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What 198 owners told NHTSA about the 2011 BMW 528i
These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.
1 of 198 complaints match · Engine · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters
Jan 31, 2018EngineFire
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 BMW 528I. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE EMITTED AN ABNORMAL BURNING ODOR WHILE TRAVELING VARIOUS SPEEDS. THE CONTACT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 17V683000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING); HOWEVER, THE PARTS TO DO THE REPAIR WERE UNAVAILABLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE MANUFACTURER EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. GLOBAL IMPORTS BMW (500 INTERSTATE N PKWY, ATLANTA, GA) WAS CONTACTED AND CONFIRMED THAT THE PARTS WERE NOT AVAILABLE FOR THE RECALL REMEDY. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE ISSUE AND WAS NOT ABLE TO CONFIRM WHEN THE PARTS WERE TO BECOME AVAILABLE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 92,000. VIN TOOL CONFIRMS PARTS NOT AVAILABLE.
NHTSA ODI 11065995
Working with the data? Download all 198 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 28, 2026
How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your
pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the
full 2011 BMW 528i verdict →