NHTSA Complaint #11704664 — 2024 BMW IX

While operating the vehicle, the steering system suddenly developed a fault with no prior warning. A "Changed Steering Effort" warning appeared on the dashboard, immediately followed by significant resistance in the steering wheel and violent mechanical shuddering/oscillation. This resulted in a sudden, dangerous difficulty in maneuvering the vehicle. Despite the 2024 BMW iX and related models (5/7 Series) having known internal steering gear manufacturing defects (referencing SIB 32 01 24 and Recall 24V-714), the dealership is attempting to deny warranty coverage. They are attributing the failure to a tear in the rack boot, despite no evidence of impact to the surrounding undercarriage. The sudden electronic onset of the failure suggests an internal safety defect consistent with widespread reports on this model year, rather than environmental damage. There is significant online anecdotal evidence of this same issue occurring with 2023 and 2024 iX models, despite the above SIB only covering certain 2021 and 2022 models.