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2011 535 is COMPLETELY shut down for security reasons

1K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  payamd 
#1 ·
Hey all- first time "poster", long time "reader"...

I am dealing with a very unique situation with my car and I was hoping that someone here might know more about this issue than my service adviser :(

Basically my 2011 F10 535xi is shut down because it thinks it has been stolen. I went out over the weekend and valet my car and when I went back a few hours later to get my car , the valet guy drove the car to me, kept the ignition on but walked away with my remote keys in his pocket. It took me a minute before I realized that I didn’t have the remote inside of my car so I walked over to the valet and got my remote and was able to drive the car home, park it outside of my house and lock it for the night. But since then the car doesn't respond to ANYTHING. The remote keys don't work, the engine doesn't start, no lights or blinks in the dashboard, NADA.

I had to get my car towed to the dealership and they are telling me that the car is shut down because of security reasons and they basically have to reach out to the engineering group in Germany and get the fix for it.

Does this make sense to anyone? I would assume the dealership should have the fix ready and there shouldn't be a need to contact Germany to remedy the issue.

Any insight, thoughts or past experiences is greatly appreciated.
 
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#3 · (Edited)
the hard key might reset everything. Try unlocking the door with the hard key, hopefully your hear the familiar chirp and not the alarm!

If it does unlock in a familiar way, you can re-familiarize the key fob with the car by holding it next to the steering wheel column by the key image, then holding down the start button until the indicator lights clear. Then try starting the car with the start button with foot on the brake.

Hope step 1 works!
 
#4 ·
Rayno- Yes, it was the right remote key because I locked the car back when I got home with that remote.

Grey- I was able to open the driver door with the hard key but the alarm went off for a couple of minutes and then it stopped. The car was still thinking it is armed with the alarm even though I was sitting inside the car. I tried holding the key to the steering column but it just wouldn't respond to anything. No lights, no error message, no blinks, nada. We even tried jump starting the car and nothing.

It is BMW's problem now but I am just surprised that the dealership doesn't know what to do in these cases and they have to go back to Germany and ask the engineers for a solution.
 
#8 ·
Went by the dealership today and talked to the mechanic and the service manager. Supposedly every 8-10 dealerships in the US have a local group of seasoned and expert BMW engineers that come out to deal with unique and complex issues. They had an engineer out yesterday and got my car working by taken out the entire backseat and restarting the small battery that is in the trunk of the car. They are completely puzzled and have no idea why this happened. The engineer has only heard of one another similar case in FL and that was due to lightening. They are keeping the car for another day to do more tests and see if they can duplicate the issue but it hasn't happened yet (of-course not).

By the way this car has 40k miles and is less than 3 years old and has been serviced regularly at the dealership. I am just hoping that this was a one-time "brain freeze"...
 
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