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BMW Owners Suffer Reversal of Fortune

Certain models suddenly lose ability to back up

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 22, 2008

BMW • Airbags • "Certified, pre-owned" BMWs • Cooling fan failure • Flaming seats • Flooded trunk • Paint problems • Steering failure • Transmission problems • Warranties • BMW Financial Services • Miscellaneous problems • 740 Series • 740 cell phones --- News • BMW Owners Suffer Reversal of Fortune • BMW Plans Price Hike • Transmission Failures Plague BMW Owners • New BMW to Burn Hydrogen and Gasoline • Gay Automotive Website Takes on BMW

The BMW is favored by car enthusiasts for its handling and the experience it offers behind the wheel. And chances are you'll be happy with the car, as long as it has a manual transmission.

A BMW with automatic transmission, especially one with a number of miles on it, has produced 163 complaints to ConsumerAffairs.com in the last 12 months. The specific complaint involves the loss of the reverse gear. Kevin, of Baldwinsville, New York, said it happened to his 323Ci at 80,000 miles.

"Without any prior problem or warning, the car acts like it's in neutral," he told ConsumerAffairs.com. "The dealer says it will cost $4,800.00 to replace the transmission. I'm now seeing an alarming number of complaints for the same problem."

Indeed he is. ConsumerAffairs.com first reported on this issue more than a year ago but, to date, there has been no recall to address the problem. And in a number of cases, the transmission repair costs well over the $4,800 Kevin said he paid.

"I have a '99 BMW 323i with 136K on it and guess what happened, that's right.... no reverse," said David, of Denver.

David too said he had not had any problems with the transmission before losing his reverse gear.

"The sad thing is that up to this point it had been a really great car with minimal maintenance," he said.

Babak, of Sayreville, New Jersey also had well over 100,000 miles on his BMW when reverse went out. His model is the 2000 740i.

"The dealer is asking $5k-$7k to fix the problem. With the current economic situation I can't afford to spend this much so the car is sitting on my drive way and I'm just paying insurance on it for nothing," he told ConsumerAffairs.com.

Jonathon, of Bloomington, Indiana also drives a BMW 740i. Or at least he did until earlier this month when he too lost his reverse gear. And while he says he was surprised, he said the mechanics at his repair shop weren't.

"They advised me that they see this often in the BMW and offered to sell me a new transmission for roughly $6,000," he told ConsumerAffairs.com. "Upon doing research it is evident that BMW knows of this issue and it is rampant in their vehicles. There is even a website dedicated to the issue for BMW owners that have the same problem. For Myself and ALL BMW owners that have had their transmission go out with no warning it is terrifying."

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