Possible Z4 vehicle recall - Steering

[bmwangler]

I posted another link to this (from The USA) in the "Steering - Notchy and Stiff" thread, but it appears to be under investigation here in the UK too.

This is important and potentially affects most pre-2006 cars, so here's a link to one of the many News Items on the 'net at the moment.

http://www.product-reviews.net/2010/07/05/bmw-z4-and-mazda3-recall-possibility/

 

[AlanJ]

But no recall for broken springs.....mmmm :thumbsdown:

 

[Kdawg]

I've got an '05 with only 10,000 miles on it, and noticed the notchy steering today. It was more noticeable on the highway, and when I switched lanes I let go of the wheel just to see if it would return to center, but it didn't. It remained locked in the position it was in and required me to forcibly move it back to center which is impossible to do it smoothly. It always breaks with a jerk which causes me to swerve back in the other direction a little bit. Hopefully, this investigation results in a recall, because this is definitely a serious safety issue.

 

[rob davey]

you wouldn't get me in one of those dodgy pre 2006 cars

 

[Tweed]

But no recall for broken springs.....mmmm :thumbsdown:

ah, but the springs are an £80 fix... the steering issue is ~ £2k
I hope they do recall... be nice to get a shiny new steering rack foc (mine does get notchy when I've been driving a bit and it's warm)

 

[ranski]

you wouldn't get me in one of those dodgy pre 2006 cars

You wouldnt get me in anything less than a 3 litre :wink:

 

[koolchris99]

would be nice to see a recall, but would they really do it?

would cost them a fortune..!!

who forces them to? or is it bmw's choice?

 

[Tweed]

I had an e36 320i that got recalled on a similar steering issue (something about the anti-corrosion failing)... so I can see them doing this.
It's not their choice anyway, if it's a safety issue, I'm sure they have to do it

 

[XGE]

I hope this recall will be worldwide. Sometime they just do recall in the US because of class action.

I had a streering pump failure on my Cooper S (a very well known problem) BMW paid nothing because I was out of warranty.

 

[powerontap]

you wouldn't get me in one of those dodgy pre 2006 cars

You wouldnt get me in anything less than a 3 litre :wink:

 

[rob davey]

you wouldn't get me in one of those dodgy pre 2006 cars

You wouldnt get me in anything less than a 3 litre :wink:

arse, no comeback for that :lol:

 

[easty027]

lets just say they do a recall. what will be the limitations ?

If you have bigger wheels fitted i can almost hear them say now "sorry its not covered because your ride is pimped !"
Will there be a limit on the age/mileage of the car?

 

[Tweed]

I wouldn't imagine so, Easty... it's a recall after all, not a warranty claim. I would imagine that the only thing that could scupper your chances of getting it replaced would be if you'd modified the steering rack in some way (not a mod many people would carry out, but I wouldn't put it past cj10jeeper ).

That said, they may look for any reason they could possibly find not to do it. You're in Manchester, right? IF the recall happens, and IF the big wheels are an issue, there's enough of us around that would probably be willing to swap wheels for the day Your eibachs however, might be more of an issue!

 

[BobZ4]

lets just say they do a recall. what will be the limitations ?

If you have bigger wheels fitted i can almost hear them say now "sorry its not covered because your ride is pimped !"
Will there be a limit on the age/mileage of the car?

I had my E36 recalled for the steering corrosion issue, the dealer had no interest in the history of the car they only wanted to do the work. This would likely be the same situation.

I'll be very pleased if i get a nice new steering rack out of this .

 

[sp3ctre]

lets just say they do a recall. what will be the limitations ?

If you have bigger wheels fitted i can almost hear them say now "sorry its not covered because your ride is pimped !"
Will there be a limit on the age/mileage of the car?

I had my E36 recalled for the steering corrosion issue, the dealer had no interest in the history of the car they only wanted to do the work. This would likely be the same situation.

I'll be very pleased if i get a nice new steering rack out of this .

mmm, will have to keep an eye on this... mine is bloody awful but I refuse to pay BMW £££ to fix it, especially with all the other things going wrong with it

 

[sp3ctre]

Just dropped a comment on the bottom of the blog post, might be worth others doing the same if they are affected.

 

[bmwangler]

lets just say they do a recall. what will be the limitations ?

If you have bigger wheels fitted i can almost hear them say now "sorry its not covered because your ride is pimped !"
Will there be a limit on the age/mileage of the car?

If there is deemed to be a safety issue then I'm sure BMW would have to be seen to be doing something about it.

Just imagine the scenario where someone gets killed and BMW are blamed for not recalling the car on a known safety issue :thumbsdown:

No, the turning point here is the Steering problem being identified and publicised - I believe the rest should follow

 

[mmm-five]

I think the problem here is that the steering doesn't just stop working, it simply reduces/removes the assistance (which has happened to me in the M5 and I know it's not easy to steer at low speeds) - so while it's definitely a problem it's not as serious as the column physically breaking, or a wheel coming off.

However, not many of the recalls that the NHTSA demand are carried out anywhere else, it's purely down to the litigious nature of the US consumer.

 

[Kdawg]

To quote the article:

"NHTSA said it has 33 steering complaints for the Mazda3's and reports of three crashes tied to the problem. It has received 107 complaints for the Z4 and one crash report."

Does anyone know how to open a complaint with NHTSA? I checked their site, but didn't see anything there. I'd like to file complaint number 108!

EDIT: Not sure if it was the right place or not, but I sent the NHTSA some feedback with my issue here - http://www.nhtsa.gov/Contact I'd encourage anyone else with this issue to also do the same. The more complaints, the more they'll take the issue seriously.

 

[klarky]

I think I had my first occurrence of this issue a week or 2 back when we had a really nice hot day in the uk, my steering felt a bit heavier / more resistance than normal. It did return to normal in the evening when the temperature dropped.