Stop complainng about steptronic and...

Trading_up_2_330Ci · Mar 18, 2004

Re: We are in full agreement

TIXXdriver said:

I agree with this also. Car_54 has produced the document that clearly states "replace the transmission" I have seen nothing notta from others pleading the clutch thing works. Why not demand the answers from BMW and post them here. The confidentiality comment seems a bit far fetched. my two cents

Car_54 · Mar 18, 2004

kum-bay-ah in the spirit of civility

Trading_up_2_330Ci said:

I agree with you and appreciate yours and others support. Lets again thank the administrators of this board for allowing the truth to see the light of day. BMWNA monitors these boards and has watched person after person say "I think I have a transmission problem" without implementing a controled, reasonable and safe process for resolution. Seems that those of us that were well informed, tough, quick minded and relentless were afforded BMW's best effort. Others that seemed weak or able to be placated were. My desire by sharing the facts and only the facts was to hopefully realize the best effort result for all. [wave]

cdotger · Mar 18, 2004

Re: kum-bay-ah in the spirit of civility

Car_54 said:

"By sharing the facts" Are you kidding me Car_54... What color is the sky in your world??!?!?!?

Where is tha fact the the clutch pack fix is faulty..... Boy, I think this is about the 6th time I asked this question with no reply.....

LarryE · Mar 18, 2004

Re: Re: kum-bay-ah in the spirit of civility

cdotger said:

He knows he's wrong, cdotger. And he knows he's misleading people and doing a disservice to people who are looking to this board for help. Otherwise, he'd come right out with the truth or with whatever supporting evidence he has. He's actually hallucinating enough to think that BMW reads this board, and that the moderators care what he's all about ... or that the moderators know that he is or isn't full of crap. He's being evasive, and he knows it.

IMPORTERofRECORD · Mar 18, 2004

Re: kum-bay-ah in the spirit of civility

Car_54 said:

Ok, I will bite.
I will thank the admins of this board for providing the forum, E46 Driver for starting the thread and you Car 54 for being an honest cat smart enough to continue to choose the higher road. This board and more accurately this thread kept me from buying a car with a piece o'sheeete defective tranny. I do not have the luxury of extra time in life to "leave the car outside overnight" or "drive in reverse for 20 - 50 ft then pop into drive crap". This is insanity!! My scariest is to imagine my daughter trying to get out of the way of some truck barreling down on her without the ability to get out of the way. BMW is one of the most technologically advanced companies making automobiles. They know what cars are screwy.

I want the people that bought cars from September 2002 onward with the known defective steptronic transmission contacted by BMW and told of the defect. Next, I want BMW to announce publically (this means in writing guys) from what date forward the defect was corrected. WHy would anyone else want anything different?[???1]

LarryE · Mar 18, 2004

Re: Re: kum-bay-ah in the spirit of civility

IMPORTERofRECORD said:

Ok, I will bite.
I will thank the admins of this board for providing the forum, E46 Driver for starting the thread and you Car 54 for being an honest cat smart enough to continue to choose the higher road. This board and more accurately this thread kept me from buying a car with a piece o'sheeete defective tranny. I do not have the luxury of extra time in life to "leave the car outside overnight" or "drive in reverse for 20 - 50 ft then pop into drive crap". This is insanity!! My scariest is to imagine my daughter trying to get out of the way of some truck barreling down on her without the ability to get out of the way. BMW is one of the most technologically advanced companies making automobiles. They know what cars are screwy.

I want the people that bought cars from September 2002 onward with the known defective steptronic transmission contacted by BMW and told of the defect. Next, I want BMW to announce publically (this means in writing guys) from what date forward the defect was corrected. WHy would anyone else want anything different?[???1]

You know what? I want the same thing. I think it would be great, and the right thing to do. Is it gonna happen? Have you ever seen an automobile manufacturer make such an announcement?

cdotger · Mar 18, 2004

IMporterOfRecord,

I agree 100% I want the same thing... BMW should be sending people who they know have this issue letters in the mail to come in and be reapired.... They should also not be selling cars off of the lot with this known issue..... Here I think we can all agree.

cdotger · Mar 18, 2004

I thought this might be good to post here also:

wileymo said:

A car built in 9/02 is a 2003 model. This problem does not affect every car built since then. It does affect a lot but not all of them. The clutch pack repair was done at the beginning of this issue and was a good fix for some cars. There was a period of time when BMW was unsure what was causing this problem but they were working on it. Once it was determined that it was a manudfacturing problem with GM Transmission in France, BMW needed all of the now properly made units for the assembly line, so there was a delay in parts availablity. But parts are now available and cars are being repaired. We have many transmissions waiting to be insatlled at the dealership that I work for. There are three in my bay right now. I have read many posts on this site about this issue and I have seen a wide variety of reponses to it.

