Lawsuit Against BMW -- UPDATE (crosspost)

[Named Plaintiff]

Several weeks ago I posted to this forum (and other BMW forums) a notice about a class action lawsuit I had planned to pursue against BMW of North America for consumer fraud.

The problem at the heart of the matter concerns 3 Series (e46) and 5 Series (e39) BMW's dating back to the 2001 model year and continuing to the present. There appears to be a defect in the operation of the Harmon Kardon audio system in vehicles equipped with the BMW navigation system. BMW's response to this defect has been to totally stonewall it. After first claiming they had never heard of this problem, they then made several half-hearted attempts to fix my car before they finally told me (1) they could not fix the problem; and (2) the problem was not a problem at all but was a "normal operational characteristic of the vehicle." They offered no further assistance.

The purpose of my original post was to seek out other BMW owners (or lessee's) who are also affected by this problem who might be interested in joining me. I received many replies and, on the strength of that response we went ahead and filed the action.

If anyone is interested in this matter, information about the lawsuit can be found here:

http://www.milberg.com/mil-cgi-bin/mil?case=bmw


The original thread (which contains a description of the problem) can be found here:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49518

(Caution: the original thread is massive, with over 200 responses)

The original thread went off on several tangential issues regarding tort litigation, BMW loyalty and other matters and at times got somewhat heated. My purpose here is not to rehash those debates, but merely to provide the followup information that I promised last month.

bmwlawsuit@yahoo.com

[rumratt]

Dude. WTF are you doing posting this in every forum? Crossposting is a nono here. :nono:


We might have to start a class action lawsuit against you. It wouldn't be about the money... just to teach you a lesson. :eeps:

[jvr826]

Several weeks ago I posted to this forum (and other BMW forums) a notice about a class action lawsuit I had planned to pursue against BMW of North America for consumer fraud.bmwlawsuit@yahoo.com

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Good for you man! I'm at my wits end with the E39 driver sport seat thigh support that clicks whenever I shift my weight or turn the car right, even in the slightest. I've been to 2 dealers, 3 complaints, zero resolution. The last dealer had the gaul to rubber stamp the problem with a "could not duplicate" resolution, even though I made him go out to my car and see how to reproduce it. He even told me when I picked up the car that he demonstrated it for the service tech, and I get the rubber stamp resolution.

I know there are alot more people with this seat problem than with the Navigation/FM reception deal. I wish these clowns would own up to the defects and fix them. I've requested an appointment with a factory rep and I have yet to get a call with a date of the appointment - it's been over 3 weeks since the request.

[BB330i]

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Good for you man! I'm at my wits end with the E39 driver sport seat thigh support that clicks whenever I shift my weight or turn the car right, even in the slightest. I've been to 2 dealers, 3 complaints, zero resolution. The last dealer had the gaul to rubber stamp the problem with a "could not duplicate" resolution, even though I made him go out to my car and see how to reproduce it. He even told me when I picked up the car that he demonstrated it for the service tech, and I get the rubber stamp resolution.

I know there are alot more people with this seat problem than with the Navigation/FM reception deal. I wish these clowns would own up to the defects and fix them. I've requested an appointment with a factory rep and I have yet to get a call with a date of the appointment - it's been over 3 weeks since the request.
Jeff,
I realize this service bulletin does not cover your application but maybe it will help?
http://members.roadfly.org/bmw_e46_m3/bulletins/520302.pdf

[pylt]

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Good for you man! I'm at my wits end with the E39 driver sport seat thigh support that clicks whenever I shift my weight or turn the car right, even in the slightest. I've been to 2 dealers, 3 complaints, zero resolution. The last dealer had the gaul to rubber stamp the problem with a "could not duplicate" resolution, even though I made him go out to my car and see how to reproduce it. He even told me when I picked up the car that he demonstrated it for the service tech, and I get the rubber stamp resolution.

I know there are alot more people with this seat problem than with the Navigation/FM reception deal. I wish these clowns would own up to the defects and fix them. I've requested an appointment with a factory rep and I have yet to get a call with a date of the appointment - it's been over 3 weeks since the request.


From personal experience I can tell you that BMW Techs are questionably competent. I would suggest a visit to yet a 3rd dealer, if possible, and attempt to demonstrate the sound for them again. Perhaps you could compare the sound and conditions in which it's made to another car's seat as well?

Good luck.

