2011 BMW 335D Complaints

- The component that has failed is the front passenger seat occupancy sensor, as indicated by an OBDII scan showing fault code 93C3, seat-occupancy detector, passenger. - The safety of any person in the front passenger seat is compromised because the passenger airbag will not deploy while this sensor is not operating properly, as indicated by the "passenger airbag off" light which is now always illuminated. The vehicle has not been in an accident and nobody has been injured as a result. - The problem has been confirmed by an independent service center. - The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance, etc. - There is a restraint system malfunction warning message stating "Fault in passenger-restraint system affecting airbag, belt tensioner, or belt-force limiter. Continue to wear the safety belt. Have the system checked by the nearest BMW center." - I have contacted both my local BMW dealer (BMW Seattle) and the BMW North America customer relations department and have been informed by both that there are no open recalls or technical service bulletins related to this sensor on my model/year and that the vehicle is out of warranty, so the financial responsibility to repair the vehicle is on me.

The contact owns a 2011 BMW 335D. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed on a 6-hour trip, there was thick fumes coming into the cabin of the vehicle from the exhaust. The contact stated that he drove the vehicle to the dealer and the vehicle was diagnosed with a clogged DEF filter. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacture was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 119,000.

YEARS OF MY 335D OVERHEATING AND STALLING AND DEALER CANT FIGURE OUT THE ISSUE. I’VE REPLACED INJECTORS, DONE CARBON BLASTING, REPLACED NOX SENSOR, REPLACED WHOLE BATTERY/ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS. JUST RECENTLY REPLACED THE ALL BELTS, HOSES, AND EGR MODULE TO AVOID CATASTROPHIC RESULTS. AFTER REMOVING THE COMPONENTS YOU CAN SEE FLUIDS GOT MIXED AND EVEN GOT INTO MY TURBO ALL BECAUSE OF THE EGR WAS LEAKING. SO MANY IDENTICAL ISSUES RESULTED IN RECALLS FROM BMW FOR ALMOST EVERY SINGLE MODEL FROM EARLY 2000S TO NEW MODELS DUE TO FAULTY EGRS, EXCEPT THE 2011 335D. AND OF THE NEARLY 1 MILLION VEHICLES RECALLED BY BMW THIS YEAR ALONE, ONLY THE 2011 335D IS NOT RECALLED FOR FAULTY PCV AND EGR WHICH WAS FINALLY DETERMINED BY THE DEALER TO BE THE CAUSE OF MY OVERHEATING, BLACK PARTICLES COMING FROM THE EXHAUST, MELTED PLASTIC UNDER MY HOOD, AND DISGUSTING SMELL FROM AIR VENTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS REGARDING THIS SAME EXACT VEHICLE WITH THE SAME EXACT ISSUES ON NHTSA AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE. ONLY WHEN THESE CARS CATCH ON FIRE AND RESULT IN A CASUALTY WILL BMW FINALLY ADD ALL MODEL TYPES TO THEIR RECALL LISTS. FOR NOW THEY WILL KEEP ADDING MODELS ONE BY ONE, PRETENDING THEY DO NOT HAVE AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS ISSUE WITH ALL THEIR CARS. RIDICULOUS.

Fine, white particles are blowing out of the cabin air ducts whenever the air conditioner or fan is turned on. My local BMW service center, Herb Chambers BMW of Boston, determined that the debris is flakes of aluminum from the deteriorated aluminum alloy fins of the AC evaporator coil and heater exchanger. The cabin air ducts were scoped and found to be intact with no intrusion of outside contaminants. The dealer determined that if not replaced, “the A/C Evaporator will fail…” and quoted the cost of repairs at $5,286.18. As I am sure you are aware, aluminum is a neurotoxin when absorbed by the body. The science is well established and can be easily sourced using Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C22&q=neurotoxicity+of+aluminum&oq=neuroto. The fine aluminum particles blowing from the heating and cooling system of my BMW have been absorbed into my eyes, mouth and airways, putting me at risk from internal exposure to aluminum. They have also rendered my BMW 335d unusable due to this health safety hazard. I filed a request for recourse with BMW of North America and was denied.

