NHTSA Complaint #10452090 — 2007 BMW 3 SERIES

MY 2007 BMW 335I BECAME VERY HARD TO STEER DURING A DRIVE DOWN A STEEP GRADE. A BATTERY NOT CHARGING ERROR WOULD APPEAR ON DASH SHORTLY AFTER... HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED. WHILE DRIVING DOWN A STEEP HILL AND NEEDING TO BREAK HARD ON A TURN TO AVOID HITTING A DEAD ANIMAL ON THE ROAD I SMELLED BURNING RUBBER AND THEN HEARD A NOISE THIS NOISE I DISCOVERED LATER IN THE DAY WAS MY POWER STEERING BELT BREAKING. I LOST ALL POWER STEERING WENT OFF THE ROAD OUT OFF CONTROL DUE TO LOSE OF POWER STEERING AND ALMOST HIT A BIKE RIDER AND CAME VERY CLOSE TO GOING OFF THE SIDE OF ROAD. LATER THAT DAY I DECIDED TO GOOGLE MY PROBLEM AND SEE IF THERE WOULD BE AN EASY FIX TO THIS PROBLEM. I DISCOVERED THERE IS NOT AN EASY FIX FOR A BROKEN BELT ON MY MODAL OF CAR. I DISCOVERED THIS IS COMMON ON MANY BMW MODELS AND BMW IS AWARE OF IT SEE SIB 11-09-08. I QUICKLY DISCOVERED THAT I AM NOT THE ONLY OWNER OUT THERE WITH THIS PROBLEM. THERE ARE MANY OTHERS. BMW KNOWS OF THE PROBLEM AND HAS NOT RECALLED ANY CARS. THERE DOCUMENTATION OF THE PROBLEM IS UNDER SIB 11-09-08. I WILL BE BRINGING MY CAR BACK TO DEALER TO HAVE THIS PROBLEM RESOLVE AND HOPE THEY FOLLOW THE SIB 11-09-08 WHICH NOTES NEW STYLE SUB FRAME REPLACEMENT WILL BE REQUIRED. I BELIEVE AN INVESTIGATION NEEDS TO BE MADE REGARDING POWER STEERING BELTS BREAKING. THESE BELTS SHOULD NOT BE BREAKING UNDER THE CONDITION I WAS DRIVING AND SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE. I HOPE TO SEE THIS RESOLVED SOON BEFORE SOMEONE IS KILLED. AT THIS TIME I DON'T FEEL THE CAR WILL BE SAFE TO DRIVE. *TR