What 125 owners told NHTSA about the 2015 BMW 328i Xdrive Gt

My 2015 BMW 328i has a broken "plastic" parking brake cable bracket. It breaks so often on the BMW lineup of cars that businesses have made better work-arounds to fix the problem than a plastic part. A fantastic video explain it can be found at AGATools.com search BMW parking brake. It is on Youtube as well. When the plastic parking cable holder breaks, which it will, BMW has to lower or remove the gas tank to fix a $5 part...the labor is over $800. The parking brake cable becomes loose and wears on the drive shaft, making noise throughout the cabin, but more importantly will wear and fail over time.

NHTSA ODI 11719111

Virtually all parking brake cable attachment clips fail on this BMW product years 2012 to 2019. Complaints are easy to find online. Upon failure, the parking brake cable drops down onto the drive shaft creating a safety hazard for the brake system as well as the drive shaft mechanism. The piece that fails (breaks) costs less than $20, but replacement costs $1200 due to labor intensive access. I have repeatedly contacted BMW of North America, but they refuse to own this serious issue. Even the people at the BMW dealership here are surprised that there has been no recall. Please advise.

NHTSA ODI 11689985

I drove my car to a parking garage yesterday. As I was pulling into a parking spot slowly, my car started to accelerate. I then pressed the brake pedal harder and the car went faster. The car stopped by hitting the wall in front. All airbags came out. The police came for the investigation. The car was not functioning so the police called the towing company to remove my car. No one was hurt, except some scratches and bruises on the face, chest and legs. No damage to the wall. But there is enough damage to my car so that the insurance company is deciding whether it has been totaled. I found online posts that people reported similar situations with the same model car (BMW328i). It could be related to accelerator module defects based on the online posts.

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On BMW there is a consistent problem with the oil filter housing gasket leaking oil which runs down and gets on the V-belt causing slipping that affects power steering. It is common problem for the emergency brake plastic clip to brake and cause the emergency brake cable that runs above the drive shaft to scrape the driveshaft, causing the cable to wear out and cause premature failure of the emergency brake.

NHTSA ODI 11561965

My son's 2015, BMW 328i was taken to BMW in Canton, Ohio due to "fluttering" in gas pedal and "possible transmission slipping and variations in transmission while driving. The check engine light was on and was diagnosed at dealership that the Mass Flow Sensor was malfunctioning. The wires to the Mass Flow Sensor were corroded and needed fixed before sensor could be assessed. The wires were fixed and the check engine light went out so the car was considered by the BMW dealer service department to be fixed and I paid $545 for $42 in parts and $503 in labor. The service advisor named Mark, assured me that it had been test driven by service technician and that the car was in proper working condition. I picked the car up, for my son, at 10 am and drove south to West Virginia to deliver the car to my son. At 12:15, I pulled off the freeway and stopped at a light that was at a busy intersection, with a car in front of me. I came to a complete stop with my foot on the brake and my car accelerated at a high speed with my foot completely on the brake almost to the floor. I rammed into the car in front of me and the car flew forward 500 feet. My BMW stopped after it hit the car in front of me. I sat in the car in shock with my foot still on the brake as the driver in front of me came to my window and asked me " what the hell are you doing"? She could clearly see that my foot was still on the brake. There were minor scratches on her bumper and, her and her son had sore necks. The front of my car had a broken grill, and other broken pieces. Broken pieces were lying on thre road. I called AAA and had it towed to BMW in St. Albans, West Virginia. A call was made to Canton, BMW and Corporate BMW to make a report on BMW rapidly accelerating with brakes completely on. Corporate personelle are to call me to get a report from me and send a special team to investigate the "rapid acceleration" while the brakes were on. Now awaiting for the 2015 BMW 328i to be looked at.

