NHTSA Complaint #11441363 — 2010 BMW X5

My vehicle was covered under a 10 year BMW limited extended warranty to address factory defective bolts that caused a dangerous failure of the VANOS system (bolts backing out) - which can be read about in service bulletin SB-10057335-7958 or SI B01 10 14. I started experiencing the symptoms (warning lamps, rough engine, engine noise, stalling) outlined in this bulletin in 2018, then in 2020, after several failed repairs, I was made aware of the warranty. I immediately scheduled an appointment at my local BMW dealership (BMW of Rochester) and when they called to give me the diagnosis they told me that my car needed an oil change and that if I wanted them to check for the broken bolts they would need to take apart the motor, potentially costing me hundreds of more dollars in labor if the part in question (bolts, covered under warranty) was not broken. They told me the car was running as designed and not to worry about it. I spent the following year and a half attempting to fix persistent issues I thought were unrelated to the part in question. I recently replaced some major parts and upon the mechanic concluded to me that in fact the remaining issues could only be related to the part in question, and to have BMW take another look. I made a new appointment with the dealership to diagnose the issue once again, only this time explaining that I was confident they had misdiagnosed it originally. This time they did not threaten extra costs to take the motor apart and in fact told me it only took them 10 minutes to "scope" the motor with a camera. They confirmed the part in question is broken and are now charging me $6000 out of pocket to fix it, even though the part was under warranty just months ago, the first time I brought it to them. The part being broken makes my car unsafe to drive, and BMW recommends not driving it until it is fixed. BMW NA refuses to honor the warranty due to expiration, and the dealership is also refusing to pay for the repairs. Car is UNSAFE.