NHTSA Complaint #11443416 — 2014 BMW 328D

Occasionally it is impossible to unlock the door from the inside with the manual door unlock. The door operates in a two-step manner - pull the door latch once to unlock the door, and then pull again to open the door. However, sometimes the first pull fails to unlock the door and the only way to unlock the vehicle is with the electric door unlock. When this occurs, there is notable tension in the door handle, and the pop-up unlock indicator does move upwards in synch with the door handle position - it's simply not reaching the unlock point, and there is resistance felt in the door latch. Even trying to assist the mechanism by grasping the unlock indicator (as doors used to be unlocked in this fashion) does not work. Obviously, if the electric system fails for any reason, not being able to open the door is a major safety issue. When this happens it is also observed that the electric lock operates very slowly. Instead of the post popping up and unlocking almost immediately, it takes a second or two for the door to unlock, as if there is additional internal resistance in the mechanism. This is observed on BOTH the driver and passenger side doors. I have brought this to the attention of the dealer on separate occasions. The suggestion has been to replace a cable in the door due to stretch. However, based on the nature of the issue and the symptoms in both doors it seems like an issue with the latch or locking mechanism itself. The passenger door is unlocked very infrequently compared to the driver's door and it seem unlikely they would wear at the same rate if it was a cable stretch issue. I have been able to record a video of this problem occurring. I plan to show it to the dealer at my next service in the next couple weeks since they were unable to replicate the issue.