2014 BMW 335XI Electrical System Problems
1 NHTSA complaint on file
Electrical System Issues in the 2014 BMW 335XI
1 electrical system complaint has been filed with NHTSA for the 2014 BMW 335XI. Of these, 0 involved a crash, 1 involved a fire, and 0 resulted in injury.
1
Complaints
0
Crashes
1
Fires
0
Injuries
0
Deaths
All Electrical System Complaints
What happened: While driving, steering system malfunction warning appeared, power steering felt normal. Within 5 sec the HVAC blower quit, A/C shut off, and “Transmission not in Park” flashed although shifter was untouched (in Drive). All cluster gauges began sweeping randomly; iDrive screen flickered. Within 10 seconds, I heard a loud pop from passenger-side engine bay; voltage warnings continued. Pulled over immediately, switched ignition off, opened hood: active flames at passenger side of engine bay. Fire spread rapidly. Fire dept arrived within 5 min, but vehicle was fully engulfed. Total loss. No injuries. Suspected root cause: BMW’s PCV valve-heater (“blow-by heater”) or electric coolant-pump connector short-circuited, causing a massive current draw that browned out control modules (explaining the cascading warnings) and started the fire. These parts are the subjects of recalls 22V-119 (PCV heater, build cutoff 10 Oct 2013) and 24V-608 (water-pump connector, N20 engines only). My VIN shows NO...