ABC News investigation on parked BMWs catching fire. BMW NA responds

[c63er]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

Experience is going to vary person to person. In your experience, you say Mercedes treats customers like kings and BMW does not. I have had two family members that say different which is why they left Mercedes and now drive BMW's and another family member who was shunned by both BMW and Mercedes and now drives a Porsche.

Too true.

I didn't mean it as a comparison per se but more of a minimum bar. After sales support seems to be non existent from my own personal experience in regards to repeat customers and fans like most people here.

In this case for a bmw fan just a simple "we get it" from bmw would have gone a long way to averting a now bubbling issue. In general your fans or "brand ambassadors" or repeat customers should be treated well. The whole scorning your lover thing after all.

No lawyer would allow the company to accept responsibility which is why this requires a strong and rational corporate structure to look at each case and make the right decision. After sales.

Just basics of corporate conduct. Reminds me of the recent airline fiascos that could have been avoided with a few thousand dollars or encouraging employees not to make bigoted posts on a public forum under an account used to disseminate bmw information. Seems like some disconnect or arrogance over there.

[Zeroblade]

Hm. Well I usually like Ross and his investigations so this report is definitely a weak one. I would expect this kind of report to show up on FOX than ABC. All it does is make people think the wrong way about BMW’s more as it doesn’t even point to an idea to what is causing these fires. Arson? Rodents? Electrical? Rust? Incompetent owners? Recent maintenance? Bad Mechanics/Dealer? Did these cars have a salvage title for some previous incident? Some of the pictures don’t even have the engine bay damaged. This same stuff happens to Ferrari, yet I guess since they 6+ figures cars they don’t care.

The Toyota unintended acceleration report I vaguely remember but thought they finally had a convincing reason why it happened. If it was staged then I’m disappointed. Least it actually happened* unlike that other guy from NBC “who was there”.

[Zippster]

Just saw the news about BMWs that are off suddenly catching fire. What the heck?

[Bimmer6]

Just saw this .....have not heard or seen anything for BMW. Hell my car stays parked for a week at times.


http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/bmw-...ation-47342251

[mayday813]

A number of years ago BMW's were experiencing some under hood fires that were caused by the windshield washer heaters. At the time BMW continued to deny any responsibility for the potentially poor design.
A good automotive cause and origin expert can usually determine the reason for the fires. Of course these experts cost money and until serious property or bodily injury occurs as a result of the flaming BMW, most insurance companies will just pay the claim and not pursue the manufacturer for reimbursement.
Hopefully, BMW will investigate the reason for the fires and resolve the issue.

[Spa2k]

BMWNA issued this release early today:

Official Statement BMW of North America on ABC News Reporting

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – May 11, 2017… We at BMW empathize with anyone who has experienced a vehicle fire. We understand it is a traumatic event and the safety of our customers is of utmost importance to us.

BMW has a long reputation for engineering excellence and is known as a pioneer in safety technology. We have full confidence in our products and strive to always provide the best possible owner’s experience.

With approximately 4.9 million BMW vehicles on U.S. roads, fire incidents involving BMWs are extremely rare. BMW takes every incident very seriously and has a team dedicated to working with BMW owners, insurance companies and authorities to investigate vehicle fire incidents brought to our attention.

We have investigated and in some cases inspected the vehicles identified by ABC News. These vehicles span an age range of 1-15 years, accumulated mileage of up to 232,250 miles and multiple generations and model types. In cases that we have inspected and are able to determine root cause, we have not seen any pattern related to quality or component failure. Vehicle fires can result from a wide variety of external reasons and can range from improper accident damage repair, unauthorized aftermarket modifications (such as remote starters, stereo installations, etc.), previous vehicle flooding, rodent nesting, lack of, or improper preventative maintenance and even arson.

Our Customer Relations team will be happy to assist customers with any additional questions or concerns about their BMW and can be reached at customerrelations@bmwusa.com or at 800-831-1117.

BMW of North America cannot normally comment on incidents outside of the US. However, we can say that as in the US, the incidents in Korea have been investigated and it was determined that the majority were caused by unauthorized aftermarket modifications.

###

[frKENm3]

BMW's not ///M's

[SakhirM4]

Bunk

http://jalopnik.com/abc-news-big-inv...a-b-1795121798

[FC4]

Originally Posted by frKENm3

BMW's not ///M's

Peoples use of the apostrophe always amaze's me.

[clutchdj]

Musta been b/c of that jb4

[Silenus]

"I'll fix that oil leak the next time I'm in."

