BMW 760Li Problem Update May 2004:

After more loud complaining and a threat of a lawsuit BMW has now responded to my complaints about the accelerator unpredictably failing to operate. Their response (you'll love this one) is "it's a safety feature we have built into the car to protect you.” I naturally asked them what exactly is this “safety feature” supposed to do to protect me but they haven't been able to give me anything more than some babbling about how “the brake must be able to override the accelerator”....

Hmmmm , OK  – experiment time is at hand. I tested several other BMWs (and some Fords too) that I own and on every single one I can press the brake pedal with my left foot and depress the accelerator with my right foot and the engine will rev up and if I press hard enough on the accelerator without too much pressure on the brake the car will move. I tested the 760Li the same way.... It responds exactly the same way. Depressing the brake pedal does not disable the accelerator pedal. So just what is this “safety feature” BMW is talking about?  I don't have a clue and I don't think they do either....

Most newer cars have all sorts of idiot “safety features” built in to protect and annoy us....  One perfect example being the brake pedal must be depressed to change the gear shift out of Park or Neutral to Reverse or Drive gears. Another being the vehicle must be in Park or Neutral with the brake pedal depressed to operate the ignition key to start the vehicle. Whatever “safety feature” BMW claims is installed in the 760Li connected to the brake operation I have as yet to figure out exactly how it is supposed to function or how it is supposed to “protect” me. So far the only thing this alleged “safety feature” has done is make this $125,000.00 automobile unsafe and unpredictable to drive.

I find it very interesting that BMW requires a car owner to sign a waiver of liability form for BMW to activate the rear side airbags in their cars – I guess this is another “safety feature” that could be dangerous. I offered to sign a waiver of liability if they'd just remove this “safety feature” that has been buggering up my car but this only seemed to confuse them further.

I do have to say BMW has offered to “solve” the problem by doing a “lemon law” trade in of my 2003 760Li for a 2004  760Li. Only problems with this are:

1. After jerking me around for over 9 months and my putting scarcely 3,000 miles on the car while trying to get them to fix it I know they're going to try to hose me something fierce to “Lemon law” the car back to them for a 2004 model – assuming they even have the problem fixed in the 2004 – which is no sure bet.

2. I also have no doubt BMW will turn right around and sell this turkey of a car to some unsuspecting sucker – who, as luck will have it, will undoubtedly get crunched real bad in a collision because the accelerator will inexplicably fail to operate. BMW will of course say “What problem?” just as they have jerked me around for months. I do not want to be a party to someone becoming injured or killed because a car with a known and confirmed defect was irresponsibly returned to the road by BMW.

This is all kind of eerily reminiscent of that Audi model which for no explainable reason would go berserk into full throttle acceleration demolishing everything in the car's path, including a few people unfortunate enough to have been in the way....  BMWs response to this safety related issue in it's flagship automobile clearly shows BMW believes that the problem to be solved is the complaining customer – and that this is most easily solved by trading the car in for a different car - instead of fixing the real problem – the defective design in this automobile.

What concerns me most is that BMW sold over 500 of these very expensive turkeys in 2003 and I seriously doubt the owners of these cars have any idea this problem exists in their car or that they could suddenly find themselves in one hell of a fix while driving their automobile. It will only take one unexpected failure of this type to cause a tragic accident.

It is time for BMW to take responsibility for this defect and either recall these cars and put them out of service or to fix the problem. It is unconscionable that BMW has failed to act on such a serious defect in one of its series of automobiles after being notified of the problem and confirming its existence.

Signed one very dis-satisfied BMW 760Li owner.

Special Note :

My thanks to the many helpful BMW owners that have suggested that the source of the difficulties with my BMW 760LI may lie with the “auto park” system. Unfortunately, this is not the case ( I only wish it were this simple) – this “auto park” feature was never activated on this car and during the many visits to the dealership it was confirmed several times that this feature is not operating. I will also specifically note the failure of the accelerator to function was not limited solely to starting from a dead stop. The accelerator has also failed to function after releasing the brake pedal when the car is rolling at 60 MPH on a freeway - after having momentarily braked prior to changing lanes to pass a slower vehicle. This problem of accelerator failure to function occurs only after immediately releasing the brake pedal and it does not seem to matter if the vehicle is stopped, rolling at 10 MPH,  20 MPH, 60 MPH, or at any speed.... it has failed on me many different times and at many different vehicle speeds ranging from stopped to 70 MPH.  The only consistency of this malfunction is the release of the brake pedal (regardless of how long or hard the brake was pressed) followed by immediate application of the accelerator (regardless of the degree to which the accelerator pedal is being depressed). My 760LI has suffered this malfunction erratically for the 10 months and the three to four thousand miles I have driven it – it always occurs only after releasing the brake and immediately pressing the accelerator pedal. No other commonality has been detected – vehicle speed or stopped, outside temperature, engine temperature, miles already driven on the trip, engine RPM, grade of the road, etc. during or prior to each malfunction. I have driven this car many hours specifically trying to create the malfunction to determine the causative circumstances so as to be able to direct BMW and the dealership in what to do to repair this car.

The instances where the car “slammed” the occupants with extreme acceleration were in what would be described as ordinary city street driving  - beginning acceleration from a stop light by releasing the brake and gently pressing on the accelerator – only to have the car inexplicably delay and then drop into 1 st gear with a great deal or torque and slam the car. The first time this happened the “auto park” feature was suspected of having caused this malfunction but when the car was taken to the dealer the next day it was determined the “auto park” feature had not been activated and therefore could not have caused this malfunction. The source of this malfunction is likely the same that causes the “no accelerator function” problem and lies in the BMW software used in the car computer.

If anyone has any other suggestions do please inform me.

Please E-Mail BMW and request that they take care of their customers

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