NHTSA Complaint #11566226 — 2019 BMW X5

On the date below, a warning banner and chime signaled that our car's emergency communication system was not functional. Soon after, we noticed that the navigation system was "lost"; ie, showing our car in a different state, sometimes in water, incorrect displays of speed limits being shown, etc. Vehicle was evaluated at a BMW dealership, and the primary defective part was found to be the "sharkfin" on the roof. Water entered the roof structure (not the interior of the car) via this sharkfin, and resulted in damage to the TCB, which reportedly controls many of the car's more-advanced electrical functions. Due to unfortunate clauses in warrantees on the car--both BMW certified pre-owned coverage, and also a 3rd party service contract that was purchased at the time of purchase, from the BMW dealer, as a bumper-to-bumper "platinum" supplement to the certified pre-owned warranty, are currently in effect for this car--this defect is NOT covered. Cost to repair all involvedf parts is approximately $5,000. As a consequence of this expense, it has not been repaired, and likely will not be in the near future. A Google search about this issue yielded numerous identical incidents involving this same model/year of BMW. Several owners wondered if a recall was needed, since it is clearly a manufacturer defect with clear-cut and repeated ramifications, is very costly to repair (so is likely to NOT be repaired, in many instances), and is subject to a loophole in warranty coverage. My impression from this internet search is that other systems in the car might soon stop working. I believe it is a safety issue, now, given the failure of the emergency communication function controlled by the TCB, and might become more of an issue in the future, when/if additional functions fail.