My car has approximately 118,000 miles on it and is in excellent condition. It was dealer serviced within a week of this event. The dealer did not identify any driveline problems or conditions with the vehicle. While my wife was driving on the freeway, the rear u-joint on the front drive shaft failed, causing the drive shaft to flail from the front differential and beat a hole in the transmission. There was virtually no warning that this failure was imminent except for a slight vibration for approximately 15 minutes prior to the failure. In examining the driveshaft, there is no slip joint to allow it to change length when the front suspension travels. Talking to the local BMW dealer, I learned that another customer had the same thing happen with a 2012 750; the failure occurred while their service technician was driving the vehicle. Apparently the front u-joint failed on that vehicle resulting in catastrophic damage to the engine, resulting in total economic loss of the vehicle. I am finding other similar events online in researching this issue, so it seems to be a known common issue. While the drive shave did not break through the floor pan, that was certainly a possibility, and my wife was forced to suddenly stop the car in traffic.
NHTSA ODI 11426932