Stuck in Park -- 2012 X5 35i

[ILC32]

It was not a good weekend for BMWs at our house. We replaced my wife's E60 5 series with an X5 recently. The new X5, which she loves, has about 400 miles on it. On Saturday, the tranny stopped responding while we were trying to back into our garage. The car is in park, and will not go into any gear, or even neutral. The idrive indicated a "shifter malfunction." We called BMW assist, but the tow guy could not get the car onto his flatbed because the car is locked in park, and it is currently stuck oriented perpendicular to the direction out of of our L-shaped driveway, blocking entrance to the garage area, with a fence amount 3 feet from the front bumper. Apparently BMWs used to have a release on the transmission tunnel, which could be accessed from the inside of the car to get it out of park. We were told newer models like ours do not have the release. So no tow. The dealer is still tying to figure out how to get the truck out of our driveway. If anyone knows how to get the car out of park, please tell me!

It gets even better, though. . .

The dealer gave us a new X3 2.8 to use until the X5 is finally removed somehow from our driveway and fixed. We drove the X3 home and parked it. Fast forward to Sunday, when we decide to go for coffee. We try to start the X3, which also happens to have about 400 miles on it, and get an "ignition malfunction." It will not start or even turn over, although all the electrics work and the car apparently "thinks" its running (the idrive says something like "car may not re-start if turned off"). So now we have two basically new BMW SAVs at our house, both of which are totally immobile. What a weekend. The E60 never had an issue, neither did my E46 M3.

[ILC32]

Problem solved.

In order to get a 2011 or later X5 35i out of park in this situation, you must disconnect the battery for at least two minutes and then reconnect. The car will "reboot" and the tranny will come out of park.

Two really professional tow guys came up with this solution after a series of unsuccessful and frustrating calls to the dealer and BMW Assist. (Two other towing companies sent by BMW assist told us they could not move the car without damaging it.)

The car would not go out of drive once it was rebooted, but the tow guys were able to maneuver it out of the driveway and drive it onto their flatbed. They shut the car down on the flatbed and lashed it well. Now its on the way to the dealer.

The tow guys said they would have to disconnect the battery again to get the car off the tow truck once they got it to our dealer, I suppose to get the car into either reverse or neutral.

Hopefully if someone runs into a similar issue in the future, this will help.

(In case anyone is wondering, the X3 was flatbedded back this morning and we got a 535 as a replacement loaner. The 535 seems to work -- so far. )

[Realgeni]

Hopefully the 535 also does nto have 400 miles on it

[PIAA310]

Yeah that 400 number seems to be the issue here! Has everything been fixed since?

[ADGrant]

Originally Posted by ILC32

Problem solved.

In order to get a 2011 or later X5 35i out of park in this situation, you must disconnect the battery for at least two minutes and then reconnect. The car will "reboot" and the tranny will come out of park.

Two really professional tow guys came up with this solution after a series of unsuccessful and frustrating calls to the dealer and BMW Assist. (Two other towing companies sent by BMW assist told us they could not move the car without damaging it.)

That would not have worked in my case. My X5 would not start and the transmission was stuck in park. Water had damaged the car computers. In my case the car was in an underground Manhattan parking garage. Two days after I first contacted BMW assist, the local Dealer BMW of Manhattan sent a service tech to undo a bolt under the car which forced the transmission into neutral. Extracting it from the garage was another adventure since no tow truck could actually enter the garage.

[CarFan]

Originally Posted by ILC32

Problem solved.

In order to get a 2011 or later X5 35i out of park in this situation, you must disconnect the battery for at least two minutes and then reconnect. The car will "reboot" and the tranny will come out of park.

Two really professional tow guys came up with this solution after a series of unsuccessful and frustrating calls to the dealer and BMW Assist. (Two other towing companies sent by BMW assist told us they could not move the car without damaging it.)

The car would not go out of drive once it was rebooted, but the tow guys were able to maneuver it out of the driveway and drive it onto their flatbed. They shut the car down on the flatbed and lashed it well. Now its on the way to the dealer.

The tow guys said they would have to disconnect the battery again to get the car off the tow truck once they got it to our dealer, I suppose to get the car into either reverse or neutral.

Hopefully if someone runs into a similar issue in the future, this will help.

(In case anyone is wondering, the X3 was flatbedded back this morning and we got a 535 as a replacement loaner. The 535 seems to work -- so far. )

Any updates?

[TrojanBMW714]

Did you know you can remove the rubber padding in the front cup holder. Use the orange tool in the trunk to remove the plastic cover. Then use the same tool to put the car in neutral.

[ADGrant]

Originally Posted by 330Blue

Did you know you can remove the rubber padding in the front cup holder. Use the orange tool in the trunk to remove the plastic cover. Then use the same tool to put the car in neutral.

Not if you have an X5 with the 8 spd auto.

[211SW]

Interesting. I have a 2012 x5 and I have never experience that before. Well, hopefully your car is doing alright