NHTSA Complaint #10180835 — 2000 BMW 328IC

BACK IN JUNE 2006, I TOOK MY 2000 BMW 332CI TO BMW OF SAN DIEGO IN CALIFORNIA FOR THE SQUEAKING NOISE COMING FROM REAR AREA OF MY CAR WHILE DRIVING. THEY TOLD ME THAT THEY DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE VEHICLE SO NOTHING WAS DONE AT THAT TIME. NOW I TOOK MY CAR TO A REGULAR CHECK UP AT THE SAME BMW OF SAN DIEGO, AND THEY ARE NOW TELLING ME THAT REAR SUBFRAME IS TORN AND IT IS SAFETY HAZARD SO THEY THINK I SHOULD NOT DRIVE MY CAR AT ALL UNTIL I GET A REPAIR DONE AT LOCAL BODY SHOP. THEY THINK I SHOULD TOW THE CAR THERE. I THEN NOTICED THAT THERE ARE ABOUT 40 OTHER COMPLAINTS ON NHTSA SITE ABOUT THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM I AM HAVING. I LEARNED THROUGH ONLINE FORUM THAT THIS PARTICULAR PROBLEM HAS BEEN RECALLED BY BMW GERMANY IN GERMAN A FEW YEARS BACK. I ALSO LEARNED THAT BMW OF NORTH AMERICA HAS PAID TO FIX THIS PROBLEM ON FOR SOME CUSTOMERS EVEN IF THEY ARE ALREADY OUT OF WARRANTY JUST LIKE MYSELF. CURRENTLY I AM WAITING FOR BMW OF NORTH AMERICA REPRESENTATIVE TO VISIT THE BMW OF SAN DIEGO TO TAKE A LOOK AT MY VEHICLE. SINCE THE BMW OF SAN DIEGO RECOMMENDED THAT I DO NOT DRIVE MY CAR WITHOUT GETTING THE PROBLEM FIXED, I AM CURRENTLY DRIVING THEIR LOANER CAR. MY CAR IS AT THE DEALER RIGHT NOW. WHEN I CALLED THE BODY SHOP REFERRED BY THE BMW OF SAN DIEGO, I WAS INFORMED BY ONE OF THE EMPLOYEES THERE THAT PROBLEM WITH SUB FRAME GETTING TORN HAS BEEN ONLY SEEN FOR BMW 3 SERIES AND NO OTHER MANUFACTURER OR MODEL. *NM