NHTSA ODI 11521081

Reporting very dangerous sudden unintended acceleration of 2015 BMW 328i: When about to back out of a parking space in a parking garage, I pressed the brakes and turned on the ignition switch. After looking around to ensure no cars or people were near the car, I put the gear shift in reverse, turned my whole head entirely over my right shoulder to look through the back windshield and, seeing nothing behind me, began to slowly lift my foot from the brake to reverse out of the parking space. I turned the steering wheel towards the left and the back of the car went to the left. The bumper gently tapped a white column that had been out of sight all the way further over my right shoulder. I gently pressed on the brake, and when I switched the gear shift into drive, the car suddenly and explosively accelerated forward extremely fast and sped out of control. I pressed the brakes to stop the car, which did nothing, and the car slammed into cement wall so hard that it sounded like an explosion and the air bags deployed. I hit my mouth/face/head on the air bag and got whiplash from the sudden stop. When I got out of the car, a couple who’d heard the explosion drove by and asked if I was ok. After a few moments I reached into the car to turn off ignition switch. This event resulted in very serious damage to the car, which was totaled, and I received medical injuries. This incident was reported to my automobile insurance company and to North America BMW, who has escalated the report to higher levels due to the seriousness of the incident, and will be doing investigations this week. The accelerator pedal or gear box dangerously and seriously malfunctioned, and the car is available for inspection upon request. My safety was seriously at risk as I have headaches and whiplash symptoms. If there were no wall there, or if there had been people or cars anywhere in front of the car, they would have been killed and smashed because the car suddenly accelerated so quickly.

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BRACKET USED TO HOLD EMERGENCY BRAKE LINE TO PANEL SNAPPED AND NOW BRAKE LINE IS RUNNING UP AGAINST THE DRIVE SHAFT WHICH COULD CAUSE CABLE TO SNAP. THIS SEEMS TO BE WEAR AND TEAR AS NOTHING HAPPENED TO THE VEHICLE TO HAVE THIS HAPPENED. MULTIPLE PEOPLE HAVE REPORTED THIS HAPPENING TO 2014-2016 VEHICLES AND SEEMS TO BE A SIMILAR ISSUE THAT HAPPENED ON RECALL OF THE 2001 M3.

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CHASSIS STABILIZATION LIGHT ON. DRIVE MODERATELY. ABS LIGHT ON. BRAKE LIGHT ON. PICTURE OF A CAR SKIDDING. THESE WARNINGS COME ON WHEN VEHICLE IS STATIONARY OR IN MOTION.

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I WAS INVOLVED IN A CAR ACCIDENT INVOLVING FAILURE FOR THE CAR TO BRAKE PROPERLY AND REVING UP AFTER BEING ALMOST AT A COMPLETE STOP. I WAS DRIVING ON A TWO LANE ROAD AT APPROXIMATELY 35 MPH BEFORE NEEDING TO STOP. I APPLIED MY BRAKES AT A REASONABLE DISTANCE TO STOP FOR THE TRAFFIC AHEAD FOR A TRAFFIC LIGHT. IT WAS NOT A SUDDEN STOP OR TAILGATING SITUATION. I APPLIED MY BRAKES AND THE CAR CAME TO A STOP OR VERY NEAR STOP APPROXIMATELY 18 INCHES FROM THE REAR BUMPER OF THE CAR AHEAD OF ME. IT SUDDENLY REVVED UP AND ACCELERATED AND MOVED FORWARD WHILE MY FOOT WAS DEPRESSED FIRMLY ON THE BRAKE AT ALL TIMES. THE REVVING CONTINUED FOR SECONDS AND THE CAR LUNGED FORWARD SEVERAL TIMES. IT HIT THE CAR THE FIRST TIME AND CONTINUED REVVING AND MOVED FORWARD HITTING THE CAR IN FRONT SEVERAL TIMES. THE CAR IN FRONT WAS AT A COMPLETE STOP ALL READY WHEN I HIT IT. MY CAR WOULD NOT STOP DESPITE MY CONTINUING TO HOLD THE BRAKE DOWN FIRMLY.. IT CONTINUED TO HIT THE CAR IN FRONT OF ME 3 OR 4 TIMES BEFORE FINALLY STOPPING. THIS RESULTED IN THREE SUBSEQUENT CARS IN FRONT OF ME ALL BEING PUSHED INTO EACH OTHER. I ADVISED MY INSURANCE CARRIER AND POLICE OF THE SITUATION. THE CAR WAS TOWED TO THE BMW DEALER NEAR ME TODAY, OCTOBER 16TH AND I TOLD THEM OF THE SITUATION. I HAVE BEEN DRIVING 40 YEARS AND NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE THIS AND AM VERY VERY CERTAIN THE BRAKE WAS DEPRESSED AND THE CAR AND IT WAS NOT DRIVER ERROR. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE DRIVING THIS CAR AND AM PRESENTLY AWAITING TO HEAR BACK FROM THE CAR DEALER TO HEAR OF THEIR FINDINGS. IN SPEAKING WITH THE MECHANIC (NOT THE SERVICE ADVISOR WHO WAS FINE) AND TELLING HIM THE SPECIFICS AS STATED HERE, I SENSED SKEPTICISM THAT THIS ACTUALLY OCCURRED.

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