All I can say is that in my opinion, as a BWM certified technician, and a tech with experience on other products as well, BMW has handled this issue in the only manner that they could. They had to take the time to determine the cause of the problems, and the number of cars it effects. I am sorry to see that some of you are not happy with your dealer experience but maybe you should find a different dealer. There are many good dealerships out there, but you may have to do some research to find one that fits you. You need to be comfortable with your advisor and the techs if you have contact with them.
I work at a BMW dealer because my brother works there and he got me the job. I never liked them before I started working on them. They have slowly worn down my prejudices and I now believe that they are a fundamentally sound vehicle. They have some issuse from time to time but what manufacturer does not. I have found that BMW deals with their product issues in a much more timely and straight forward manner than most domestic manufacturers.

I hope that I will be able to assist some of you with problems that you might need some advice on. And I DO completly expect to get flamed, trashed and attacked over this post. But I also hope that some of you may be able to use this information to assist you with your service needs.

Scott - BMW Technician

Car_54 · Mar 19, 2004

What did they know and when did they know it?

IMPORTERofRECORD said:

=====================================
Thank you. Disinformation, whether malignant or benign is helpful to BMW. It provides confusion. Confusion enables BMW from having to confirm what they knew and when they knew it. BMW documents now knowing of the defect as early as September 2002 and instructs their dealers to perform the following, and I quote:

"Correction
ON A CUSTOMER COMPLAINT BASIS ONLY, after verifying the above mentioned situation,
REPLACE THE TRANSMISSION WITH THE IMPROVED UNIT"

Why would they make the customer complain about this safety defect prior to the corrective action when they already confess to knowing it exists? [screwy]

LarryE · Mar 19, 2004

Re: What did they know and when did they know it?

Car_54 said:

Car_54 ... I think we all agree with you on this. That would have been the right thing to do. But we also know how the automobile business works ... and that's precisely what it is ... a business. Repairs cost money ... spend too much money ... more than you take in ... and if you don't have anything much more in assets, you have nothing to pay your employees/bills with and you go out of business. Owning a BMW, is that what you'd prefer? To have no one to bring your car to anymore for any repairs? To not be able to purchase a BMW ever again? I'm sure you won't agree with this, and I respect your opinion if you choose to disagree. But if every time something like this happens (and I might add, in 2002, certainly the fix was not known yet), BMW (or any other auto manufacturer) came out with a published statement that said "Come one, come all ... we have tranny problems ... we admit it ... bring yours in immediately and we'll fix it", do you realize the repercussions as a business? Do you own, operate, or work in the financial end of a business yourself? It boils down to a matter of $$$. I am not making excuses for BMW ... I agree with what you are saying. All that I am saying is that this is the reality of the business.

Just my 2 cents.

BMW_Driver22 · Mar 19, 2004

Re: What did they know and when did they know it?

Car_54 said:

Right on dude!! [thumb]

I guess some want to accept the BMW's smoke and mirror show.
I want answers. [mad]

The economics lesson was foolish. These people talk about everything other than the facts.

LarryE · Mar 19, 2004

Re: Re: What did they know and when did they know it?

BMW_Driver22 said:

Suit yourself, my friend.

So let me ask you ... now that we know that BMW wasn't up front and that even the current TSB states "ON A CUSTOMER COMPLAINT BASIS ONLY...", what do you plan to do? Are you going to sell your BMW? Never buy a BMW again? Call up Tony Soprano and have him rub out the president of BMW? If my economic statement was so foolish, how come it completely seems to explain what happened? It is you that are being foolish.

If I'm so foolish, where are your facts?

TIXXdriver · Mar 19, 2004

Re: What did they know and when did they know it?

