X5 Failure Advice

[Bodenrakete]

For many years I’ve been a huge BMW fan. I drive an M5 (one of the last 10 cylinders), my wife a 2013 X5.

Recently, however, my trust in the BMW brand was severely damaged when the entire left front wheel of the X5 feel off out of nowhere. It is hard to believe, but the pictures are real! Luckily, it happened at slow speed and nobody was hurt.

Upon inspection, the dealership (Global Imports in Atlanta, GA) concluded “the failure was that the bolt that holds the upper control arm to the knuckle sheared off, causing the control arm to fall loose.”

Here’s what they offer to make up for it:

“We would be happy to purchase the car directly from you at the current market value. Or… If you were looking to trade your vehicle vs. sell it to us then I would sell you the replacement at our net cost. Depending on the vehicle this would be invoice less any holdback money and applicable incentives.”

That's all. I think this is ridiculous. Does anybody have any advice on how to respond to this? FYI, I alerted BMW North America. They are not helpful at all, trying to ignore the severity of the incident and pushing it down to the dealer.

Thanks a lot for any advice anyone might have!

[Bodenrakete]

Here are some more pictures...

[Torgus]

Did you have any work done on that part of the car recently?

[Bodenrakete]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes, the car was recently serviced and they did an alignment on it.

[smyles]

I call bs.
Unless you manually remove the nut and loosen the bolt enough for it to freely slide out, no way the knuckle can get separated from the arm by itself.

[Bodenrakete]

Thanks. The bolt is missing. I searched the area but couldn't find it. BMW's position is this: "we don't have the bolt, so we cannot say what exactly caused the failure". But there are only two options in my opinion: 1. the mechanic removed the nut and or forgot to tighten the bolt. Or, 2. the bolt broke due to product failure. Either way, it's BMW's mistake.

[jiggz]

Wow, I thought the drive shaft failures sounded scary...

Glad to hear nobody is hurt, that could have been much worse.

Can't the vehicle be repaired, why are they offering to buy it back? I guess I'm confused

[Bodenrakete]

Sorry I was not clear before. They did repair the car. But we don't want it back as we have lost our confidence and don't want to try our luck twice. This is their way of trying to make up for it.

[smyles]

Originally Posted by Bodenrakete

Thanks. The bolt is missing. I searched the area but couldn't find it. BMW's position is this: "we don't have the bolt, so we cannot say what exactly caused the failure". But there are only two options in my opinion: 1. the mechanic removed the nut and or forgot to tighten the bolt. Or, 2. the bolt broke due to product failure. Either way, it's BMW's mistake.

Both are very unlikely - broken or with the nut removed, the bolt is still under tension, and won't slide out. It wasn't there in the first place. Somebody removed it for whatever reason, and forgot to put back.

[Bodenrakete]

Originally Posted by smyles

Both are very unlikely - broken or with the nut removed, the bolt is still under tension, and won't slide out. It wasn't there in the first place. Somebody removed it for whatever reason, and forgot to put back.

Appreciate your assessment, smyles. BMW has no concrete explanation (or don't want to give one). It seems like they want to sweep it under the carpet. Even corporate does not bother.

[-c-]

Yea been working on cars for 20 years, if the head sheered off the bolt part would still be in their and keeping it from falling out. I agree someone screwed with it and either didn't put it back or something. Their always a tight fit even when loose, so could be when you got your alignment but don't know why they would screw with that part. Unless it's a design with no threads and relies on a nut holding it all together.

The metal is clean where the bolt was so it wasn't loose for long as water would have rusted open metal right away. But the scary part is the top is shiny only on one part and tarnished on the other. So it's possible it wasn't properly seated. It's possible that it was serviced and not put together properly. Again just my speculation. Every car is different so I may be soooooo wrong.

But from first glance I'd blame human error over vehicle failure.

Not saying you OP but someone done $&&@&$ up!

Don't have any enemies do you!

I say this because way back when my girlfriend now wife's ex loosened all my lug nuts but one one each wheel hoping I'd loose a wheel while driving the dragon in North Carolina.

Found out it was him a while later because he couldn't keep his mouth shut and told his friends.


Remember BMW is a global company and gets hit with faulty claims every day. They need all parts of the puzzle usually before stepping in. The dealer may see their error or feel bad and want to try and make it right. If they did anything at all.

Question is what do you want? That's the real part right their, what do you want to make it right?

If I was in your position I'd take what they offered and maybe push to sweeten the pot just a little bit. But in the end what can you do. No one was injured so you take it in stride and be happy everyone is ok and move on with your life, leave the brand if it scares you, it's not like any other brand cant do the same thing. Sometimes you get a bum deal sometimes you don't.

People on this forum have lost drive shafts at high speeds and needed new engines and trans and gobs more stuff and they move on and either sell it or keep it. A drive shaft can be deadly as well. It's nice the dealers trying to step up. They could have just ignored you then we would have a problem but it happens.

[boneca]

wow, what a story, I'm glad everybody is ok (well kind of)

I had similar happened to me in October 2015 except my draft shaft fell off on the highway.
They fixed my car in 2 days with no excuses and I got brand new transmission with that. I still had doubts about that car and ended up replacing it next month.

My car was also in the shop 2 weeks before this happened for maintenance, the biggest difference is that they had a active recall at the time.

Good luck with your process

[heatmizr]

"If I was in your position I'd take what they offered and maybe push to sweeten the pot just a little bit. But in the end what can you do. No one was injured so you take it in stride and be happy everyone is ok and move on with your life, leave the brand if it scares you, it's not like any other brand cant do the same thing. Sometimes you get a bum deal sometimes you don't."

Good advice.
It sounds like you are looking for more than just breaking even and want someone to pay for the scariness of this event. Hey, shit happens every day, no one was hurt, I agree with the above. If you want no part of BMW from here on out, thats fine but you will lose any consideration they may be willing to give for your trouble. Yes they built the car but they aren't god.

[jandref321]

Maybe the dealer can find you a CPO truck at another dealer that you like and pay for shipping and give it to you at cost. They normally screw people over on trade ins so I imagine "at cost" for a trade in would be a steal.

[socale39]

OP I think you are taking what happened a little out of proportion here. Does it suck, definitely. Inconvenient, very much. Aggravating, for sure. However, that being said, this is clearly an isolated incident. Unless I saw a pattern of X5s doing the same I wouldn't jump to conclusions and judgement about BMW and/or the quality. More than likely this was a technician fault.

Considering the response from the dealership you posted, it seems like you are already throwing in the towel on an otherwise very simple fix the dealer can perform. What is trading your vehicle in for another really going to accomplish? Unless you were already in the mindset to sell the vehicle or get something else the only thing you'll be doing is incurring more costs in taxes and licensing in lieu of a free repair of your existing vehicle. If anything I'd just ask that the dealership cover all the repair costs along with a new alignment and be on your way. I mean seriously, it's not like your vehicle was involved in an accident where the value and title history have been blemished.

[Flying Ace]

Dat stance

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

Dat stance

Best comment in the thread so far.

[-c-]

.my post below V

Duplicated post

[-c-]

Originally Posted by Torgus

Best comment in the thread so far.

Yea where we're going we don't need roads!

Doc always said if your going to build a time machine why not do it with a little style!