle she could see flames coming out under the hood ...

She called 911, apparently someone had already called because they knew the location. This happened 6:20AM in February, so for someone to be able notice and call...the car must have caught fire (wife actually things she saw the flames in the rearview mirror first).

Fire was so intense – charred the fence of the house where the incident took place


I had brought the car for service less than a month before that - Jan 16. We had been experiencing a "battery disconnect" message - it started after the car had been parked in the garage for a week (while we were on vacation).

Got the message 4-5 times and finally brought it in for service . Had to leave it overnight – reprogramming….

I was fumbling with the statement of work couple a days later and noticed “a part – fuel heater - still gives an error, part backordered” remark. Called the dealership, … “Oh, yep you have to bring it back, we have the part now…we don’t know how long its going to take, book a loaner”. I got the run around regarding the loaner, so had to push the date for a week later. The car burned the they before it was to be serviced.

Note that I was not advised that the car needed to be brought for a service – noticed the “…part backordered …” remark by chance. The very bottom of the paperwork stated “Vehicle mobile”.

BMW Canada and the dealership have been ABSOLUTELY not interested to discuss the issue ("it's an insurance matter now" they said).

Insurance could not determine the cause.


You will find several cases on the internet (not diesel models) - ironically, the cars were so badly burned that no conclusive report could be drawn.
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Last edited by Vlado; 08-21-2010 at 01:37 AM.
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  #13  
Old 09-01-2010, 02:31 PM
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Vlado, that's crazy!

Thankfully you and your wife were safe. It sounds identical to what started to occur on our car, but I shut the vehicle right off.

Here's the update: My 2011 X5 35d has been in the shop since August 17th.

We were told last Thursday that an SPI inspection would be conducted, which would take 3 weeks at a minimum, but could take longer.

SPI stands for Special Product Investigation. Apparently, there are only 3-people in the SPI department within BMW North America's enterprise.

In short, our brand new vehicle with less than 400 miles will be in the shop for over 5 weeks, at a MINIMUM. We're not being compensated at all. The vehicle was also damaged during transport to the dealership, as the towing company put super course abraded nylon and metal straps through the 20" 214 wheels, in an insane fashion (Yes I told him his procedure would damage the vehicle, he said it wouldn't, and he signed off as such on the receipt).

BMW is now talking about "repainting" the wheel instead of replacing it. I said "no way" to repainting it, given it's a powder coated wheel. The tow truck driver also managed to scratch the rear passenger door (next to the damaged wheel).

At this point, what do you guys think?

I'm dealing with the following:
1) BMW Financial - as the SPI dept. told me to call them to put our account on hold during the repairs, to which they refused.
2) SPI Department- who is not taking responsibility for the fire, at this time.
3) BMW Road Side Assistance Damage Mitigation Department
4) BMW Customer Care who is attempting to keep me happy, by promising to find an amicable solution, promising phone calls, etc., yet I've not heard from them for over 1-week.

So, should I ask for a replacement vehicle? Should I ask for compensation?

My wife has also seen photos and heard of vehicles burning down, and she's quite afraid of having this one returned. I must repeat, BMW IS NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY for the smoldering/fire that occurred.

In fact, they insinuated that we may be responsible in some way! Ludicrous...

Thanks again for any thoughts and to the poster who posted that picture. Maybe it would have been better if the damn thing burned to the ground, although then BMW would have said we caused it.

I was asked 1-dozen times "are you sure you didn't install any aftermarket items to the vehicle?" Keep in mind they have the vehicle, in their possession. Of course, I didn't install any aftermarket items. What's there to install? The car has everything I could ever want, save for a propensity for catching fire! ;-/
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  #14  
Old 09-01-2010, 02:34 PM
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[QUOTE=Vlado;763467][COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]>>Has anyone else heard of a 35d smoldering,


She called 911, apparently someone had already called because they knew the location. This happened 6:20AM in February, so for someone to be able notice and call...the car must have caught fire (wife actually things she saw the flames in the rearview mirror first).



BMW SOS may have called the fire department without your knowledge. It's possible they called when your wife was out of the car. If they get no response, they dispatch the fire dept. right away, at least that's the protocol in the U.S. and it would certainly explain how they knew exactly where your vehicle was.
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  #15  
Old 09-01-2010, 04:00 PM
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I would contact your states attorney generals office. I'm sure you have a lemon law in your state. This is your second X5 35d that you've had problems with. I traded mine off for a Lexus GX 460 Premium. I had the same experience with BMW. I asked them to buy mine back, they asked if I was interested in another BMW, I said no and they said they wouldn't buy mine back. I think they may have given me a trade assist, but at that point, I wasn't interested in another BMW when they couldn't supply parts for my current vehicle. They also couldn't explain why my I Drive screen
would go blank. They also couldn't explain why my battery wouldn't stay charged...