Car_54 said:

This is the point. Instead of arguing who has the best source for information. Demand BMW speak to our concerns. When BMW releases a statement we all will be on equal ground. Importerofrecord, the comment about your daughter hits home with me as my daughter is recently licensed.

Bmw 325i 7803 · Mar 19, 2004

I think BMW needs to suffer the consequences for their actions, and thats what all of these "talking in circles" debaters want, they want BMW SUED and frankly I think BMW deserves it. Maybe it will make them change their cheap, disgusting, ill business practices.

IMPORTERofRECORD · Mar 21, 2004

Circle talking

Bmw 325i 7803 said:

Based on your posts you have legal grounds of recourse against your dealer and possibly BMWNA Llc. Speaking for myself only, I do not seek litigation nor do I seek any sort of renumeration. I did not suffer a loss. I simply want BMW to be the stand up manufacturer that I have supported for decades. I want BMW to stop delivering knowingly defective vehicles and to fix the ones already delivered. The way to accomplish this is for BMW to speak with one voice. Tell us in writing, what happened and when the defect was corrected.

LipsmacknGOOD I appreciate your comments. Has New Hampshire thawed yet? [:)]

Car_54 · Mar 21, 2004

Posted here to avoid "thread-jacking"

Posted by cdotger
quote:
wileymo,

What you posted was 100% on and what we a few of us have been stating also. Your posting helps confirm our prior posts.

Although, If I were an owner with a new BMW I would be pissed also if BMW were selling cars off of the lot that had this issue and not telling the consumer.... I myself purchased a 2003 in Aug and were one of the first (at my dealership) to come in for the problem. After some time (Dec) the dealership did the clutch pack replacement and all has been fine.

One question for you though Wileymo... There have been some on this board who are stating that the clutch pack replacement is faulty and only a temporary fix. While I do not believe this to be true....It would be good to hear if you have any info on this.

Thanks Again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Although, If I were an owner with a new BMW I would be pissed also if BMW were selling cars off of the lot that had this issue and not telling the consumer...

Given your statement, you must be very angry with your dealer. This defect was known and communicated in writing in bulletins sent to dealers PRIOR to your confirmed date of purchase. There were several safety bulletins preceeding SIB 24 07 03 dated Feb 2004. [wave]

Trading_up_2_330Ci · Mar 21, 2004

WHAHHH

Car_54 said:

Posted by cdotger
quote:
wileymo,

What you posted was 100% on and what we a few of us have been stating also. Your posting helps confirm our prior posts.

Although, If I were an owner with a new BMW I would be pissed also if BMW were selling cars off of the lot that had this issue and not telling the consumer.... I myself purchased a 2003 in Aug and were one of the first (at my dealership) to come in for the problem. After some time (Dec) the dealership did the clutch pack replacement and all has been fine.

One question for you though Wileymo... There have been some on this board who are stating that the clutch pack replacement is faulty and only a temporary fix. While I do not believe this to be true....It would be good to hear if you have any info on this.

Thanks Again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Although, If I were an owner with a new BMW I would be pissed also if BMW were selling cars off of the lot that had this issue and not telling the consumer...

Given your statement, you must be very angry with your dealer. This defect was known and communicated in writing in bulletins sent to dealers PRIOR to your confirmed date of purchase. There were several safety bulletins preceeding SIB 24 07 03 dated Feb 2004.

I appologize cdogger in advance but that was very funny. Also happens to be true There is a safety bulletin dd June 2003 speaking to the trans problems. [burnout]

cdotger · Mar 21, 2004

Do you guys happen to have a copy of the bulletin? I would like to take it in to my salesdrone and ask him whats up.

kit · Mar 21, 2004

Trading_up_2_330Ci or anyone else, can you post the safety bulletin that was issued in June 2003 or reference the TIS #. This would be a great help for people who purchased after this date. I am sure if the current bulletin mentions the problem exists from 09/02 through 12/03 vehicles, that there must have been many prior saftety bulletins. Thanks in advance.

Kit

Bmw 325i 7803 · Mar 21, 2004

Which Bulletin?

If you guys can get a copy of that service bulletin or a # I'd appreciate it. That TSB would be EVIDENCE THE DEALERSHIPS KNOWINGLY SOLD SLIPTRONIC CARS.

Btw, Kit where did you purchase your vehicle?

Stop complainng about steptronic and...

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