Recall · 23V707000
BMW of North America recalled 6 models over engine and engine cooling
157,796
Vehicles covered
6
Models
14
Model years
October 20, 2023
Filed with NHTSA
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE
- The defect
- BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2010-2012 1 Series Coupe, 1 Series Convertible, 3 Series Sedan, 3 Series Convertible, 2010-2011 3 Series Sportswagon, 3 Series Coupe, 5 Series Sedan, X3 xDrive 28i, X3 xDrive 30i, X5 xDrive30i, and Z4 sDrive30i vehicles. The aluminum bolts that secure the housing for the variable camshaft timing adjustment (VANOS) unit can loosen over time and possibly break.
- What it can cause
- Loose or broken VANOS unit bolts can result in an engine stall, increasing the risk of a crash.
- What the dealer does
- Dealers will replace the four VANOS bolts, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk are expected to be mailed December 18, 2023. Owner notification letters were mailed June 19, 2024. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.
- NHTSA's note
- Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov.
The repair is free, whatever the age or mileage of the vehicle, and whether or not you are the original owner.
Which vehicles
A recall reaches a range of VINs inside these model years, not every car built in them. Yours may not be covered even if it is listed here, and the only way to find out is NHTSA's own VIN lookup .
How this campaign compares
At 157,796 vehicles this is a bigger campaign than 94% of the 19,818 vehicle recalls filed since 1995 whose size NHTSA published. The middle campaign on file covers 472. It covers model years 2010 to 2012, so the oldest vehicles on it were 13 model years old when the defect was reported to NHTSA.
BMW vehicles have been recalled over the engine and engine cooling 36 times before this, most recently in April 2023 as 23V294000. That is not evidence the earlier repair failed.
This site holds the complaint record for 12 of the 14 model years the campaign names. Their owners have filed 752 complaints with NHTSA, 671 of them before this campaign was filed. 78 of those name the engine and engine cooling, the system this recall is about — a count of complaints, not of this defect. The earliest of them reached NHTSA in January 2010, 13 years before this filing.
The vehicles on this campaign carry 3 other recalls published here: 22V119000 (engine and engine cooling), 20V017000 (air bags), 20V016000 (air bags).
Check your own car
A VIN check is the only answer for a specific vehicle, and it also shows every other open recall on it, which is usually the reason it is worth doing rather than reading one campaign.
Filed by BMW of North America, LLC with NHTSA on October 20, 2023 as campaign 23V707000. Every word of the defect, consequence and remedy above is NHTSA's published record of that filing, not a summary of it.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2023-10-20.
Independent developer and analyst