I would talk to an attorney if you don't contact your states attorney generals office.

Good luck,

Craig
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  #16  
Old 09-01-2010, 05:33 PM
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They can't get it back to you within 5 weeks? Lemon laws often apply after 30 days in the shop, I'd definitely look into this. Get a lawyer if you have to, can speed the process up, and they'll know the ropes.
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  #17  
Old 09-01-2010, 08:10 PM
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I guess what I'm asking is this:

1) Having the vehicle repurchased is a simple affair. After 30-days the express warranty is breached in California, and I'll certainly pass that date.

2) We love the car and feel that having two lemons in a row is strange and that BMW is certainly capable of producing a new car.

3) The options are: seek loss of use compensation or seek a new vehicle from a different dealership.

Literally, for all I know there's a virus in this particular dealership's computers that's causing all vehicles to have major flaws. I seriously doubt it, but, I'm using that as an example of how extreme this situation is, in that no one has ever heard of two X5 35ds, in a row, be lemons.

I know most of you have few or very minor problems with your vehicles. At this point there's no longer any backlog in obtaining parts.

I did contact an attorney. He said keep the car, and let him get $15k out of them or get rid of the car and buy a new one from a different dealership, while still suing them for loss of use. He mentioned it's one of the strongest cases he's come across in some time.

(There is some fraud that took place during the sale, which plays into the case, that I've not gone into, which is an entirely different situation, as I don't want to go in too many directions)

What I do want is a functioning X5 35d. Is that going to be impossible to find? Maybe so....right now I'm on day-16, tomorrow will be day-17, and I'm told we're 3-weeks away at an absolute minimum.

In fact right now, they won't give the car back to me, or suspend payments on the vehicle. It's total b.s. An attorney is needed to file a law suit, but having funds returned and the car replaced is pretty simple, after 30-days.

I just really, really, don't want to go that route. The 35D is AWESOME! I guess, I may be forced to give it another go. The 3rd time is the charm, right?
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  #18  
Old 09-01-2010, 08:25 PM
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You're a brave man.

If I had your luck, I'd completely give up on BMWs, or at least X5s, and assume there's just some bad karma thing going on.

That's way, way, way too much trouble and effort to go through for any vehicle.

Good luck.
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  #19  
Old 09-02-2010, 01:32 AM
ard ard is online now
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This story boggles the mind. They will not give you the car back? You've documented this? it is your car, you can take it any time you want...

But at the end of the day, just lemon it and buy a porsche, audi, mercedes or lexus.

Oh, didn't you say your wife was an attorney way back when?
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  #20  
Old 09-03-2010, 05:23 PM
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End result is as follows:

BMW is not taking any responsibility for the fire and claims there never was one, even though the fire dept., our neighbors, and my wife were all witness to the smoke, etc. They said verbatim "we don't want to hear any more of this, there was no fire or smoldering." They've given us no paperwork indicating what they did to the car, and have not contacted us, despite numerous promises to do so.

Yes, I can take the car back anytime, but we also have a legal duty to mitigate any potential damages. So, if we said "no you can't perform the SPI inspection," it could be argued that we were the reasons BMW is in breach of the express warranty.

As is, this all became too much and we hired an attorney, who's taking the case on contingency. We'll see what happens. Maybe we'll get the car back, maybe we'll get a replacement, maybe we'll go with a different brand. I don't know, as I can't get a hold of them.

To say this boggles my mind is an understatement. There's something obviously going on with SOME of the X5 diesels, as evidenced above and as evidenced with my vehicle. If it's only these two, great. But, it's fishy.

Legally, they must give us paperwork, so that's the first thing we're trying to get from them. The only proof we even have that it's at the dealership, is a BMW Road Side Assistance Tow Slip! It could be on the planet pluto, for all I know.

In any case, we really had no choice in this matter. If we can't get in touch with the people who are working on this issue, after weeks of VERY polite phone calls, what's the alternative? I went to the dealership in person,but they said it's out of their hands, and they're simply doing what BMW NA is telling them to do.

To their credit, the person I'm dealing with at the dealership is being helpful, but once BMW NA takes over, they're pretty much out of the loop, when it gets to the level of an SPI (special product inspection).

Arghhhhh.....if they'd simply put the payments on hold, that would be fair, but BMW Financial has refused. None of the departments speak to one another, so it's up to the consumer to retell the story, over and over again, to each person you speak with.

Today they flat out called me a liar, the fire department, our neighbors, my wife, said the car was fine, there never was any smoke/fire and hung up.

That was the SPI dept. I'm still waiting to hear back from Customer Relations, BMW Roadside Damage Mitigation, BMW Financial, and the dealer! What a ride....

My advice, if you smell anything fishy in your 35d, have the thing towed to the dealer right away (see above), and my example also. I'm positive, had I left the car running or done something stupid, like opened the hood, I'd have similar pictures to share.

:-/
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