Page 6 of 6 · complaints 251–257 of 257

2013 BMW 328i complaints

Owner reports filed with NHTSA about this vehicle, newest first and reproduced as filed. They are unverified accounts: one proves nothing, and a pattern across many is the thing worth reading. Back to the full 2013 record →

Service Brakes
Filed Sep 11, 201311,000 milesNY

I WAS MOVING VERY SLOWLY, LESS THAN 5MPH, IN A LINE OF CARS WAITING TO PULL INTO A PARKING LOT. ALL OF A SUDDEN, BRAKE PEDAL BECAME ROCK HARD. I COULD NOT STOP THE CAR FROM ROLLING. I HAD TO SHIFT INTO PARK TO AVOID HITTING THE CAR AHEAD OF ME. RESTARTED THE CAR, BRAKES FELT NORMAL. THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED SINCE. I INFORMED THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT AT THE DEALER, BUT THEY SAID THEY CAN'T RE-CREATE THE PROBLEM, THEREFORE THEY CANNOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. I READ NEWS REPORTS THAT THIS IS BEING INVESTIGATED BY YOUR ORGANIZATION AND DECIDED TO REPORT THE INCIDENT WHICH TOOK PLACE ON 7/15/13. *TR

Power Train
Filed Aug 29, 201390 milesCA

I STARTED THE CAR AND REVERSED OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY, THEN PROCEEDED TO A VERY BUSY INTERSECTION WITHOUT STOP LIGHT. I ACCELERATED TO MERGE WITHF TRAFFIC AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN MY POWER WAS CUT DRAMATICALLY AND THE CAR DISPLAYED A DRIVE TRAIN MALFUNCTION ERROR. THIS PREVENTED ME FROM ACCELERATING AT THE CORRECT SPEED AND ALMOST CREATED AN ISSUE WITH THE VEHICLES BEHIND ME. I THEN HAD TO PICK MY CHILD UP SCHOOL AND THE CAR CONTINUES TO BEHAVE POORLY. *TT

Unknown or Other
Filed Jul 25, 201315 milesFL

THE BMW 328 2013 HAS A TECH DESIGN FLAW WHICH WILL LEAD TO A POSSIBLE FATAL ACCIDENT. THE SCREEN WHICH SHOWS TELEPHONE NUMBERS OR RADIO OR NAVIGATION DIRECTIONS IS PLACED IN SUCH A POSITION THAT THE DRIVER CANNOT READ THE SCRIPT ON THE SECONDARY AND TERTIARY WORDS WHEN THE VEHICLE IS TRAVELING IN SUNLIGHT WE LIVE IN FLORIDA AND WHERE THE SUN IS BRIGHT AND IF YOU ARE DRIVING AND WANT TO MAKE A PHONE CALL WITHOUT HOLDING A CELL PHONE YOU CAN HAVE AN ACCIDENT SINCE YOU CANNOT SEE THE WORDS OR ICONS THAT ARE FLASHED ON THE SCREEN. THE SCREEN WASHES OUT THE SAME AS AN IPHONE WHEN IT IS IN THE SUNLIGHT THE PLACEMENT OF THE SCREEN IN THE 2013 BMW 328 IS A HAZARD AND IF NOT CHANGED TO A SHADED POSITION ON THE DASH WILL LEAD TO MANY UNFORESEEN ACCIDENTS THERE SHOULD BE A RECALL ON THIS MODEL TO HAVE THIS CORRECTED. *TR

Service Brakes
Filed Jul 18, 20131,000 milesCA

ROUGHLY TWO MONTHS AFTER TAKING POSSESSION OF MY NEW BMW 328I, I WAS DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY WHEN MY CAR SUDDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING LOST ALL BRAKING ABILITY. THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS HARD AS A ROCK. FORTUNATELY, I AVOIDED AN ACCIDENT BY COASTING OFF OF THE FREEWAY AND INTO A HOTEL PARKING LOT. MY CAR WAS TAKEN BY TOW TRUCK TO A SERVICE DEPARTMENT AT BMW, WHERE IT REMAINS TO THIS DAY. MY SERVICE ADVISOR INITIALLY INFORMED ME THAT ONLY THE VACUUM PUMP NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. A WEEK LATER, HOWEVER, I AM TOLD THAT THE INTAKE CAMSHAFT MUST ALSO BE REPLACED BECAUSE IT IS BADLY DAMAGED. *TR

Service Brakes
Filed Jul 15, 20137,200 milesIL

WHILE SLOWLY COMING TO A STOP, THE BRAKE PEDAL BECAME HARD YET THE CAR WOULD NOT STOP AND SEEMED TO GLIDE FOR 10-15 FEET BEFORE FINALLY STOPPING AT WHICH POINT THE ENGINE REVVED TO 6000 RPM, BUT DID NOT ACCELERATE. THE PEDAL BECAME SO HARD THAT I COULD NOT PRESS ANY HARDER, YET WAS STILL SLOWLY MOVING. TURNED THE CAR OFF AND RESTARTED THE CAR AND DROVE TO THE DEALER. THE DEALER COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG. ON 7/15/2013 THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN AS I WAS PRESSING THE BRAKE PEDAL I COULD FEEL THE CAR CONTINUING TO MOVE FORWARD AND THE BRAKE PEDAL BECAME VERY HARD YET STILL DID NOT STOP THE CAR. AS SOON AS THE CAR FINALLY STOPPED THE ENGINE REVVED TO 3500 RPM, AT WHICH TIME I SHUT IT OFF. CAR IS BACK AT THE DEALER AND BMWNA HAS BEEN NOTIFIED OF BOTH EPISODES. *TR

Service BrakesCrash
Filed Jun 25, 20131,020 milesGA

I PURCHASED A NEW 2013 BMW 328I IN LATE MAY. WITHIN A WEEK OF OWNERSHIP THE BRAKES FAILED. THE CAR WAS TOWED TO THE DEALERSHIP AND WAS THERE FOR THREE DAYS. THEN LESS THAN A MONTH LATER, LAST WEEK, THE BRAKES FAILED AGAIN. I ALMOST GOT IN A BAD ACCIDENT AND IN FACT DID SCRAPE THE CURB. I WAS TOLD THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM WAS A VACUUM PUMP, SIMILAR TO OTHER REPORTS ON THIS SITE RELATED TO THAT MODEL OF CAR. *TR

Service Brakes
Filed May 31, 2013200 milesMA

AFTER PURCHASING THIS CAR NEW, THE POWER BRAKES COMPLETELY FAILED ON MAY 23. I HAD THE CAR TOWED TO BMW WHERE THEY REPLACED THE BRAKES VACUUM PUMP. THE CAR WAS RETURNED TO ME WHERE THE PROBLEM HAPPENED AGAIN, THE DAY IT WAS RETURNED, EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS BEFORE. WHEN YOU PUSH ON THE BRAKE, THE PEDDLE IS REALLY HARD AND BARELY RESPONDS. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO STOP THE CAR. *TR

Reading these

NHTSA publishes every complaint as the owner wrote it and investigates only a fraction. Spelling, capitalisation and judgement are the filer’s own. What carries weight is repetition: the same component failing the same way across many filings, and whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

Full record for the 2013 BMW 328i → · Every 328i year → · How the figures are calculated →