2013 Bmw 328I: complaints, problems and recalls

AFTER PURCHASING THIS CAR NEW, THE POWER BRAKES COMPLETELY FAILED ON MAY 23. I HAD THE CAR TOWED TO BMW WHERE THEY REPLACED THE BRAKES VACUUM PUMP. THE CAR WAS RETURNED TO ME WHERE THE PROBLEM HAPPENED AGAIN, THE DAY IT WAS RETURNED, EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS BEFORE. WHEN YOU PUSH ON THE BRAKE, THE PEDDLE IS REALLY HARD AND BARELY RESPONDS. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO STOP THE CAR. *TR

Owner-reported narrative. 200 miles reported. Look up ODI 10514428 at NHTSA ↗

I PURCHASED A NEW 2013 BMW 328I IN LATE MAY. WITHIN A WEEK OF OWNERSHIP THE BRAKES FAILED. THE CAR WAS TOWED TO THE DEALERSHIP AND WAS THERE FOR THREE DAYS. THEN LESS THAN A MONTH LATER, LAST WEEK, THE BRAKES FAILED AGAIN. I ALMOST GOT IN A BAD ACCIDENT AND IN FACT DID SCRAPE THE CURB. I WAS TOLD THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM WAS A VACUUM PUMP, SIMILAR TO OTHER REPORTS ON THIS SITE RELATED TO THAT MODEL OF CAR. *TR

Owner-reported narrative. 1,020 miles reported. Look up ODI 10521697 at NHTSA ↗

WHILE SLOWLY COMING TO A STOP, THE BRAKE PEDAL BECAME HARD YET THE CAR WOULD NOT STOP AND SEEMED TO GLIDE FOR 10-15 FEET BEFORE FINALLY STOPPING AT WHICH POINT THE ENGINE REVVED TO 6000 RPM, BUT DID NOT ACCELERATE. THE PEDAL BECAME SO HARD THAT I COULD NOT PRESS ANY HARDER, YET WAS STILL SLOWLY MOVING. TURNED THE CAR OFF AND RESTARTED THE CAR AND DROVE TO THE DEALER. THE DEALER COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG. ON 7/15/2013 THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN AS I WAS PRESSING THE BRAKE PEDAL I COULD FEEL THE CAR CONTINUING TO MOVE FORWARD AND THE…

Owner-reported narrative. 7,200 miles reported. Look up ODI 10525011 at NHTSA ↗

ROUGHLY TWO MONTHS AFTER TAKING POSSESSION OF MY NEW BMW 328I, I WAS DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY WHEN MY CAR SUDDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING LOST ALL BRAKING ABILITY. THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS HARD AS A ROCK. FORTUNATELY, I AVOIDED AN ACCIDENT BY COASTING OFF OF THE FREEWAY AND INTO A HOTEL PARKING LOT. MY CAR WAS TAKEN BY TOW TRUCK TO A SERVICE DEPARTMENT AT BMW, WHERE IT REMAINS TO THIS DAY. MY SERVICE ADVISOR INITIALLY INFORMED ME THAT ONLY THE VACUUM PUMP NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. A WEEK LATER, HOWEVER, I AM TOLD THAT THE INTAKE CAMSHAFT MUST ALSO BE R…

Owner-reported narrative. 1,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10525548 at NHTSA ↗

THE BMW 328 2013 HAS A TECH DESIGN FLAW WHICH WILL LEAD TO A POSSIBLE FATAL ACCIDENT. THE SCREEN WHICH SHOWS TELEPHONE NUMBERS OR RADIO OR NAVIGATION DIRECTIONS IS PLACED IN SUCH A POSITION THAT THE DRIVER CANNOT READ THE SCRIPT ON THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY WORDS WHEN THE VEHICLE IS TRAVELING IN SUNLIGHT WE LIVE IN FLORIDA AND WHERE THE SUN IS BRIGHT AND IF YOU ARE DRIVING AND WANT TO MAKE A PHONE CALL WITHOUT HOLDING A CELL PHONE YOU CAN HAVE AN ACCIDENT SINCE YOU CANNOT SEE THE WORDS OR ICONS THAT ARE FLASHED ON THE SCREEN. THE SCREEN WA…

