NHTSA Complaint #10234625 — 2000 BMW 328I

I AM AN OWNER OF A 2000 328I BMW WITH 112,000 MILES. I AM VERY METICULOUS ABOUT THE CARE OF MY CAR. MY CAR LOOKS AND RUNS EXCELLENT. LIKE MANY OTHER OWNERS OF A BMW, I ALSO SUDDENLY LOSS THE REVERSE GEAR AFTER ARRIVING TO WORK ONE EVENING RECENTLY. MY VEHICLE NEVER SHOWED ANY SIGNS OF TRANSMISSION TROUBLE. THE VEHICLE GOT GOOD GAS MILEAGE AND NEVER SLIPPED. LATER THE NEXT DAY, THE REVERSE GEAR IN THE CAR WORKED FINE. I TOOK MY VEHICLE TO AAMCO TRANSMISSION TO HAVE IT SERVICED. THE MECHANIC ON DUTY SAID THE TRANSMISSION WAS FINE. AFTER TALKING WITH THE MECHANIC, HE AGREED TO KEEP THE CAR FOR THE DAY AND DRIVE THE VEHICLE. THE NEXT DAY I GOT A TELEPHONE CALL FROM THE MECHANIC TELLING ME I NEEDED TRANSMISSION WORK. HE SAID THE REVERSE GEAR WENT OUT ALONG WITH 5TH GEAR. THE ORIGINAL ESTIMATE WAS $1,400.00 BUT AFTER THEY PULLED THE TRANSMISSION OUT THE CAR, THEY REALIZED THE TRANSMISSION WAS MADE IN FRANCE. THE NEXT ESTIMATE WAS FOR $6,300.00 DUE TO THE TRANSMISSION BEING MADE BY GENERAL MOTORS FRANCE.(ZF5HP19 ) AFTER RESEARCH I FOUND OUT THAT THIS TRANSMISSION HAS THE SAME COMPLAINT BY MANY OTHER PEOPLE. THE REVERSE GEAR GOES OUT WITH NO WARNING AND WILL OCCASIONALLY WORK BUT WILL CONTINUE TO NOT WORK. THE BMW DEALERSHIP REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE PROBLEM AS WELL AS BMW NORTH AMERICA. THE FACTORY HAS RELEASED AN UPDATED PART THAT SO FAR APPEARS TO BE A PERMANENT FIX FOR THIS PROBLEM ON THE ZF5HP19. *TR