Hello guys, just want to point out that I, too, am having the same problem. I have a '99 540iAT and the reverse gear was a bit iffy. Sometimes it would work when the car is still fairly cold or have not been thoroughly warmed up and when it has the reverse would be sluggish on flat lands. So you're pretty much stuck if you are driving on a decline and needed to reverse. Anyways, in 2004 I was forced to buy a Remanufactured Tranny from the stealer (Peter Pan BMW in San Mateo) and had my shop in Concord install it. In 2007, the "Trans Failsafe Prog" started showing. I ignored it just because I knew that it couldn't be the Tranny as it is fairly new. It would show up rougly about twice a week. When it does, the car would die for a few seconds while it was still in gear. It would happen also when I came to a stop. It would start eventually, my "clock, radio stations, program for the seats" would be resetted. Lately, when the error shows up, the light for the DSC and brake would be lit. I would lose power on my steering wheel such as horn, volume for the radio, and cruise control. My radio would also stop functioning. I would eventually return, sometimes the duration would be 10 min to 30 or sometimes a whole hour. It's very frustrating. I have an OEM battery and it has a green color on the peep hole, so I would assume it is still good. The batt is about 4 years old. I hope this could be some kind of info for anyone who is trying to decipher this very vague and frustrating error.