Owner-reported narrative. 15 miles reported. Look up ODI 10531741 at NHTSA ↗

I STARTED THE CAR AND REVERSED OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY, THEN PROCEEDED TO A VERY BUSY INTERSECTION WITHOUT STOP LIGHT. I ACCELERATED TO MERGE WITHF TRAFFIC AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN MY POWER WAS CUT DRAMATICALLY AND THE CAR DISPLAYED A DRIVE TRAIN MALFUNCTION ERROR. THIS PREVENTED ME FROM ACCELERATING AT THE CORRECT SPEED AND ALMOST CREATED AN ISSUE WITH THE VEHICLES BEHIND ME. I THEN HAD TO PICK MY CHILD UP SCHOOL AND THE CAR CONTINUES TO BEHAVE POORLY. *TT

Owner-reported narrative. 90 miles reported. Look up ODI 10537991 at NHTSA ↗

I WAS MOVING VERY SLOWLY, LESS THAN 5MPH, IN A LINE OF CARS WAITING TO PULL INTO A PARKING LOT. ALL OF A SUDDEN, BRAKE PEDAL BECAME ROCK HARD. I COULD NOT STOP THE CAR FROM ROLLING. I HAD TO SHIFT INTO PARK TO AVOID HITTING THE CAR AHEAD OF ME. RESTARTED THE CAR, BRAKES FELT NORMAL. THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED SINCE. I INFORMED THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT AT THE DEALER, BUT THEY SAID THEY CAN'T RE-CREATE THE PROBLEM, THEREFORE THEY CANNOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. I READ NEWS REPORTS THAT THIS IS BEING INVESTIGATED BY YOUR ORGANIZATION AND DECIDED TO REPORT T…

Owner-reported narrative. 11,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10543183 at NHTSA ↗

BOUGHT A NEW BMW XI 328 ON APRIL 30. ON JUNE 16, WITH 1700 MILES ON CAR BRAKES FAILED. WHILE SLOWING FOR A TRAFFIC LIGHT THE BRAKES SEEMED TO ENGAGE BUT FAILED TO STOP THE CAR--LIKE THEY WERE WORKING BUT DIDN'T. CAR WENT THROUGH A LIGHT AND I QUICKLY HIT PARK TO STOP IT IN THE INTERSECTION. ONCE NO CARS WERE AROUND I PULLED TO THE SIDE AND TESTED THEM. THEY STOPPED ON A FEW TESTS SO THOUGHT IT WAS ME. AND AS I DROVE, SLOWLY, THE BRAKES STOPPED SEVERAL MORE TIMES, AND THEN THEY FAILED AGAIN AND I AVERTED HITTING ANOTHER CAR BY PRESSING PARK…

Owner-reported narrative. 1,700 miles reported. Look up ODI 10543283 at NHTSA ↗

Reported: 2013-09-26 (September 26, 2013)

BMW of North America LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2012-2014 320i, 328i, 320i xDrive, and 328i xDrive sedans; model year 2014 328i xDrive Sports Wagons; model year 2012-2013 528i and 528i xDrive sedans, model year 2013-2014 X1 sDrive28i and X1 xDrive28i vehicles and model year 2012-2014 Z4 sDrive28i roadsters. Due to insufficient lubrication, the vacuum pump that supplies brake power assistance may fail.

Consequence: A failure of the brake vacuum pump results in a reduction in braking power that could increase the risk of a crash.

Remedy: BMW will notify owners, and dealers will modify the vehicles to prevent insufficient vacuum pump lubrication, free of charge. The safety recall began on January 31, 2014. Owners may contact BMW customer relations at 1-800-525-7417 or email BMW at CustomerRelations@bmwusa.com.