IT STARTED MAY, 2017, WHEN MY 335D WAS IDLING ROUGH AND JERKED AS I WAS DRIVING AT A SLOW SPEED. I TOOK IT INTO CREVIER BMW IN SANTA ANA. THE CAR HAD 53,000 MILES AND THEY SAID IT HAD CARBON BUILD UP ON THE INTAKE MANIFOLD AND #1 & 5 FUEL INJECTOR. THEY REPLACED THE FUEL INJECTORS AND WALNUT BLAST THE MANIFOLD. SWIRL PORTS, EGR AND THROTTLE HOUSING CLEANED AS WELL. APR, 2018 58,000 MILES, FAULTY ACTIVE TANK TEMPERATURE SENSOR REPLACED. AUG, 2018 60,000 MILES, REPLACED FAULTY FUEL INJECTORS #2,3,4,5 AND FAULTY CAM SENSOR. JAN, 2019 64,000 CAR RUNNING ROUGH AT IDLE. STARTED USING FUEL INJECTOR CLEANER IN FUEL TANK. THIS STOPPED THE ROUGH IDLE. CAR RUNS ROUGH EVERY TIME IF I DON'T ADD THE INJECTOR CLEANER. MARCH 2020 73,000 MILES, INTAKE MANIFOLD REMOVED AND WALNUT BLAST AGAIN. REPLACED BOTH FAULTY NOX SENSORS. FAULTY CODES ON AIR MASS INTAKE. NOV 2020 76,000 MILES, FAULTY FUEL INJECTORS # 1,2,4, #5 GLOW PLUG, MASS/VOLUME AIR FLOW, INTAKE TEMPERATURE SENSOR. DID NOT PASS SMOG. TOOK TO DEALER AND THEY COULD NOT FIGURE OUT WHAT TO REPAIR TO GET IT TO PASS SMOG. VERY FRUSTRATED...

PASSENGER AIRBAG MALFUNCTION, SEAT SENSITIVITY IS TOUCHY, REPORTS AN OCCUPANT WHEN EMPTY AND GIVES AN OCCASIONAL MALFUNCTION WARNING, AT ANY SPEED, ANY TIME.

THE FRONT PASSENGER SEATBELT SENSOR MALFUNCTIONS AND SETS OFF THE WARNING SOUND AS IF SOMEONE IS SITING IN THE SEAT WHEN NOBODY OR NOTHING IS IN THE SEAT. THIS MAY CAUSE AIRBAG MALFUNCTIONS OR HAVE IT NOT DEPLOY. THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING SINCE THE FIRST DAY I BOUGHT THE CAR SEVERAL WEEKS AGO. THE ISSUE IS CONSTANT WHILE I'M DRIVING.

LESS THAN 70K MILES AND HAD TO REPLACE MANIFOLD, INJECTORS ETC DUE TO EXCESS CARBON BMW NEEDS TO DO MORE TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF POLLUTION ON THESE VEHICLES

I'VE HAD TO REPLACE THE EGR MODULE TO AVOID CATASTROPHIC RESULTS. AN IDENTICAL ISSUES RESULTED IN A RECALL FROM BMW FOR DIESELS FROM OTHER YEARS: HTTPS://WWW.CONSUMERREPORTS.ORG/CAR-RECALLS-DEFECTS/BMW-RECALLS-DIESEL-CARS-AND-SUVS-FOR-FIRE-RISK/ . HOWEVER, BMW HAS CHOSEN NOT TO EXPAND THE RECALL TO COVER THIS ENGINE FAILURE IN ALL OF THE DIESELS. IT'S POTENTIALLY ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THIS STARTS TO SHOW UP WITH INCREASED FREQUENCY.

THE 2011 VEHICLE WITH LESS THAN 65,000 MILES NORMAL RUNS AT HIGHWAY SPEED IN A RANGE OF 2K RPMS. A WARNING REGARDING THE TRANSMISSION IMMEDIATELY CAUSED THE CAR TO REV UP TO 5K RPM (VERY HIGH FOR A DIESEL ENGINE SEDAN) AND THE SPEED REDUCES 30-40MPH WHILE DRIVING. IT IS INCREDIBLY SCARY AND DANGEROUS. ASSUMED THIS WAS A ONE-OFF. PULLED TO THE SHOULDER, TURNED OFF THE CAR AND IT RAN FINE. TOOK IT TO BMW FOR INSPECTION AND THEY SAID THEY COULD NOT DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM BUT WOULD REPLACE THE TRANSMISSION AND CHARGE ME MORE THAN HALF THE VALUE OF THE CAR. THE ISSUE HAS SINCE REPEATED AND IS VERY DANGEROUS TO ALL ON THE ROAD.