[SD ///M4]

How any more threads are we going to start about this?

[ORIGIN M.]

Originally Posted by PandaM3

ABC news should go after something more newsworthy like the M3 rod bearing failures...

Now we are talking

Some real news

[t612]

ABC certainly got the hits they wanted generated out of this story. They reported on a brand that is well known and has many loyal followers which is bound to stir many emotions.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of supporting facts like others mentioned. They sensationalized it. This erodes public trust in the news org and hurts their credibility.

Here's another perspective from CNET.

http://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/...nything-there/

[Zippster]

Thanks for that info.

What's really disturbing here is that some of these fires as reported by the News have occurred in cars that were parked ..... for days. Then out of the blue the car is on fire. Makes me nervous to go away for a few days and leave the car in the garage.

The news interviewed this guy who's BMW caught fire in his garage, you can imagine the damage.

[Alpine Missile]

At the risk of sounding like a suspicious asshole, I would first like to know the history of these vehicles. For starters, how many of the cars that caught fire have only had one owner where recalls, maintenance and any collision repairs can be verified and analyzed- group them separately. Next, group the other shitwagons that have been sold a hundred times on "buy here/pay here" lots with minimal maintenance, multiple collisions etc. in a different bunch. I'd be willing to bet that cars with only one or two owners AND a fire would be few and far between. Finally, if you could investigate the financial state of all of these owners, I bet one might conclude arson as a probable cause in more cases than you think.

Unfortunately, now that this story is breaking, other owners of BMW vehicles wanting out of their cars will try to figure out a way to torch their vehicle and make it look legit. This will only compound the problem further.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by Zippster

Thanks for that info.

What's really disturbing here is that some of these fires as reported by the News have occurred in cars that were parked ..... for days. Then out of the blue the car is on fire. Makes me nervous to go away for a few days and leave the car in the garage.

The news interviewed this guy who's BMW caught fire in his garage, you can imagine the damage.

Slightly off topic but you should leave a set of keys with a trusted neighbor or local friend with contact info in case of emergency. My father's partner was on vacation and a pipe burst in his garage. Neighbors noticed water in the driveway and called police / fireman. There was a whole lot of arguing about legality of forcibly entering the property and they all watched through the window as his Ferrari was slowly submerged.

[bradleyland]

Originally Posted by PandaM3

ABC news should go after something more newsworthy like the M3 rod bearing failures...

Not scary enough. Failed rod bearings won't burn your house down with "OMG THINK OF THE CHILDREN" inside.

[ec126]

[bradleyland]

Originally Posted by Alpine Missile

At the risk of sounding like a suspicious asshole, I would first like to know the history of these vehicles. For starters, how many of the cars that caught fire have only had one owner where recalls, maintenance and any collision repairs can be verified and analyzed- group them separately. Next, group the other shitwagons that have been sold a hundred times on "buy here/pay here" lots with minimal maintenance, multiple collisions etc. in a different bunch. I'd be willing to bet that cars with only one or two owners AND a fire would be few and far between. Finally, if you could investigate the financial state of all of these owners, I bet one might conclude arson as a probable cause in more cases than you think.

Unfortunately, now that this story is breaking, other owners of BMW vehicles wanting out of their cars will try to figure out a way to torch their vehicle and make it look legit. This will only compound the problem further.

Turn your suspicion toward the basic questions:

Ok, so some BMWs have caught fire, but how many?

What percentage of BMWs have caught fire?

Is this percentage higher than other makes?

Is there a concentration of burning BMWs within a certain model range or years of production?

ABC News didn't try to answer any of these questions, and without this information, there only one thing we can all do: shake in our boots and tune in to the news to learn more. That's satirical, of course.

[Levente_CSL]

BMW is recognized as one of the most reputable car manufactures in the world, with cars known for reliable engineering and safety. "

BMW E46 motherfucker, do you know it? that car anything bot not reliable. so manny annoying problems with it holly crap

[Zippster]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Slightly off topic but you should leave a set of keys with a trusted neighbor or local friend with contact info in case of emergency. My father's partner was on vacation and a pipe burst in his garage. Neighbors noticed water in the driveway and called police / fireman. There was a whole lot of arguing about legality of forcibly entering the property and they all watched through the window as his Ferrari was slowly submerged.

I do that, but damn all they had to do is shut the water off, the main is always outside the house. One call to the Water Co especially by the police would get them out there.

P.S Id rather deal with water damage than the whole house burning down from my BMW catching fire. The keys would be useless in this case, it only takes a few minutes for a burning car to really light up a house.