Reported: 2014-10-07 (October 7, 2014)

BMW of North America LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2014 BMW 328i xDrive Sports Wagon, 2012-2014 BMW 320i Sedan, 328i Sedan, 320i xDrive Sedan, 328i xDrive Sedan, 2012-2013 BMW 528i Sedan, 528i xDrive Sedan, 2013-2014 BMW X1 sDrive28i, X1 xDrive28i Sports Activity Vehicle, 2013-2014 BMW X3 xDrive28i Sports Activity Vehicle, 2012-2014 BMW Z4 sDrive28i Roadster, and 2014 BMW 428i Coupe, and 428i xDrive Coupe. Due to insufficient lubrication, the vacuum pump that supplies brake power assistance may fail. Note: This recall is an expansion of recall 13V-454.

Consequence: A failure of the brake vacuum pump results in a reduction in braking power that could increase the risk of a crash.

Remedy: BMW will notify owners, and dealers will install a locking ring in the camshaft to retain the camshaft seal disk in the proper location, free of charge. The recall began on December 2, 2014. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.

Reported: 2015-08-17 (August 17, 2015)

BMW North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2012-2015 320i, 320xi, 328i, 328xi, 335i, 335xi, and ActiveHybrid3 vehicles manufactured October 20, 2011, to June 22, 2015, 2014-2015 328xi Sports Wagon vehicles manufactured March 21, 2013, to March 17, 2015, 2014-2015 328d, 328xd vehicles manufactured June 28, 2013, to April 21, 2015, and 2014-2015 328xd Sports Wagon vehicles manufactured July 5, 2013, to April 21, 2015. The affected vehicles may have been programmed with new software that inadvertently makes the front side marker lights inoperative in conjunction with the parking lights or the headlights. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment."

Consequence: If the side marker lights do not illuminate, the vehicle may be less visible at night, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: BMW will notify owners, and dealers will upload revised software to correct the issue, free of charge. The recall began on October 7, 2015. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417 or by email at CustomerRelations@bmwusa.com.

Reported: 2020-01-15 (January 15, 2020)

BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2008-2013 128i and 135i Convertibles, 128i, 135i, and M Coupes, 2007-2010 X3 30si and X3 xDrive30i, 2013-2015 X1 sDrive28i, X1 xDrive28i and X1 xDrive35i, 2007-2013 328i, 328i xDrive, 335i, 335is, 335i xDrive and M3 Coupes, 2006-2011 328i, 328xi, 328i xDrive, 325i, 325xi, 330i, 330xi, 335i, 335xi, 335i xDrive and M3, 2009-2011 335D, 2006-2012 325xi, 328i, 328xi and 328i xDrive, 2010-2011 X6 ActiveHybrid, 2007-2013 328i, 335i, 335is, M3 Coupes, X5 30si, X5 xDrive30i, X5 xDrive35i, X5 48i, X5 xDrive48i, X5 xDrive50i and X5 M, 2009-2013 X5 xDrive35d and 2008-2014 X6 xDrive35i, X6 xDrive50i and X6M vehicles equipped with non-desiccated driver frontal air bag inflators containing phase stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN) that were used as interim remedy parts for previous Takata recalls. These inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.

Consequence: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: BMW will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver air bag. On X5 and X6 vehicles, only the inflator will be replaced. All repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began March 11, 2020. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.

Reported: 2024-08-13 (August 13, 2024)

BMW of North America, LLC. (BMW) is recalling certain 2012-2015 X1 sDrive28i, X1 xDrive28i, 2012-2016 Z4 sDrive28i, 528i, 528i xDrive, 328i, 328xi, 2016-2018 X5 xdrive 40e, 2014-2016 228i, 228xi, 428i, 428i xDrive, 328xi Gran Turismo, 2013-2017 X3 sDrive28i, X3 xDrive28i, 2015-2018 X4 xDrive28i, 2015-2016 428xi vehicles. An improperly sealed electrical connector on the water pump may be exposed to water and short circuit.

Consequence: An electrical short increases the risk of a fire.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace the water pump and plug connector as necessary, and install a protective shield, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on March 28, 2025. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.