[01silber]

Out of 54 posts you have not posted one post having to deal with anything else other then your suit, shove off
I'm not saying you do not have a problem with your car, but to keep posting your crap here about trying to get people to join you is getting old
you have posted it many times if they want to join you and your merry men they will
stop posting
no where in the link to the law firm does it say that the goal is to force them to fix it, rather it says"if they are from different states. Your right to share in any recovery and the amount of any recovery you personally receive will not be affected by "

sounds like your more interested it getting money then the problem fixed, and I know that is all the law firm is worried about they don't give a rats ass about the stereo

[Mark in TX]

To clarify the problem at hand, it is NOT limited to those with both HK and NAV. My 2001 330i has only the HK system (w/o NAV) and has experienced this same intermittent loss of fidelity in FM mode since it was new.

BMW customer service emailed me in February of this year saying that engineers are aware of the problem and that a Service Information Bulletin was due in about a month.

They emailed me again today, in response to my latest follow-up inquiry, saying the following:

"We appreciate your patience while further investigating your inquiry. There has not been a Service Bulletin issued regarding this concern and there are no plans to issue in the immediate future. If you are experiencing this concern, you will need to directly contact the service manager at your BMW center. The service manager will then contact the appropriate department who will provide him with further instructions pending the severity of your concern. Please contact the service manager directly regarding this concern so he may assist you with resolving this concern."

Sounds to me as if they are aware a lawsuit has been filed and no longer want to officially acknowledge that any problem exists. Their response today also implies that if you complain to the right source, you might get it fixed. Although I wil not be holding my breath on that.

Does anyone know if M3's are also afflicted with this problem?

[Lance Racing]

Yes, what you've done by threatening legal action is shut off the normal lines of communication. It better be pretty important to you. Were you planning to keep this car for the rest of your life?

[Mark in TX]

As one whose car has experienced this problem since new, I will agree with the Named Plaintiff in that the problem itself is extremely annoying, especially when associated with an expensive, optional sound system. The bottom line is that it truly is problematic and should be repaired under warranty. It really has nothing to do with sinking the company. Plus, I would assume BMW's supplier contract is such that it can pass the cost off to their audio vendor. Although the problem seems limited to e46 sedans, which would indicate some problem unique to the installation of the HK system in the sedan. Other than that, the car kicks A and I would buy another without question.

[mtarchal]

Yes, I am glad to see the some people are speaking out about BMW and their wonderful stereo and oh the "Ultimate Driving Machine". I spent..what was it 45K and BMW can't seem to get a stereo to work. What year is this guys, 2005, wow, pretty lame if you ask me.

Here are my experiences. Bought the car new, and noticed the exact problem described in the lawsuit. Took to the dealer and my friend is a mechanic there, well behold, they replaced the receiver because it needed a "software update". Problem was solved. BMW has the corrected receiver, go get it and it is only on a customer basis, if you complain.

Now this is what I notice, sometimes, the stereo pops, radio siganl loss then when it comes back it sounds like a popping. Oh and when I scan with the scan buttons on my nav, it just loops around and comes back to the same radio station, and then sometimes it freezes the entire nav system and the only controls that work are the volume. Have to turn it off then back on again. Gee, that must be a feature.

Now I am taking it in to inform them about this problem. Really nice. I am not going to even start talking about the hesitation problem when accelerating. Oh and it uses oil. That must be another feature, oh it is a performance engine. What the hell does that mean. It is an engine like every other engine. The Japanese cars do not use oil.

New car, very nice, I am glad that I had to visit the dealer umm....twice already in 4 months. I don't know about the other BMW's but in my opinion so far, BMW needs to get their act together. My brother's client is BMW and he is telling me that they have had major production problems, engineers have said that and on average it costs like 8000$ for like 1/2 of most new cars - to fix them. That is why you pay so much more.

I really hate to say this but I am pretty disgusted and I hope they can fix my problems, because BMW is coming close to being c**p in my book. I guess I have to live with it. Possibly sell the car and get something else.

[mtarchal]

Update to my stereo problem. Turns out when the dealer installed my new receiver, which fixed the mono-stereo problem - as described in the lawsuit on this web site, after that the unit would lock up periodically and behave very strangly, and the scan buttons would not work right and other issues.

Well you need to go into the service menu in as described on this web site and set the country to USA and it will reset the new receiver, and well it all works now. The country was not set at all and I think the receiver just needed to be reset or something with the new Counrty code in the service menu on the NAV.

Anyone that is replacing it, please do this !


HK Stereo with NAV, 2004 330i ZHP