Problems galore with 06 330i

[skeezix02]

I bought a new e90 330 in June and the car has spent over a month at the dealer with the following problems. It is still there now, pending resolution of a "seat mat sensor(?)" problem.

(bought the car fully loaded, minus nav)

Climate system blower turns on and off
Stereo intermittently only plays music from rear speakers
SRS light intermittently lights for passenger seat
Harsh downshift in transmission
Brakes in rear make an odd noise and "grab" later than front brakes
Delayed accelleration (fixed by software update)

The dealer has been absolutely wonderful, however when you contact BMW for an ETA on resolution of any of the probs, they have no clue when they will be able to have a fix for the probs.

Anyone else have these same probs?

This has been a little crazy, and I am becoming dismayed with the car. I am a HUGE BMW fan, so I usually overlook any problems, however this is becoming a giant nightmare.

 

[Kirby]

Someone else has reported the downshift and brake complaints on this site, but no answers as to any fixes, etc. have been posted.

 

[sly]

skeezix02: Sorry to hear about your quality issues. Don't despair. After these are corrected, you may have a trouble free car. Good luck.

 

[nathan56989]

mostly all car with all wheel disc brakes the rear brakes "grab" later than the front brakes. that is why your front rotors and pads are thicker than your rear brake rotors and pads.
as for your other problems they are probably programming issues and bmw does not have the software out yet to program these vehicles correctly.

 

[jrt67ss350]

as for your other problems they are probably programming issues and bmw does not have the software out yet to program these vehicles correctly.

See, I don't buy this argument.... Why the hell didn't the car SHIP with correctly programmed software?????

I can't imagine hooking up a new Zoll defibrillator to a patient who is in ventricular fibrillation only to find out that the left defibrillator pad doesn't work because the software update isn't available yet. That's not the way Zoll sells/ships their products - why should BMW sell/ship theirs that way??

 

[Kirby]

See, I don't buy this argument.... Why the hell didn't the car SHIP with correctly programmed software?????

Because a former Microsoft engineer is in charge of software QA at BMW....

 

[nathan56989]

thank you kirby. by the time the vehicle hit the market there are so many problems with them it not funny. so before the cars hit the markeet bmw is already making new software for them. I can put my wallet on it that 75 percent of the problems noted would be taken care of witha software update. the other 25 percent is probably user error or something that was seen only one time while at night standing on your head with the door open going 60 miles an hour down a curvy raod.

 

[Maaz]

People don't like to buy first year models for a reason. Now I'm starting to understand why. Spending a month in the shop is quite ridiculous. I'm glad I didn't buy an E90 this year. I'm still interested in buying one in a year or so. I have a loaner E90 325i while my E46 325xi is being repaired, and I must say that the E90 is very nice. Let's hope they get all the bugs worked out.

 

[Zeratul]

No problems here...

I dont have a problem with my E90... 2 months so far, problem-free. maybe im just speaking too soon

 

[nathan56989]

See, I don't buy this argument.... Why the hell didn't the car SHIP with correctly programmed software?????

I can't imagine hooking up a new Zoll defibrillator to a patient who is in ventricular fibrillation only to find out that the left defibrillator pad doesn't work because the software update isn't available yet. That's not the way Zoll sells/ships their products - why should BMW sell/ship theirs that way??

Are you serious? You are comparing components that save a human life to software that makes cars run.

 

[jrt67ss350]

Are you serious? You are comparing components that save a human life to software that makes cars run.

Yes, actually I am serious. If one company can write software that makes their devices work, why can't another? It's not like these cars don't spend YEARS in pre-production development. In my opinion, there is absolutely NO excuse for a new car to need a software update that isn't even available yet simply in order to make components that it is equipped from the factory with work as advertised. If that's the case, then the car obviously needed more R&D time and should not have been released yet - a customer spending $40k on a car should NOT be a beta tester. If I spend $40k on a new BMW, I expect that my $40k has financed enough development so that the software in my new car will actually work, just like if your heart went into a fatal arrhythmia, you would expect that the difbrillator would work when hooked up to you.

 

[Kirby]

Are you serious? You are comparing components that save a human life to software that makes cars run.

The only difference is that the FDA regulates the medical equipment and holds the manufacturer liable. No one regulates the automotive industry to the same level - other than the consumer's wallet.

When you buy a new product, you have a very reasonable right to expect that it will work as advertised. I don't see anywhere in the advertising literature a disclaimer that says "This vehicle may fail to: start, open the doors, or operate correctly without notice."

Software bugs in vehicle control systems (or any automation system) are simply the result of inadequate testing, validation and QA. And don't make a comparison to Windows/PC software bugs - control system software doesn't rely on dozens of drivers, services, etc. Control system software is almost always developed with only one or two software layers at most.

And yes, I AM an expert on this topic - My company and I write the equivalent of ECU software for manufacturing machines and processes.

 

[MrElussive]

Yeah that Zoll defibrillator argument has absolutely nothing to do with cars.

But you do raise a point, BMW does not ship cars with incorrectly programmed software. BMW just shouldn't have turned to Microsoft for iDrive...it was as if the people at BMW knew nothing about Windows.

 

[Beemur]

I can imagine the BMW execs; a few weeks to a month before the schedualed release of the E90, with 100's if not 1000's of cars pre-ordered, finding out that there is a software problem appearing in some cars.

Do they delay delivery of their cars and make the consumers wait, or
deliver on time and impose the consumer with the task of coming back to the dealer with possible problems.

I know I wouldn't want to make that decision.

And I'm sure that with that car the control systems on board are far more complex than those on most cars.

advanced stability control, variable steering, STEPTRONIC, VALVETRONIC, xDrive, Adaptive headlights, Dynamic Brake control, hill descent control, electronic damping control, active roll stablization, Active cruise control, ect. + the ECU

That is alot of EOMs, plants, sensors, and feedback loops. I'm sure it would be real easy to slightly misplace a pole or a zero on your s-plane with all that going on.

I'm not surprized that there are problems. just my $0.02 [bmwdance]

 

[Jmead1]

I had some issues with mine from the start. It spent about 2.5 weeks at the dealership of the first 4 that I had it. They "deglazed" my brakes, for whatever that's worth and it seems to have made the braking a little smoother. The southeast head technician spoke with me at the dealership and asked me to be patient with the car. I now have a little over 2000 miles on it and the transmission seems to have leveled out on the downshifting issue I was having. He mentioned that the car "really gets into it's own" at about 4000 miles after it "learns your driving style". Seemed like a line of BS to me, but I am beginning to believe it. I was disappointed with the car at first after having 4 previous BMW's but have to say now that it is absolutely fabulous! I have not experience any of the other things you have.