Parking break malfunction
 

I drove my wife to the grocery using our 07 E70 when an annoying chime inside the car started to go off and completely disabled the car. The screen says "Parking Break Malfunction". I noticed that the downhill assist button was lit up so I turned it off and the car was driveable again. This time with the "P" yellow parking break indicator lit up. My wife uses this car often since I love my E53 so I really don't know much about it. Did anyone else ever have this problem?

uh oh http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e70-forum/...-car-back.html

i had it as well with some other malfunctions that went along with it.
about 4 or 5 in all.

I brought it to the dealer today and though still under warranty, its quite frustrating to think that a car with only 8000 miles will have this problem. My E53 has 38,000 miles and never had this issues.:confused:

^ scary to think these $60k machines will just leave you stranded out of the blue. My current ride is going on 13 years and not once has it let me down while on the road. Technology going backwards is scary. Was there no limp-home mode of some sort?

it's pretty scary....half of me wants to cancel my 08 order!!

these types of problems are more than annoying... they leave you stranded!! (and don't forget the weeks spent at the shop)

I'm bragging about all of the technical advancements this vehicle has and i'll bet as soon as I take her out (and with family in tow) something will come up that will make me eat my words!!

today's vehicles should not leave you stranded at all!! let everything else fail if need be....but it better get you home!!

keep us posted on any developments...document it and if it's software related make sure you get the latest firmware update..

good luck!

Same thing happened to my wife and I at the supermarket this past weekend.

Luckily my sales guy had shown me the park brake release thingie stored in the back of the car. Also opened up the manual and managed to release the park brake. Car is okay eversince. Electronics, man...they are no good. My 1965 Pagoda has no electronics in it and it never lets me down....

I thought once you used the emergency park release feature you needed to take the vehicle in for service (maybe to reset it or something)

is this true??

or can you use this quick release as needed without worry?? (assuming, of course the vehicle will start and allow you to get home, etc)

Well, the car has been used for 4 days since and no problems. No dash warning etc. So fingers crossed...

My parking brake has failed two times now. June and August this year.

Both times I had just backed into my garage and parked.

Dealer replaced the part and I was supposed to be good and BMW said to replace the part... again. They are not sure why the newer part failed.